The Weather Service department stands for state-of-the-art meteorological service provision and aims to have the KNMI continue its recognised role in Europe in the development of knowledge and operational meteorology. Weather information, forecasts and warnings are supplied to the Dutch government and safety organisations. One of the important products in this is the Extreme Weather Warning. The KNMI is the designated Air Navigation Service Provider for aviation. Another important activity is the provision of meteorological data to commercial market parties.

The Weather Service department is the foremost national meteorological knowledge centre and makes its knowledge broadly available to Dutch society. To be able to do this, fundamental, strategic and applied research is conducted at an internationally recognised level, focusing on product and process innovation within the KNMI and relevant external organisations.

Climate research at the KNMI focuses on observing, understanding and forecasting changes in the climate system. Climate observations involve successions of measurements from Dutch weather stations, satellite observations, observations from the weather stations at Cabauw in the Netherlands and Paramaribo in Surinam as well as from the ocean. An understanding of climate change arises from research into the sector’s key areas, such as the dynamics of atmosphere and ocean, the physics of clouds and their interaction with radiation and interchanging processes between the earth’s surface and the atmosphere. The climate forecasts the department makes relate mainly to the development of scenarios for the Netherlands’ climate in the coming decades. The research is the starting point for active interaction with and service to Dutch society as a whole. In addition, the department issues recommendations in particular to the government and collaborative colleague knowledge institutes on matters relating to climate and climate change.

Seismological research at the KNMI focuses on aspects relating to earthquakes, tremors and infrasound that have a bearing on the Netherlands. The central questions here are: what determines the seismic risk in the Netherlands and how can we quantify this risk? Moreover, advising Dutch society is important, especially with regard to anthropogenic effects of earthquakes in the north of the Netherlands, tremors due to infrasound and the detection of nuclear explosions.

Infrastructure, including the technical infrastructure, forms the backbone of the KNMI. With the progress made in computerisation and rationalisation the importance of this infrastructure increases year by year, as do the requirements placed on continuity and its quality. This not only applies to the KNMI’s security tasks, but equally to the delivery of products and services to KNMI customers. The Information and Observation Services and Technology department is responsible for the observation and IT infrastructure as well as for the computerised production and distribution of KNMI services and products. A number of staff departments support the above-mentioned sectors in matters of strategy, international relations, internal and external communication, personnel and organisation, finance and facilities.