University’s autumn orienteering course marks 160 years of meteorology in Tartu

From 13 October to 16 November, the university family and all others are invited to complete the orienteering course “160 years of making sense of weather observations”.

The University of Tartu orienteering course of autumn 2025 is dedicated to the history of the University of Tartu Meteorological Observatory (Metobs). The opening of the weather station of the University of Tartu on 2 December 1865 – 160 years ago – was a landmark event in the history of Estonian meteorology. In 1876, the station was officially named the University of Tartu Meteorological Observatory, or Metobs for short. The orienteering course consists of 21 sights related to Metobs.

The course has been compiled by geographer Arvo Järvet, meteorologist and climatologist Ain Kallis, University of Tartu Research Fellow in Remote Sensing of Landscapes Liisi Jakobson, Professor emeritus and Visiting Professor of Climatology Jaak Jaagus, Research Secretary Ken Ird, Associate Professor in Estonian Geography Taavi Pae, Professor of Climate Science Piia Post, Research Fellow in Physical Geography Mait Sepp and Research Fellow in Aerosol Physics Sander Mirme.

How to start orienteering?

• Download the orienteering map to your smart device, print it or get it from the front desk of the UT main building (Ülikooli 18), UT Museum (Lossi 25), the Delta academic and research building (Narva mnt 18), Biomedicum (Ravila 19), Chemicum (Ravila 14a), Physicum (W. Ostwaldi 1), the Institute of Technology (Nooruse 1), the UT library (W. Struve 1) or the academic buildings at Lossi 36 or Vanemuise 46.
• Before you start, get acquainted with the orienteering map symbols.
• When you arrive at a checkpoint, scan the QR code with your phone. Make sure your phone has an app for reading QR codes.
• The course passes residential areas and runs in streets, green areas and other public places. Be careful in traffic! There are several objects on the course (e.g. fences, walls, flowerbeds or hedges) that you are not allowed to cross. Similarly, do not enter private yards that are marked respectively. On the map, “no entry” areas are marked by the thick black line (fence, wall) and moss green colour.

Who wins?

The orienteering course is a recreational sports event for the whole university community. Several University of Tartu gifts will be raffled among all registered participants. To give chance a chance, let us know that you went orienteering.

From 12 June to 21 September, everyone could complete the university’s summer orienteering course “Exploring Tartu along Struve Geodetic Arc”. As many as 69 teams registered their participation. The staff and students of the University of Tartu Faculty of Science and Technology were the most active to participate. Everyone who won a gift in the summer orienteering prize raffle will be contacted by email.