A major breakthrough by engineers at Queen’s University Belfast could lead to more accurate global weather forecasts and a better understanding of climate change.
They have invented a tiny filter which measures just 30mm in diameter and 1/100mm thick. But despite its size it has huge implications for how we measure pollution, ozone depletion and the size of water particles in clouds.
Weather satellites
A team at the university’s Institute of Electronics, Communications and Information Technology has developed the special filters for the European Space Agency.
The new “dual polarized Frequency Selective Surface filters” will be installed in instruments on weather satellites that the agency will be launching in about 10 years’ time.
The instruments will detect thermal emissions in our atmosphere and measure temperature, humidity profiles and gas composition. This data in turn will be used to forecast weather and pollution.
A member of the Belfast team, Dr Robert Cahill, says: “Scientists will gain access to completely new data on a range of phenomenon. This in turn will enable more accurate global weather forecasts to be compiled and will provide important new insights into climate change.”
Learn more
Visit the Institute of Electronics, Communications and Information Technology’s website
Read about the work of our Science Ambassador Stuart Green, a remote sensing / Earth observation specialist who works with Teagasc
