News

Sam Hatfield is looking at ways of reducing the computational cost of producing weather forecasts by using lower precision in the calculations. He will present his findings at ECMWF’s Annual Seminar, taking place in virtual format from 14 to 18 September.

A European project to build a monitoring and verification support capability for global emissions of carbon dioxide (CO2) related to human activities is on track to deliver a prototype system by 2023, ECMWF’s project coordinator says.

ECMWF news highlights in the first seven months of 2020 include an upgrade of ECMWF’s Integrated Forecasting System; a new supercomputer contract; projects and workshops to drive forward weather science; and new insights from the EU-funded Copernicus services implemented by ECMWF.

The summer 2020 issue of the ECMWF Newsletter is now available. As well as news about ECMWF staff and events, it features articles about new developments and the use that can be made of ECMWF products.

Prof. Tilmann Gneiting, Prof. Rupert Klein and Prof. Tim Palmer were appointed in July 2014. Their expertise and engagement have brought major benefits in areas including forecast calibration, numerical methods, and the use of reduced numerical precision within weather forecast simulations.

At its June meeting, ECMWF’s Council elected Gen. Isp. G.A. Silvio Cau as its President. The Council also noted expressions of interest from ten countries to host an additional ECMWF facility.

A wide-ranging upgrade of ECMWF’s Integrated Forecasting System (IFS), implemented on 30 June 2020, improves global weather forecasts and substantially improves analyses and forecasts in the stratosphere.

The ECMWF Annual Report 2019 is now available online. The report reviews improvements in forecast performance, advances in research, the Centre’s contributions to Europe’s Copernicus Earth observation programme, and preparations for the new data centre in Italy.

ECMWF scientist Mark Parrington studied physics to find out how the world works. Today he applies the skills he has acquired to tracking changes in atmospheric composition and communicating his findings to the public.

ECMWF virtually met its data, product and service users during this year’s Using ECMWF’s Forecasts event (UEF 2020) from 1 to 4 June 2020. The online meeting attracted 227 people from 43 countries