As the UK’s national metrology institute, the National Physical Laboratory (NPL) has underpinned the national measurement system since its establishment in 1900, ensuring consistency and traceability of measurements throughout the UK (and many other institutes around the world). It ensures international equivalence of the SI through representation (as the UK delegates) in committees related to the Metre Convention and participation within formal comparisons.
NPL has been a thought-leader in the metrology community, being the first national metrology institute to have all its services fully and independently accredited to ISO 9001, and most of its measurement services independently accredited to ISO 17025.
Many of the primary optical radiometric techniques now being used throughout the world (including the development of the primary standard, the cryogenic radiometer) were pioneered at NPL. NPL has also taken a leading role in establishing a strong connection between metrology and Earth Observation.
In the field of Earth Observation, NPL has been developing best practice guidance in conjunction with the community for detailed but generic Cal/Val activities, with specific organisations for particular measurement issues, and more generally in developing guidelines to support the QA4EO, which is gradually being adopted by ESA and other space agencies http://QA4EO.org.
QA4EO informed the ESA Fiducial Reference Measurement (FRM) initiative where NPL coordinated the FRM4STS (surface temperature from satellite) project and was a key partner in the FRM4SOC project. It also leads on the development of QA systems and processes for the EU climate services initiative through, for example, the EU-ECMWF Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S) project and H2020 projects FIDUCEO and GAIA-CLIM.
