Royal Netherlands Meteorological Institute (KNMI)

The Royal Netherlands Meteorological Institute (KNMI) is the Dutch national weather service. Primary tasks of KNMI are weather forecasting and monitoring of weather, climate, air quality and seismic activity. KNMI is also the national research and information centre for meteorology, climate, air quality, and seismology.

Introduction

The Netherlands is a densely-populated, highly-technical community in a delta area. In the event of disasters, the chance of human loss and economic damage is high, which is why safety, as well as habitability and accessibility, have been high on the political and social agenda for many years. Among other things, this includes the consequences of extreme weather conditions, climate change, sea level rise, earthquakes, air quality, volcanic ash and solar storms.

Our mission

KNMI advises on and warns society to reduce risks in the field of weather, climate and seismology and to limit damage and injuries. With high-quality knowledge and technology plus an extensive observation network, KNMI offers products and services that contribute to the safety, accessibility, sustainability and prosperity of the Netherlands.

24/7 operational availability

Our unique task is the gathering of information about the atmosphere and the subsurface and the translation of that information to risks to the community. We strive to make our high-quality knowledge and information in the area of weather, climate, and seismology operationally available 24 hours a day, seven days a week. In addition, we continuously extend and deepen this knowledge in co-operation with research institutes, universities and businesses.

Read more about KNMI: corporate brochure fulfillment of predictions

Infographic KNMI in overview

Infographic KNMI weather and climate models

Infographic KNMI satellites

Our contribution to the international research community 

As a scientific institute KNMI participates in the international research community and contributes, for example, to the process and reports of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). 

KNMI is constantly optimizing its measuring network and refining its weather and climate models, which run on KNMI's supercomputer. These model calculations form the basis of the weather forecasts and climate scenarios that KNMI produces for the Netherlands. KNMI offers unique products that can be used by air traffic controllers, policy advisors and other professionals to take the necessary decisions to guarantee safety and sustainability in the Netherlands, now and in the future. The climate scenarios, for example, show how the climate of the Netherlands evolves in the coming decades for a wide range of atmospheric variables.

KNMI is also involved in research on the seismology of the Netherlands and its overseas regions and plays a leading role in international efforts on remote sensing by satellites. That knowledge we share with you. More information can be found on the research website.

Our people

KNMI is an organization of professionals who have a high degree of expertise in various scientific disciplines such as meteorology, climatology, oceanography and seismology. See the profiles of our people.

Website

Go back to the homepage of our website (in Dutch).