RMetS meeting on the Micro-Climate of Heathrow Airport

The Royal Meteorological Society held a meeting on the Micro-Climate of Heathrow Airport in April. It was part of our series of National Meetings and open to anyone to register. It was also supported and promoted by the Institute of Physics’ Environmental Physics Group.

Heathrow Airport was established during the second world war, and meteorological observations have been made there for over seventy years. As a major airport only a few miles from central London there have been many changes to the local infrastructure over the years. Some of these changes have affected local weather. For example, it is almost certain that the frequency of fog at Heathrow has been reduced as a result of replacing the sewage works at the western end of the airport by terminal five during the 2000s.

The meeting included talks on the impact of snow on airport operations, wind effects, and sound propagation. The trip to the meteorological instrument enclosure required extra risk assessment work by organisers but was very popular. More information and the presentation slides are available in the RMetS website.

The meeting also supported the RMetS Continuing Professional Development (CPD) programme. Members of RMetS can create a CPD record of their attendance from a link on the meeting page.