O World Meteorology Day is celebrated on the 23rd of March. This commemorative date was established in 1961 as it was the anniversary of the creation of OMM (World Meteorological Organization, an institution linked to the UN and which has existed since 1950). Currently, this organization has the membership of 189 countries.
Meteorology is the science that studies the atmosphere and its phenomena, being responsible for establishing forecasts and diagnoses about the atmospheric state in relatively short periods, that is, meteorologists direct their notes to the questions relating to atmospheric weather, unlike climatology, which studies the climate. However, it is clear that knowledge about one area is important for understanding the other, as both are interrelated.
The oldest known work on this important area of knowledge is credited to Aristotle. Published in 340 BC C., the work entitled meteoric performed a description of the different atmospheric elements, involving both their predominant characteristics and their dynamics.
The expression in Greek “metéõros” means “suspended in the heavens” and was the term used by Aristotle to designate any and all particles coming from the atmosphere or found in it. Currently, the term meteor is exclusively used for solid particles, while water or ice particles are called hydrometeors.
The importance of meteorology goes far beyond knowing “if it's going to rain today”. It has the merit of enumerating systematic data on changes in the behavior of the atmosphere to the over time, providing accurate information on climate change over the years and decades. Furthermore, it is thanks to meteorology that climatic adversities are predicted and many tragedies are avoided.
In Brazil, for example, hundreds of people died in July 1871 after a storm caused the sinking of Navio Apa, off the coast of Rio Grande do Sul. This episode shocked the entire country and influenced the authorities to implement a national meteorological network in order to improve the service in the country, which, until then, was not structured.
Over time, the instruments used by meteorologists were developed and, with them, the accuracy of weather forecasts was improved by exponential levels. Among these instruments, we can mention the hygrometer, created in the Middle Ages, the weathervane by Leonardo da Vinci, the thermometer by Galileo Galilei and the barometer by Evangelista Torricelli. Throughout the 20th century, the improvement in techniques and data accuracy, a fact caused, above all, by the acquisition of satellite images, came crediting meteorological science with increasing precision, which favors human actions and provides improvements in the quality of life of the society.
By Rodolfo Alves Pena
Graduated in Geography
Source: Brazil School - https://brasilescola.uol.com.br/datas-comemorativas/dia-do-meteorologista.htm
