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ECMWF makes more products freely available to WMO Members

Umberto Modigliani, Emma Pidduck

 

ECMWF has substantially increased the amount of weather prediction products it makes available free of charge to Members of the World Meteorological Organization (WMO). All the static web charts and the Ensemble Meteogram on the ECMWF website are now available free of charge to all WMO Members. The additional products enable a much more comprehensive view than before of atmospheric conditions as predicted by ECMWF, including near-surface weather conditions. This will help users to make better assessments of weather-related risks. Registered national meteorological and hydrological services (NMHSs) have been able to access the new data since 24 July 2019. Products are available for both probabilistic and deterministic forecasts. These changes help to provide forecasters in the NMHSs of WMO Members with the information they need to carry out their operational activities.

%3Cstrong%3E%20Extreme%20Forecast%20Index%20for%20temperature.%3C/strong%3E%20%20Additional%20products%20available%20to%20WMO%20Members%20include%20static%20charts%20such%20as%20the%20Extreme%20Forecast%20Index%20(EFI)%20for%202%C2%A0m%20temperature.%20The%20left%E2%80%91hand%20panel%20shows%20the%20EFI%20(shading%20and%20dashed%20contours)%20and%20the%20Shift%20of%20Tails%20(SOT)%20(solid%20contours)%20from%2000%C2%A0UTC%20on%202%C2%A0October%202019%20for%2072-hour%202%C2%A0m%20mean%20temperature%20valid%20from%208%C2%A0to%2011%C2%A0October%202019.%20The%20right-hand%20panel%20shows%20the%2099th%20percentile%20of%20the%20corresponding%20model%20climate%20for%20those%20days%20(i.e.%20on%201%C2%A0in%C2%A0100%20occasions%20the%202%C2%A0m%20mean%20temperature%20is%20less%20than%20the%20value%20shown).
Extreme Forecast Index for temperature. Additional products available to WMO Members include static charts such as the Extreme Forecast Index (EFI) for 2 m temperature. The left‑hand panel shows the EFI (shading and dashed contours) and the Shift of Tails (SOT) (solid contours) from 00 UTC on 2 October 2019 for 72-hour 2 m mean temperature valid from 8 to 11 October 2019. The right-hand panel shows the 99th percentile of the corresponding model climate for those days (i.e. on 1 in 100 occasions the 2 m mean temperature is less than the value shown).

ECMWF has also reduced the cost of the NMHS web non-commercial licence, which gives access to the ecCharts service, from €3,500 to €1,000 per year. In addition, as an alternative to the fixed-price NMHS ‘full’ non-commercial licence (€44,400 per year), ECMWF has introduced a cheaper ‘standard’ licence which provides access to a fixed dataset of the licensee’s specification for a reduced fee.

All these changes will allow WMO Members to access a much wider range of ECMWF products. The changes were approved by the ECMWF Council at its June 2019 session and are part of the Centre’s efforts to serve WMO Members.

For information about the licences available from ECMWF, see: https://www.ecmwf.int/en/forecasts/accessing-forecasts/licences-available.