This page has information on the releases available for OpenIFS
Licensing - see this page for information about the licensing of OpenIFS models.
Get OpenIFS - see this page for how to obtain a licence for the OpenIFS models.
Available releases
Please note, we do not provide OpenIFS versions for each IFS release. IFS releases are typically once or twice a year. OpenIFS versions are released less frequently and typically linked to significant scientific enhancements of IFS.
Cycle 40r1
The single column model at cycle 40r1 is available from the OpenIFS ftp site for download. The OpenIFS cycle 40r1 model is currently under evaluation before general release. The Offline Surface Model is available upon request to licensed users. Please contact openifs-support@ecmwf.int.
For a detailed description of this cycle, please see: Cycle 40r1 description. IFS CY40R1 was operational from Nov 2013 to May 2015.
Cycle 38r1
This is the first version of the OpenIFS models, released is 2012. The OpenIFS model is based on IFS cycle 38r1 but does not include the data assimilation nor the wave model. IFS CY38R1 was operational from June 2012 to June 2013.
For a detailed description of this cycle, please see: Cycle 38r1 description.
Licensed users can obtain the 38r1 models from the OpenIFS ftp site, please see User Guide for more details.
OpenIFS versioning
OpenIFS version numbers are of the form: CY40R1V1.
'CY' means IFS model 'cycle'. 'R' refers to the IFS model release. The 'V1' refers solely to OpenIFS and is the version of OpenIFS based on that IFS cycle and release.
ECMWF and Meteo-France jointly develop the IFS model. A new cycle is formed when the two centres merge their code changes. A model release is specific to ECMWF (the 'R' actually represents 'Reading,UK').
The version number is specific to OpenIFS. As OpenIFS model versions have a much longer lifetime than IFS versions, OpenIFS is periodically updated with: technical changes for new compiler versions, new hardware, bugfixes from more recent IFS releases, new functionality and so on.
Changes to the version number will not alter the model's results. Only changes to the cycle and release number will alter the scientific results from the model.