During the first two weeks of July, Meteomatics performed a drone measurement campaign for meteorological soundings in the eastern part of Switzerland. Over 450 sounding flights were conducted with drones flying on five locations simultaneously: Altenrhein, Amlikon, Bad Ragaz, Oberriet and Schänis. During the campaign, the self-developed Meteodrone covered a flight distance of more than 700km.
Meteomatics started the development of the Meteodrones in 2012, for the purpose of closing a data gap in existing weather models. This gap concerns the boundary layer, which is the main trigger of phenomena like fog, low stratus, freezing rain and thunderstorms. The Meteodrone now enables highly accurate measurements of weather parameters in the boundary layer up to 1.5 km above ground.
In March 2015 the Federal Office of Civil Aviation (FOCA) approved the Meteodrones to fly within clouds and
fog (BVLOS). Thus enabling Meteomatics to conduct the measurement campaign to collect data like temperature, humidity, pressure, wind speed and direction.
The data collected during the campaign will now be analysed. However, it is already clear that the Meteodrones revealed weather phenomena, which have been unknown until today. For example, due to the Meteodrone data the in- and outflow of the Rhine valley became evident.
Thus, the Meteomatics is coming a significant step closer to the self-imposed target of creating the perfect 24- hour forecast.
Meteomatics is a company based in St. Gallen, Switzerland and offers meteorological products and services for industries, like the energy and trading sectors, which have a demand for extremely accurate weather forecasts. Here Meteomatics has an excellent reputation of market-leading accuracy in temperature, solar power and wind power prognoses.
In June 2015 Meteomatics was awarded for the Meteodrone project with the STARTFELD Diamant, a price for the most innovative company of Eastern Switzerland.
The development of the Meteodrones is supported by MeteoSwiss, the Federal Office of Civil Aviation (FOCA), the Commission for Technology and Innovation (CTI) and the STARTFELD foundation in St. Gallen.
Source: Press Release