DWD

The Deutscher Wetterdienst (DWD) is responsible for meeting the meteorological requirements arising from all areas of economy and society in Germany.

Our duties result from the legal mandate to inform and undertake research as laid down in the Deutscher Wetterdienst Act, https://www.dwd.de/SharedDocs/downloads/EN/general/dwd_act.pdf?__blob=publicationFile&v=2

They include:

  • providing meteorological and climatological services
  • providing meteorological information and services to ensure the safety of aviation

    (The DWD’s Aeronautical Meteorological Service is SES-certified and is part of the system to ensure the global safety of civil aviation and provide it with meteorological information.)
  • providing meteorological information and services to ensure the safety of maritime shipping

    (Based on the UN’s International Maritime Organization’s (IMO) International Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea (SOLAS), the DWD is part of the system to ensure the global safety of maritime shipping.)
  • providing meteorological information and services to ensure the safety of traffic routes and vital infrastructures – in particular those needed for energy supply and communications systems
  • issuing official warnings about weather phenomena
  • short and long-term recording, monitoring and evaluation of meteorological processes in the atmosphere, its structure and composition
  • registering the meteorological and climatological interaction between the atmosphere and other areas of the environment
  • analysing and predicting meteorological and climatological processes as well as analysing and projecting climate change and climate change impacts

    monitoring the atmosphere for radioactive trace substances and forecasting their transport
  • operating the necessary measuring and observation systems
  • ensuring the availability, archiving, documentation and release of meteorological and climatological spatial data and services.