Blog from August, 2018

New release: OpenIFS40r1v2

OpenIFS 40r1 has been updated and a new version oifs40r1v2 is now available.

For more information, see Release Notes for OpenIFS 40r1v2.

The main modifications are as follows:

  • OpenIFS 40r1 is extended with an evaluation tool based on Metview macros. The new package makes it possible also to assess the meteorological performance of OpenIFS based on two sets of case studies. Input data, the Metview visualisation programs with detailed guidance and output figures are available for download. For further information please see the article in the latest Newsletter issue:
    https://www.ecmwf.int/en/newsletter/156/news/new-forecast-evaluation-tool-openifs.
  • The semi-Lagrangian (SETTLS) scheme is modified for improved stratospheric warming forecasts and various improvements for the semi-Lagrangian interpolation and mass fixers.
  • OpenIFS modified to use ecCodes. As grib-api will not be supported after the end of 2018, we recommend users migrate to ecCodes.

Note OpenIFS 40r1v2 will not produce the same meteorological results as the previous releases 40r1 (40r1v1 and 40r1v1.1).


The OpenIFS team would like to acknowledge the research and support of ECMWF scientists involved in this release and the contribution of the OpenIFS users.

OpenIFS 40r1 close to retirement
This is the final release of OpenIFS 40r1, we will not be making any further updates to 40r1 versions. Depending on which versions of 40r1 users are working with, they are all still supported.

OpenIFS User Forums
We encourage users to post issues/questions/discussion on the OpenIFS User Forums. This ensures answers are available for all to see.  An ECMWF web account is required to post to the forums.
See: https://confluence.ecmwf.int/display/OIFSUF/OpenIFS+User+Forums