Kipp & Zonen congratulates the World Meteorological Organisation on celebrating 50 years of the World Weather Watch during this year’s World Meteorological Day, 23rd March.

The theme is “Watching the weather to protect life and property.” Between 1980 and 2007, nearly 7,500 natural disasters took the lives of over 2 million people and produced economic losses estimated at over US$ 1.2 trillion. More than 70 percent of the casualties and almost 80 percent of the economic losses were caused by weather-, climate- or water-related hazards such as tropical cyclones and storm surges, droughts, floods or related disease epidemics and insect infestations.

In human and economic cost

Extreme weather events are becoming more frequent and more damaging, both in human and economic cost, and are often a reflection of climate changes. There is an increasing need for better and more widely spread real-time measurements of meteorological parameters for both short-term weather forecasting and longer term climate studies.

It is energy from the sun that drives the weather, climate, biosphere and most processes on Earth and in the atmosphere. Kipp & Zonen has been making instruments to measure solar radiation since 1927 and our products are key to many World Weather Watch programmes such as’ the Global Climate Observing System, Global Atmosphere Watch, World Climate Research, Hydrology and Water Resources, and Antarctic Activities.

Kipp & Zonen develop instruments that will help 

Kipp & Zonen continues to work closely with meteorological organisations, scientists and researchers to improve and develop instruments that will help to enhance our understanding of weather and climate processes and enable better forecasting. We cannot prevent extreme weather events and natural disasters but by providing more accurate and more timely warnings the World Meteorological Organisation aims to reduce the severity of the impacts.