Veðurstofa Íslands

What Veðurstofa Íslands does

Veðurstofa Íslands (Icelandic Meteorological Office) is the statutory national agency of Iceland responsible for weather forecasting, hydrology, seismic monitoring, volcanic surveillance, and avalanche warnings. Founded in 1920 and headquartered in Reykjavík under the Ministry of Environment, Energy and Climate, the agency operates an integrated environmental monitoring platform combining a network of 43+ digital seismic stations, continuous GPS geodetic stations, weather radar and satellite processing, seven volumetric strainmeters in Southern Iceland, and a national hydrological gauging system. Its core products include veðurspár (weather forecasts), jarðskjálftaeftirlit (earthquake monitoring), eldgosavöktun (volcanic eruption monitoring), flugveðurþjónusta (aviation weather under ICAO), vatnafar (hydrology), ofanflóðavöktun (avalanche and flood monitoring), loftslagsþjónusta (climate services), and mengunarvöktun (pollution monitoring), all distributed via the vedur.is portal, iOS and Android mobile apps, XML data feeds, and direct channels to aviation, maritime, energy, and emergency services.

The agency serves a diversified end-user base spanning the Icelandic general public, aviation (Isavia, ICAO North Atlantic flights), maritime and shipping, the energy sector (Landsvirkjun, Orkustofnun), civil defence (Almannavarnir), and academic researchers (University of Iceland's Institute of Earth Sciences). It is a member of EUMETSAT and collaborates internationally through partnerships including the Nordic Volcanological Center, the Climate and Energy Systems partnership, and EU-funded projects such as PREPARED.

As a government state institution (ríkisstofnun), Veðurstofa Íslands is funded through direct Icelandic state budget allocations rather than commercial revenue. Its pricing is effectively free at point of use for public weather, earthquake, and warning data, with specialized aviation and professional services operating under service agreements. The agency holds ISO 9001 (since 2006), ISO 27001 (since 2017), and ÍST 85 equal pay certification (since 2020), and received international recognition for science communication during the 2010 Eyjafjallajökull eruption.

Name

Veðurstofa Íslands

Legal name

Veðurstofa Íslands

Website

https://vedur.is

Company type

Private

Founded year

1920

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

51–100 employees

Short description

Veðurstofa Íslands is Iceland's statutory national agency providing weather forecasts, hydrology, seismic and volcanic monitoring, and avalanche warnings, serving the Icelandic public, aviation, maritime, energy, and emergency services via the vedur.is platform and mobile apps.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Meteorological and Natural Hazard Services

NAICS

Geophysical Surveying and Mapping Services (541360), Support Activities for Water Transportation (4883), Navigational Services to Shipping (48833)

akta.pro primary industry

Natural Disaster, Weather & Disruption Risk Monitoring (THACAEAI)

Keywords

• Weather forecasting
• Seismic monitoring
• Volcanic hazard monitoring
• Aviation weather services
• Hydrological forecasting

Headquarters

HQ city

Reykjavík

HQ country

Iceland

HQ region

Europe

Offices4 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Infrastructure, Technology or R&D, Operations

Revenue model

1. Government Funding: As a government institution under the Ministry of Environment, Energy and Climate, Veðurstofa Íslands is primarily funded through state budget allocations to fulfill its national monitoring and public safety mandates.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels5 records

Marketing channels6 records

Core offering

Veðurstofa Íslands operates as the Icelandic national meteorological, hydrological, and geological hazard service, delivering weather forecasts, hydrological monitoring, seismic and volcanic hazard monitoring, avalanche warnings, and specialized aviation and marine weather products. It serves the Icelandic public, civil aviation, maritime transport, energy producers, and government authorities with both free public forecasts and tailored professional services.

Product overview

Veðurstofa Íslands (Icelandic Meteorological Office) operates as a comprehensive environmental monitoring and forecasting agency offering multiple integrated services. The core offerings include weather forecasting (veðurspár), real-time weather observations (veðurathuganir), earthquake monitoring (jarðskjálftaeftirlit), and volcanic eruption monitoring (eldgosavöktun). These are supported by specialized services including aviation weather (flugveðurþjónusta), marine weather (sjóveður), hydrology (vatnafar), avalanche and flood monitoring (ofanflóðavöktun), climate services (loftslagsþjónusta), sea ice monitoring (hafísvöktun), and pollution monitoring (mengunarvöktun). The agency also provides a smartphone weather application (Veðurappið) and XML data services for third-party integration. Monitoring infrastructure includes 43+ seismic stations, GPS networks, weather stations, and water gauging stations distributed across Iceland, all accessible through the vedur.is web platform.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Public Weather Forecasts and Observations

Quantifiable outcome

• Approximately 90% of Icelanders rated Veðurstofa Íslands services as good or very good in 2008 survey, with 75% expressing high trust in the institution.
• +1 more outcomes

Named customers6 records

Segments6 records

Ideal customer profiles4 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

Yes

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration5 records

AI capability4 records

Feature6 records

Partnerships

Eight partnerships are on record, tiered major, core and minor.

