Improving Nowcasts and Forecasts via Operational Use of Meteomatics Meteodrones

The Meteomatics Meteodrone is a small Unmanned Aircraft System (UAS) designed to collect high-resolution vertical profiles of atmospheric parameters such as temperature, humidity, wind speed and direction, and barometric pressure. Since its founding in 2012, Meteomatics has undertaken an iterative development of the Meteodrone technology, with regular releases of incremental enhancements. The newest model, the MM-670, features major improvements to measurement accuracy, flight capabilities and reliability, and safety and regulatory compliance, making it suitable for routine operational and research use.

In 2023, Meteomatics is continuing to install a network of 15 Meteodrones around Switzerland and has initiated a pilot weather forecasting project at one site in North Dakota, USA in collaboration with its partners Grand Sky and TruWeather Solutions. In both cases, Meteodrones are launched remotely from semi-automated Meteobase drone-in-a-box systems and routinely flown to collect profiles to a maximum of approximately 6,000 metres AMSL.

The data collected by the Meteodrones can fill gaps in the existing weather observation network, especially in the boundary layer regions where extreme weather events occur. This data is used for nowcasting purposes and to improve the accuracy of Meteomatics-developed 1 km-resolution Weather and Research Forecasting (WRF) models. In this presentation, we will share learnings from our research that has enabled the transition to operational use of Meteodrones, including how the technology has evolved and specific issues have been investigated and addressed.  In addition, future applications of this new technology, including improvements to nowcasts and forecasts, will be be discussed and evaluated.