Numerical Weather Prediction and its Applications in Agriculture and Environment

by

Dr Klara Finkele Met Éireann.

A brief overview of the work of the Agricultural and Environmental Unit (www/met.ie/aboutus/agri.asp) will be given. A short introduction to Numerical Weather Prediction (NWP) in general will be given and more specifically to some of the forecast models used in Met Éireann. This will be followed by some basic concepts of boundary layer meteorology and the importance of the planetary boundary layer and its implications for atmospheric dispersion. Examples of applications of NWP will be given, such as the atmospheric dispersion of the Foot and Mouth disease virus, the dispersion from nuclear accidents and the prediction of potato blight.

Dr Klara Finkele has a BSc and MSc in applied mathematics from Germany and the US and a PhD in Meteorology from Australia. Her PhD work was on the numerical simulations and measurements of sea breezes. Klara subsequently held post-doc positions at CSIRO in Canberra working on land surface processes and their parameterisation, and in Belgium working on bio-geochemical models for use in Global Climate Models before taking up a European funded position at Met Éireann working on Frontal and Atlantic Storm Track Experiment (FASTEX). Since 2002 Klara is the Agricultural and Environmental Meteorologist at Met Éireann responsible for research and development in that area.

Room G32 Earlsfort Terrace, NUI Dublin

8p.m. Thursday 29th April, 2004