News

The autumn 2018 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.

Every 13 October, the UN-sponsored International Day for Disaster Reduction celebrates how people and communities around the world are reducing their exposure to disasters. From storms, droughts and heatwaves to floods and wildfires, many disasters are weather-related.

ECMWF is pleased to announce that the hourly data and 06/18 UTC forecast runs from its Boundary Conditions Optional Programme are now available to all users holding a real-time licence, upon request.

The ESCAPE-2 project on energy-efficient scalable algorithms for weather and climate prediction at the exascale was formally launched with a kick-off meeting at ECMWF from 2 to 4 October 2018. It will build on the success of the ESCAPE project, which has achieved remarkable gains in computing efficiency.

The launch of the Metop-C satellite, scheduled for 7 November 2018, will ensure the continuous supply of crucial data to help initialise numerical weather prediction models for years to come. Having three Metop satellites in orbit will open the door to innovative uses of the data.

ECMWF is now accepting applications for its 2019 training courses. The programme includes courses on ECMWF forecast products, software packages and applications and on numerical weather prediction (NWP).

Nineteen speakers presented progress and challenges in Earth system data assimilation at ECMWF’s Annual Seminar from 10 to 13 September 2018. More than a hundred participants attended this flagship event in ECMWF’s calendar.

The Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service implemented by ECMWF has released a new global reanalysis of atmospheric composition for the period 2003–2016.

ECMWF’s Annual Seminar on ‘Earth system assimilation’ opened on 10 September. One of the speakers at the four-day event, ECMWF scientist Dinand Schepers, trained as an aerospace engineer before moving into Earth observations and their assimilation into Earth system models.

A group of scientists writing in Nature, including ECMWF's Vincent-Henri Peuch, have called for international action to improve air-quality forecasts worldwide to help reduce the death toll from air pollution. In a comment paper, they propose improvements in the areas of monitoring, modelling, interpretation, dissemination and training.