METEOROLOGICAL ORGANIZATION. — Meteorology as a science owes its development to aerial navigation and radio, since it is increasingly necessary for the assistance of aircraft, which fly over countries, nations, continents, and oceans.
The organization of the meteorological service is based on: 1) a network of meteorological stations, which are normally distributed so that their observations provide a general and detailed knowledge of surface conditions in the regions for which meteorological assistance is to be ensured.
These stations carry out observations at fixed times, agreed internationally, required for weather forecasts (synoptic observations), and others for direct assistance to aerial navigation (hourly observations, semi-hourly observations, and observations at the moment). In all States, the work of recording facts is carried out with the same system, and the data are transmitted in coded form in order to economize on transmission time of the relevant messages, as well as to allow scholars and politicians to express the same information regardless of national languages. To this fixed network is added that of mobile stations, consisting of ships, appropriately designated and equipped with meteorological instruments, and the vehicles of airline companies. 2) A network of stations that carry out observations of air currents at various altitudes by tracking, using theodolites, balloons (pilot balloons) inflated with hydrogen. 3) A network of stations that carry out observations of temperature, pressure, humidity, and possibly also wind in the free atmosphere up to altitudes exceeding 12–15 km. Such stations are equipped with special radio-receiving devices capable of receiving signals from a transmitting apparatus carried by a hydrogen-filled balloon. 4) A network of radar-meteorological stations for the identification of rainy areas and the nature of clouds. 5) A network of stations for the identification of stormy areas associated with electrical disturbances in the atmosphere (atmospherics). 6) A network of scientific-experimental observatories that carry out special observations on solar radiation, fluctuations in the ionosphere, atmospheric electricity, turbulence, and anything else related to the field of meteorological phenomena. 7) A network of regional meteorological centers, which are tasked with centralizing observations from the regions under their jurisdiction and providing a specialized weather review service for the assistance of flight operations (flight forecasts, route forecasts, landing forecasts, storm warnings and safety notices, regional and local forecasts) based on a thorough analysis of the dynamic and thermodynamic conditions of the atmosphere at the surface and aloft, producing special thermodynamic diagrams and specific geographical maps, on which meteorological bulletins are plotted using internationally agreed symbols.
The organization of the meteorological service in Italy is, to a large extent, entrusted to the Ministry of Defense-Aeronautics, which, through its agencies, provides: a) the organization and service of the meteorological network; b) supplies and installations; c) studies and climatology; d) forecasts and information.
The latter is the body tasked with the primary responsibility of compiling both general forecasts for the public, the press, and dependent services, and technical analyses of weather situations for national meteorological centers and all other offices that require such analyses for their meteorological assistance tasks. Within the organization, there is a Meteorological Training Center equipped with radio apparatus, teletypewriters, and telephonists for the collection and dissemination of meteorological information at the national and international level. The meteorological bulletins issued by the stations