| Group Director : M. Quentin Libois Operations Assistant : M. Sébastien Barrau |
The GMEI (Experimental and Instrumental Meteorology Group) develops and implements in situ observation and remote sensing methods in order to study and understand meteorological phenomena.
The GMEI teams
- L’Equipe 4M (Mobile Meteorological Measurement Equipment) specialises in surface meteorological observations. It also deploys balloon measurements (free and tethered) and operates wind lidars.
- L’Equipe MICROPHYS (Cloud microphysics) focuses on observing, understanding and parameterising the physical processes that drive the life cycle of clouds and fog. It develops and implements experimental systems combining remote sensing and in situ sensors on the ground and in the air.
- L’Equipe TRAMM (Treatment and Analysis of Meteorological Measurements) is responsible for processing, validating, archiving and disseminating the data collected during GMEI measurement campaigns.
- L’Equipe AERONEF (AEROsol Clouds and Fires) aims to study the interactions between aerosols, radiation and clouds, as well as the interactions between fires and the atmosphere. It is responsible for measurement platforms on drones and aircraft.
- L’Atelier STAR (Technical Research Support Service) has a range of machine tools and design software (CAD-CAM-CAM) enabling the creation of mechanical interfaces and prototypes for CNRM teams as well as other departments within Météo-France.
Our research topics
The main scientific topics addressed at the GMEI are: fog, forest fires, aerosol/cloud/radiation interactions, surface/atmosphere exchanges, boundary layer dynamics, and urban climate.
Our instrumental resources
The GMEI’s resources are mainly deployed through national or international measurement campaigns.
The instrumental resources that the GMEI is currently able to deploy are as follows:
• surface stations for measuring conventional meteorological parameters
• surface stations for measuring turbulent fluxes between the Earth’s or ocean’s surface and the atmosphere
• free balloon or captive balloon sounding systems
• flow measurements under a tethered balloon
• a microwave radiometer (vertical temperature or humidity profiles)
• a water vapour lidar
• wind lidars
• a cloud radar (BASTA)
• sensors that can be deployed on the ground or carried aboard research aircraft for the characterisation of aerosols and cloud water droplets (dimensional distribution, optical properties, hygroscopic properties)
• drones equipped to take meteorological measurements, characterise aerosols or flows
GMEI provides instrumental expertise to Météo-France’s Observation Systems Department, thereby contributing to the modernisation of Météo-France’s operational observation network.
Some of the GMEI’s observation resources are part of the national Mobile Resources instrument certified by the INSU and attached to the research infrastructure. ACTRIS-FR.
These resources may be requested by the national community. More information on the page dedicated to the service.
Lidar vapeur d’eau Vaisala DA10 et lidar Vent LUMIBIRD Streamline Profiler VS+ acquis en 2024 dans le cadre d’Obs4Clilm
The Météopole-Flux site
GMEI has been operating since 2012 at the Météopole site in Toulouse instrumented site associated with research infrastructures ACTRIS-FR and ICOS.
Le site dispose de mesures de température et d’humidité dans le sol et dans l’air, de mesures de rayonnement ainsi que de mesures de flux turbulents.
Les mesures sont disponibles sur le portail de données AERIS.
The latest measurement campaigns (insert links to campaign websites and/or data catalogues)
2019 SOFOG3D fog
2020 EUREC4A cloud/radiation interactions
2021 LIAISE surface-atmosphere interactions
2022 PANAME urban climate
2023 MOSAÏ surface-atmosphere interactions
2025 SILEX forest fires (from the programme EUBURN)