EFAS is versioned with a three-number system X.Y.Z responding to major, minor or patch update of the system correspondingly. A major change is always followed by a new release of the historical simulations.

This page keep track of the official releases of the EFAS system, including its components.

EFAS guidelines for versioning

ChangeReasonTypical scenariosRelease
MajorChange in the output from EFAS that affects EFAS dissemination centre, ERCC or Aristotle. Characterized by a change in the LISFLOOD model outputCalibration, major changes to the physics. Can also be a major technical change.Communicated 4 weeks before implementation. Associated with a period of testing for the users
MinorMajor technical change or minor change in the output.New layer, new product, change of format, update of thresholdsCommunicated 1 week before implementation
PatchBugfix or update of information in the system. Might affect post-processed layers, but have no impact on the model output.Bug fix, update of layer names, minor technical updatesAre immediately released into production

EFAS versions

Major releases

The version handling start from the release of the new domain on 16 May 2018. This marks the version "1.0.0". There was also a major new release on October 10 2019, resulting in the release of v2.0.0. This is also the start date of archiving in MARS and on CDS. The version 3.0.0 was released on 2019-05-13. EFAS version 3.5.0 was not a major release, since it mainly affected Albania. However, it was released with a new historical reanalysis.

VersionInternal IDReleased in testReleased in productionDocumentation
5.0.0202023-07-20 00UTC2023-09-20 00UTCEFAS v5.0
4.0.0192020-07-08 12UTC2020-10-14 12UTCEFAS v4.0
3.5.0*182020-02-20 12UTC2020-03-05 12UTCEFAS v3.5
3.0.0172019-04-17 12UTC2019-05-13 12UTCEFAS v3.0
2.0.0162018-10-10 12UTC2018-10-10 12UTCEFAS v2.0
1.0.0152018-05-16 12UTC2018-05-16 12UTCEFAS v1.0

*) This was not a major release, but a new climatology was produced since the model was recalibrated over Albania.

Minor and patch releases

The official version handling starts from the release of version 3.0 and is documented in the table below. The minor and patch releases are documented below. Items in italic are planned releases.

VersionReleased in productionComment
5.2.0

 

EFAS v5.2 introduces several minor changes to the system, including; Revised Notification criteria for Formal and Informal notifications, updates to station metadata, updated flood protection levels and major rivers layers, and updated documentation on FTP access.

5.1.1

 

Hotfix. The error in the computation of the initial conditions of EFAS version 5 forecasts has been corrected. See EFAS Known Issues page for details. 

5.1.0

 

EFAS v5.1 introduces several minor changes to the system, including; Updates to EFAS Hydrological post-processing and increased offering of monitoring and forecast variables. 

4.8.0

 

EFAS v4.8 integrates changes in its meteorological forcing with the use of the new version of the ECMWF-ENS ensemble forecasting system, introduced by IFS cycle 48r1.

4.7.0

 

EFAS v4.7 enables the visualisation of the new Global Flood Monitoring (GFM) products in the CEMS EFAS map viewer. 

4.6.0

 

EFAS v4.6 introduces minor changes to the system (additional information and model change) and some general bug fixes. This release is necessary due to the completed migration of the EFAS hydrological forecasting system to ECMWF’s new supercomputer in Bologna

4.5.0

 

EFAS v4.5 introduces minor changes to the system, as well as some general bug fixes. Here is a summary of the main changes: 

  • Updates to Post-Processing: Temporal resolution increased from daily to 6-hourly timesteps, where 6-hourly river discharge observations are available for at least two years and in near real-time. Recalibration of all 1606 station models using the most up-to-date data available (1419 at 6-hourly, 187 at daily). A new hydrological database set up by EFAS Hydrological Data Collection Centre (HYDRO) is now used to obtain river discharge observations.
  • Introducing new TAMIR layers with 4 new flash flood products displayed on EFAS-IS; Impact Catchment Summaries (0-120h), Impact Forecasts, Past 24-h Precipitation, Total Precipitation 80th Percentile. These products are produced by the blending of ensemble radar nowcasts from the pan-European OPERA network and the ECMWF ensemble weather forecasts. The products, with the exception of the past 24-h precipitation, are updated every hour with the latest radar information.
4.4.0

 

EFAS v4.4 introduces three minor changes to the system, as well as some general bug fixes. Here is a summary of the main changes:

  • Modifications to the Reporting Points layer – introducing a 20-year return period threshold (purple points) and updated dynamic reporting points algorithm, and reporting point thresholds to better align with the notification criteria. Minor changes also implemented in reporting points pop-up window
  • New ‘Probability persistence’ layer
  • Improvements to EFAS entries on the Climate Data Store (CDS): new functionality to subset the geographical area when downloading EFAS data, and availability of time-invariant variables on the CDS (including upstream area, elevation, soil depth, wilting point, and field capacity).
  • New calibration of the post-processed model and post-processed forecasts available for an additional 398 stations.
  • Upgrades to the EFAS Information System. Introducing two new layers (flood probability persistence and Social Media Activity Analysis), an EFAS informal feedback collection functionality, and a feature allowing to share information from the EFAS dashboard through social media
  • Significant updates to our CEMS-Flood documentation, with a new ‘CEMS-Flood Service User Guide’ (including information on data access, data catalog/structure/formats, and guides on how to work with CEMS-Floods data). New web address of the EFAS and GloFAS wikis has changed to: https://confluence.ecmwf.int/display/CEMS/CEMS-Flood
4.3.3

 

Bugfix for post-processing module.
4.3.2

 

Realignment of the data record time series used in the post-processing, so that a full 40 days of the water balance are used.
4.3.1

 

Upgrade of Drupal, the content management system underpinning the EFAS website (from version 8 to version 9). No new features, no visible changes for end-users.
4.3.0

 

EFAS v4.3 introduces three minor changes to the system, as well as some general bug fixes. Here is a summary of the main changes:

  • The addition of 75 new fixed reporting points (now 3162 in total).
  • EFAS historical simulation open in near-real-time as soon as the consolidated run is completed (expected 5 days behind time).
  • Seasonal forecast layer visible in EFAS-IS as soon as data is publicly available (expected 10th day of the month).
4.2.0

 

EFAS 4.2 mainly concerns the addition of new hydrological river discharge stations in relevant layers, wtih additional improvements and general bug fixes.

