MET OFFICE News
Release issued by COI News Distribution Service. 3 September 2008
2007/08 has been
another successful year for the Met Office, achieving all its Key
Performance Targets and making £4.4 million business profit which
will be invested in further improvements to weather and climate services.
These achievements have been highlighted in the latest Met Office
Annual Report and Accounts published today.
In a webcast recommending the report, Met Office Chief Executive,
John Hirst said: "This years report describes how the quality
and reliability of Met Office forecasts, and our highly respected
research into the causes and implications of climate change, made
a real difference to people's lives all over the world."
Some of the many significant achievements include:
* Forecasts and warnings for the extreme rainfall last summer
that caused widespread flooding throughout the UK;
* Our climate scientists continue to make significant
contributions to the Nobel Prize winning Intergovernmental Panel
of Climate Change;
* Enhancements to services critical to the transport industry, to
aid operational decision making to keep world-wide air traffic
moving safely;
* Achieving all of our Key Performance measures for the third
successive year;
* Collaborating with South African meteorological services to
support the predictions of severe weather;
* Launch of the new Integrated Climate Programme for Defra and MoD.
The Met Office Annual Review and Accounts can be downloaded from
the Met Office website at http://www.metoffice.gov.uk/publications
or purchased from the Stationary Office. The webcast can be viewed
at http://www.youtube.co.uk/themetoffice
ENDS
Notes to editors:
* The Met Office is the UK's National Weather Service,
providing 24x7 world-renowned scientific excellence in weather,
climate and environmental forecasts and severe weather warnings
for the protection of life and property.