• Climate and Energy Systems (CES) PartnershipmajorStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2007Nordic-Baltic research collaboration (2007-2010) examining climate impacts on energy systems and assessing development of the Nordic electricity system. Partners include meteorological institutes, energy agencies, universities, and research institutes from Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Latvia, Lithuania, Norway, Sweden, and others.
• BSI (British Standards Institution)coreOthers · 1 January 2006BSI provides certification services for Veðurstofa Íslands including ISO 9001 (quality management since 2006), ISO 27001 (information security since 2017), and equal pay certification.
• PREPARED Project (EU Fifth Framework Programme)majorStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2003EU-funded research project applying experience from large earthquakes in South Iceland seismic zone to develop technology for improving preparedness and mitigating risk. Contract EVG1-CT-2002-00073, coordinated by Ragnar Stefansson.
• ICAO (International Civil Aviation Organization)coreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 1948Since 1948, Veðurstofa Íslands has provided aviation weather services under ICAO agreements for flights over the North Atlantic. Special aviation weather office operated at Keflavík Airport from 1952 to 1979.
• EUMETSAT (European Organisation for the Exploitation of Satellite Systems)coreTechnology or IntegrationEUMETSAT is one of 30 member states of this European satellite systems organization. Iceland participates in the organization to improve weather forecasts, ensure monitoring of weather and climate, and support informed environmental decisions in Europe and beyond.
• UNESCO/Icelandic National Committee for the IHP (International Hydrological Programme)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerThe Icelandic Hydrological Committee manages international collaboration in hydrology within UNESCO's water program. The committee is appointed by the Minister of Culture, Innovation and Higher Education and Veðurstofa Íslands hosts its website.
• Nordic Volcanological CentermajorStrategic or Co-development PartnerCollaborative research institution with the Institute of Earth Sciences, University of Iceland, focused on volcanic activity monitoring and research in Iceland.
• University of UppsalaminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerCollaboration with researchers Reynir Böðvarsson, Ragnar Slunga, and Bjorn Lund from the University of Uppsala in Sweden on seismic research.

Scale indicators5 records

Recent moves8 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Broad incumbents

• Met Office (UK): The United Kingdom's national meteorological service, operating at much larger scale with aviation, defence, and commercial service arms; comparable in statutory mandate and product breadth but vastly larger in scope and resources.
• Environment and Climate Change Canada: Canadian federal department responsible for weather, climate, hydrology, and environmental monitoring, offering a comparable integrated mandate but operating across a vastly larger geography.
• Météo-France: France's national meteorological agency, providing public weather, climate, and atmospheric services with a comparable statutory mandate but operating at significantly greater scale and with broader international engagement.
• Deutscher Wetterdienst (DWD): Germany's national meteorological service, offering a comparable public-service mandate in weather, climate, and aviation forecasting with a much larger operational and headcount base.
• National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA): U.S. federal agency spanning weather, climate, ocean, and coastal services, including the National Weather Service; overlapping in mission but orders of magnitude larger in scope, budget, and infrastructure.

Direct peers

• Swedish Meteorological and Hydrological Institute (SMHI): Sweden's national meteorological and hydrological agency with an integrated mandate covering weather, hydrology, and oceanography — directly analogous to Veðurstofa Íslands after its 2009 merger with Vatnamælingar.
• KNMI (Royal Netherlands Meteorological Institute): The Netherlands' national weather service combining meteorological research and operational forecasting under a government mandate, structurally similar in size and integrated service delivery to Veðurstofa Íslands.
• Finnish Meteorological Institute (FMI): Finland's national meteorological institute providing integrated weather, climate, and atmospheric composition services, and serving as a fellow Nordic public-sector peer with comparable scope.
• Norwegian Meteorological Institute (MET Norway): Norway's national meteorological service, operating as a government agency with combined weather, climate, and ocean forecasting responsibilities and a Nordic operational profile closely comparable to Veðurstofa Íslands.

Emerging players

• Icelandic Institute of Earth Sciences (University of Iceland): University of Iceland research institute that partners with Veðurstofa Íslands on volcanic and earthquake research through the Nordic Volcanological Center; complementary rather than competitive, but operates in the same geophysical monitoring domain.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/vedurstofan
• Facebookfacebook.com/Vedurstofan
• YouTubeyoutube.com/watch?v=Lg5qmfcUiqE
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/icelandic-meteorological-office

Compliance3 records

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles1 record

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Veðurstofa Íslands