Meteorology with Leading Airman METOCMurphy

1
Meteorology with Leading Airman (METOC)Murphy

• Hi, My name is LA Murphy and I am the ships
  Leading Airman Meteorologist. My role onboard is
  to observe and encode weather observations at
  certain times of the day, and to provide the
  Command with Weather forecasts and inform them of
  anything which may hinder our planned operations
  such as thunderstorms, gales or fog.

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Observations

• When I turn to, the first thing I will do is to
  do a weather observation. I will record various
  pieces of information on an observation pad.

This is then encoded into a signal format and
sent of to various places around the world, such
as the Met Office in the UK, where they collect
thousands of observations 24 hours a day, 365
days a year.
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What do I use to record an observation?
This is a Stevenson Screen which houses two
thermometers one dry and one wet bulb. Using a
humidity slide rule we can calculate the Dew
point (The point at which air becomes saturated)
and also calculate the Relative humidty
percentage.
4
What do I use to record an observation?
This image shows myself lowering the Sea bucket
into the ocean to record the sea surface
temperature and then reading the value on the
thermometer which has protective casing
surrounding it to protect it from getting damaged.
5
What do I use to record an observation?
This is a PAB or precision aneriod barometer
which is used to record pressure. This is very
critical piece of equipment for flying
particularly when weather is poor.
This is a barograph and it shows a line on a
chart which tells us what is happening to the
pressure so we can work out the Pressure
Tendency ie if pressure is rising or falling and
if weather fronts have passed our area or not.
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What happens to the observation?

• The ob gets sent to the Met office along with
  other obs from observers (Who are on ships and at
  land stations) all round the world. The Met
  Office collects this info and combines it with
  other data it receives such as satellite images
  and weather balloons to provide a ASXX or
  otherwise known as an Analysis. This chart tells
  us what is happening synoptically and when we
  combine this with a FSXX prognosis chart (A chart
  which tells us what way the fronts and pressure
  systems are forecast to move and change pressure
  wise) we can provide the Command a forecast by
  interpreting between the two charts.

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A plotted observation
This is a plotted observation in the Bay of
Biscay on our transit south. The ship will
receive a synop list for the relevant operating
area and other obs will be plotted. From this
information and with a satellite image an ASXX
can be drawn on the paper chart for briefing.