JOHN RUSKIN, the 19th century writer and art critic, summed it up more than 150 years ago. "The meteorologist is impotent alone," he wrote. "No progress can be made by the enthusiasm of the individual, because it is necessary that the many should think, observe and act simultaneously. On this may well depend the ultimate utility of their undertakings". Ruskin's paradigm will be implemented on a grand scale at Shannon Airport early next year in the guise of FASTEX. But FASTEX qu'est-ce que c'est? I hear you say. Let me explain.
FASTEX stands for Fronts and Atlantic Storm Tracks Experiment, a major international study of the dynamics of the familiar depressions that form over the north Atlantic and bring rain and strong winds to Ireland and the west of Europe.
The objective of the exercise is to put these phenomena under the microscope to assemble in the case of each depression that occurs over a period of about two months a vast body of data that will allow its structure to be analysed subsequently in the minutest detail.
The logistics of the operation are impressive. Several weather ships will be specially deployed in the Atlantic half a dozen research aircraft will fly daily into the heart of each depression, taking readings as they go numerous drifting weather buoys will be launched for the occasion and frequent extra curricular radiosonde balloon ascents will take place at strategic points around the area. The project is scheduled for January and February 1997, and involves the combined efforts of many well known meteorological institutions notably the UK Meteorological Office, Meteo France, the US National Science Foundation, and of course, Met Eireann.
The projects is of great interest to us in Ireland for two reasons. Firstly, perched as we are on the edge of the Atlantic, we are likely to reap a disproportionate benefit from any greater understanding of Atlantic weather systems that may result from the experiments. And secondly, the nerve centre of the whole operation will be at Shannon, where a special headquarters with computers, satellite receivers and a dedicated forecast office is to be set up for the duration.
Aer Rianta will provide office accommodation for the several dozen scientists involved, and Internet links to the rest of the meteorological world will be arranged by the University of Limerick. All in all, FASTEX is probably the most ambitious scientific project ever to take place in this country, and you will hear much more of it in the coming months.