Scope
SFTP/HTTPS access to real-time data from the CAMS European air quality forecasts (multi-model ensemble only) is provided from the ECMWF Data Portal. This service is recommended for time-critical applications only. The same data is otherwise made available from the Atmosphere Data Store and may be retrieved either interactively over the ADS web interface (Download form) or programmatically using the API service.
Note: While FTP is also available, it is, by default, an insecure File Transfer Protocol. Users are therefore advised to use SFTP instead (secure, interactive file transfer protocol over SSH). HTTPS is a secure web protocol used for secure data transfer over the internet, primarily for web content and APIs.
User accounts
To get access to CAMS European air quality forecasts, you need user accounts on the ECMWF website and on the ECMWF Data Store (for SFTP service).
- Log on to Atmosphere Data Store (ADS)(ECMWF login required - If you do not have an account create one)
- Download a small data sample of the CAMS European air quality forecast data using the ADS web interface (CAMS European Air Quality forecasts download form) - you will need to accept the data licence.
- Contact us by creating a ticket through the ECMWF Support Portal, providing
- the user name you used to log in to download the CAMS data sample.
- confirmation that you accepted the dataset licence and successfully downloaded a small data sample.
- for our service planning, a brief description of how you intend to use the data, and which chemical species are most relevant for you
Data location
SFTP/HTTPS server | |
|---|---|
Data directories | /DATA/CAMS_EUROPE_AIR_QUALITY/forecast/${YYYY-MM-DD}/ensemble/<parameter> |
Retention policy | Data is kept for 3 days |
File naming convention
The CAMS_EUROPE_AIR_QUALITY file naming convention is as follows:
cams.eaq.forecast.ensemble.parameter.Lllll.yyyy-mm-dd.[grib|nc]
Where:
param | is the parameter |
Lllll | vertical level e.g. L5000 |
yyyy-mm-dd | is the base date of the forecast. |
| is the format of a file, GRIB or NETCDF |
Data organisation
The datasets are grouped by type of product (forecast), model (ensemble) and parameter. For the forecast, all steps are made available within one same file.
CAMS_EUROPE_AIR_QUALITY Example:
cams.eaq.forecast.ensemble.secondary_inorganic_aerosol.L5000.2025-11-14.nc contains the forecast field (all steps) of secondary inorganic aerosol from the ensemble model at pressure level 5000m, for 11th November 2025 in NetCDF file format (.nc).
Data availability
As soon as the data has been made available by the data provider (see delivery details here), the data is transferred to the sftp server. On transfer completion, a manifest file is uploaded (at the model directory level):
CAMS_ensemble_forecast_2025-11-14.md5This is a text file which contains the list of all the files and their MD5 checksums and is uploaded only when all the data is available.
List of available parameters
The list of the parameters is available here: CAMS Regional: European air quality analysis and forecast data documentation#Productlistings(includingpollen)
Attribution
In addition to the requirements of the applicable license, users must provide clear and visible attribution to the Copernicus programme and attribute each data product used;
Copernicus programme:
[Generated using/Contains modified] Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service information [year]. Neither the European Commission nor ECMWF is responsible for any use that may be made of the Copernicus information or data it contains.
