22 January 2019
Dear colleagues,
As you are aware, ECMWF is in the process of changing the Product Generation software that produces the real-time dissemination files.
The testing phase for the new Product Generation with the new interpolation library, MIR, has now been completed and the implementation phase will start.
We plan to migrate sites to the new software in batches over the next few weeks. We will contact each site two weeks in advance to arrange a date for the migration to the new software. We aim to complete the implementation phase by Tuesday 9 April 2019, when the remaining sites will be migrated. By that date all data will be produced by the new Product Generation software and the old system decommissioned.
For further information about this change and potential differences that could affect your operational systems, please see New Product Generation Software.
ECMWF thanks everyone for testing and providing feedback on the files created with the new software. This has helped to identify and address any issues with the data.
28 November 2018
Dear colleagues,
We would like to remind you of the importance of the testing phase for the new Product Generation with the new interpolation library, MIR.
What we are changing
We are changing the software that produces the real-time dissemination files.
Why this change may affect you
The files produced by the new software may present differences that could affect your operational systems. Read about the potential differences here
What you need to do
You need to test the data provided by the new system and give feedback by 14 of January. See how to test data here
Please inform Data.Services@ecmwf.int with the results of your tests or if any assistance is required during the test phase.
What we will do
Based on the feedback we will organise the migration of your files to the new system.
The migration will be done over a period of three months, if we do not hear from you by 14 of January we will assume that no issues have arisen from your tests and you will be assigned a migration date.
6 November 2018
Dear colleagues,
ECMWF has been working over the last year on a software development project to integrate the new interpolation library, MIR, into the software that produces real-time products, known as Product Generation.
As part of this project, ECMWF has performed extensive tests to ensure that products disseminated match the specifications. We would now like to prompt all users to test the products generated by this new software.
For the majority of the users, the only impact of this change will be the results of a much improved interpolation library. However, we are aware that the data files produced by the new software will present some differences compared to the present files:
- Values are different because of the different interpolation library used. These differences are similar to those arising from a change of the forecast model.
- GRIB header values defining the area may be slightly different in some cases. Usually these are related to the different precision and does not affect the number of points provided.
It is very important for you to test to ensure that there are no disruptions to your operations. Users that have already tested the products as part of the earlier testing phase do not need to test further.
We are planning to release the new Product Generation software by the end of November and migrate all users within a three month period. A follow-up announcement will be sent when the new Product Generation system comes into operations.
Please refer to the page below for information on how to access the test data, the project timeline and differences presented by the new data files:
New product generation software - spring 2019
Please inform Data.Services@ecmwf.int if you encounter any issues when testing the new files or if we need to contact someone else from your organisation to perform the tests.
We would like to thank you in advance for taking the time to perform these tests.
Best Regards
ECMWF Data Services