Here is a a summary of the main changes:

  • 436 new fixed reporting points (now 3087 in total)
  • 14 new points with post-processed medium-range forecasts (now 1200 in total)
  • Improved reporting points pop-up window:
    • Three values of probabilities now shown (2yr/5yr/20yr) together with persistence values (2yr/5yr/20yr)
    • 2-year RP persistency tables now available
  • Upgrade legends in EFAS-IS of some static fields layers
  • Updated legend of ERIC reporting point layer
  • Updated medium-range forecast skill layer
4.1.0

 

EFAS v4.1 is a change in the EFAS Flash Flood (ERIC) layer and general bug fixes. Here is a summary:

  • New criteria for plotting ERIC reporting points. They are now:
    • Catchments of less than 2000km2 (same threshold as before)
    • 30% of the ensemble forecast a flood magnitude threshold greater or equal to the 5yr return period threshold (it was 10% only for EFAS v4.0)
  • Bugfix to the method to calculate the lead time in the ERIC reporting points
  • Generate a spatial index file (.qix) with the ERIC reporting points to speed up the visualisation of the layer on EFAS-IS
  • EFAS v4.1 is a change in the EFAS Flash Flood (ERIC) layer and general bug fixes. EFAS v4.1 ERIC flash flood forecast skill

3.6.6

 

Update of ecflow
3.6.5

 

Default Magics version update
3.6.4

 

Station name update
3.6.3

 

Hotfix
3.6.2

 

Hotfix
3.6.1

 

Hotfix
3.6.0

 

EFAS version 3.6 contains some changes to the web interface. Here is a summary:

  • EFAS ERICHA status button to show the status of the ERICHA products detached from the status API 
  • Added a version number to the layer legend that is related to the date.
  • Added an automatic Kosovo disclaimer that will be attached at the bottom of the notification email in case it falls within the Kosovo Region
  • Revised the feedback workflow, now for the same formal notification multiple feedbacks can be submitted but at the same time it is allowed to receive only one feedback per partner, so if two users of the same partner submit a feedback for the same notification only one will be allowed the second one will receive a message that another users from the same partner have already submitted a feedback. 
3.5.1

 

Add River name and Catchment name to post-processing point
3.5.0

 

New climatology due to model updates over Albania. Several changes to EFAS-IS. See EFAS v3.5 for more details
3.4.1

 

Hotfix
3.4.0

 

EFAS version 3.4.0 incorporated a number of new features and updates of existing layers. Here is a summary: 

  • New product: Sub-seasonal hydrological outlook. For more detail please see here: Sub-seasonal outlook
  • New layer: National Flood Links; layer showing links to the national web-pages
  • Updgrade if the climatology for Seasonal outlooks
  • Upgraded ERICHA methodology (see ERICHA for more detail)
  • Upgrade in the visualisation of the ERIC layer to make its interpretation easier by enlarging only one triangle per administration region
  • Upgraded EFAS-SOS service (see EFAS SOS - Sensor Observation Service for more detail)
  • Revised website with more accessible training material
  • Update EFAS product generation: dynamic points too close to static points (5 pixels buffer) are now removed from the list of reporting points
3.3.3

 

Hotfix
3.3.2

 

Moved EFAS production suite to HPC
3.3.1

 

Hotfix
3.3.0

 

  • New reporting point layer which merged the previous reporting point layers and the real-time hydrographs into a single layer. For more information, please see  description on the EFAS-IS.
  • ERIC verification results for a 3 month period when using forced with soil moisture from the new LISVAP:  ERIC_newLISVAP_results.docx

3.2.3

 

New static layer added: Administrative regions.

Merged using NUTS-2 or NUTS-3 classification from EUROSTAT 2016 and the region classification from GADM.

3.2.2

 

Hotfix
3.2.1

 

Hotfix
3.2.0

 

Fix for alert persistence issue
3.1.3

 

Hotfix
3.1.2

 

Hotfix
3.1.1

 

Hotfix

3.1.0

 

Intermediate technical upgrade: EFAS forecast summary tasks moved to "prodgen" package; reshuffling of code
3.0.12

 

Hotfix

3.0.11

 

Hotfix
3.0.10

 

Hotfix
3.0.9

 

Hotfix
3.0.8

 

Hotfix
3.0.7

 

Update of plots
3.0.6

 

Update of obs retrieval
3.0.5

 

Hotfix
3.0.4

 

Hotfix
3.0.3

 

SFO MARS Archiving - Added 30 day delay
3.0.2

 

Added detailed logging to the ERICHA suite
3.0.1

 

Storing EFAS version number in a text file together with the archived data

EFAS input data versions

EFAS versionData versionIdentifier
1.0.0 ~ 3.4.x1.0XDOM
3.5.x1.1Update of static maps over Albania only
4.x.x2.0HPROT