As April 2019 has proven, deciding what to wear in springtime Britain can be a minefield. You leave the house in shorts and t-shirt only to have to sprint for shelter when the heavens open an hour later.
If only those good old short term weather forecasts would give us a helping hand every once in a while, huh? Thankfully, in years to come, Brits will be more adept at dodging the deluge after the UK space agency delivered what its calling the world’s most accurate weather satellite instrument.
According to the agency, the newly-built Infrared Atmospheric Sounding Interferometer New Generation (IASI-NG) instrument will set new standards in short-term weather forecasting when it heads into orbit upon the European satellite MetOp-SG-A in 2022.
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In a press release on Thursday, the UK space agency wrote: “Using high-performance infrared detectors made in Southampton, the new device will improve short-range weather forecasts by monitoring atmospheric instability and cloud structure. It will also analyse the content of the Earth’s atmosphere, detecting and tracking pollutants around the globe.”
The IASI-NG has been built in collaboration with French Centre National d’Etudes Spatiales (CNES) as well as Leonardo and Airbus Defence & Space.
Dr Graham Turnock, CEO UK Space Agency said: “The UK space sector is an export success story, generating a third of its income from international trade and creating growth and jobs across the country.
“As this programme demonstrates, the strong working relationship between the British and French space industry is successfully turning future technology into reality.”
The release says initiatives like this help to grow the UK’s share of the global space market. It adds: “Earth observation is becoming more accessible, and future opportunities will arise with the advent of new technologies and uses, with ever increasing amounts of data being produced.”
How many times have you been caught in the rain this year already? Share your tales of weather-related woe with us @TrustedReviews on Twitter.
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Editorial independence
Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
Professional conduct
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.
