Military meteorology

Last updated
Military weather specialist in US US Air Force Weather specialist.jpg
Military weather specialist in US

Military meteorology is meteorology applied to military purposes, by armed forces or other agencies. It is one of the most common fields of employment for meteorologists.

Contents

World War II brought great advances in meteorology as large-scale military land, sea, and air campaigns were highly dependent on weather, particularly forecasts provided by the Royal Navy, Met Office and USAAF for the Normandy landing and strategic bombing.

University meteorology departments grew rapidly as the military services sent cadets to be trained as weather officers. Wartime technological developments such as radar also proved to be valuable meteorological observing systems. More recently, the use of satellites in space has contributed extensively to military meteorology.

Military meteorologists currently operate with a wide variety of military units, from aircraft carriers to special forces.

Military meteorology in the United States

United States Navy/Marine Corps

U.S. Navy Aerographer's Mate Rating insignia Rating Badge AG.jpg
U.S. Navy Aerographer's Mate Rating insignia
U.S. Navy Flight Meteorologist insignia Flightmetor.jpg
U.S. Navy Flight Meteorologist insignia

Chain of command

Enlisted

Enlisted meteorology and oceanography forecasters are called aerographer's mates.

Officer

Naval meteorology and oceanography officers are restricted line officers in the Information Dominance Corps. [1]

Notable military meteorologists

See also

U.S. Air Force Basic Meteorologist badge Weatherbadge.jpg
U.S. Air Force Basic Meteorologist badge

Further reading

Related Research Articles

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Aerographer's mate is a United States Navy occupational rating, devoted to collection and analysis of data related to weather, radar ocean conditions.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wallace P. Reed</span> Tuskegee Airman aviator weather officer (1919–1999)

2LT Wallace Patillo Reed was a World War II U.S. Army officer, U.S. military meteorologist, and the first ever African-American meteorologist in the U.S. military. Reed served at Tuskegee Army Air Field in Alabama as the chief weather officer responsible for the all-African American Tuskegee Airmen. Reed regularly advised Tuskegee Airmen pilots and instructors on weather maps and forecasts.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fleet Weather Center San Diego</span> U.S. Office for naval navigation/meteorology

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References

  1. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2012-09-27. Retrieved 2012-02-03.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)