We are working on the new model upgrade (Cy47r1). A low-risk approach has been taken when putting together the cycle, therefore the impact to users is not expected to be large. Some science testing is still underway and, once this is complete, there will be a few months of further testing in a pre-operational phase. The new model upgrade should be put into operation in summer 2020, before the migration of the operational activities to Bologna.
The main scientific contributions to Cy47r1 are expected to be:
- A new formulation of weak-constraint 4D-Var
- Quintic vertical interpolation in the semi-Lagrangian update (which together with the above gives improvements in the stratosphere)
- MODIS land surface albedo changes which are beneficial for the for 2m temperature forecasts
- Shorter, 450-second time-step in last minimisation to ensure consistency with the outer loop time-step, thus removing spurious gravity waves and improving scores
- The ‘first guess’ from the most recent early delivery run in the long-window data assimilation (LWDA) analysis is used to further improve the continuous data assimilation introduced in Cy46r1
- Changes to high wind drag over the ocean to address a long-standing problem with the wind-pressure relationship in tropical cyclones.
In spring 2020 we will run a couple of webinars to detail the benefits of the new cycle
Dear Colleague,
As part of its efforts to produce the best possible analysis, ECMWF continuously reacts to changes in the observing system. Actions are taken to blacklist suspected observations and to allow the use of trusted and tested datasets. Records are kept for of all the events that affected the observing system used at ECMWF. Such information might be of interest to ECMWF's forecast users and to the wide NWP community. The list of the main data events is now made available to ECMWF forecast users at:
https://confluence.ecmwf.int/display/FCST/Observations+data+events
The list is updated manually on a regular and best effort basis.
If you have any questions about this new resource information, please do not hesitate to contact servicedesk@ecmwf.int
Best regards
Prof. Florian Pappenberger
Director of Forecasts
ecCharts-2 is now in production. ecCharts URL (https://www.ecmwf.int/en/forecasts/eccharts) and Dashboard URL ( https://www.ecmwf.int/en/forecasts/dashboard) point to the new system.
The previous ecCharts service will be available until the beginning of June 2020 at the URL https://www.ecmwf.int/en/forecasts/eccharts-1 .
Please update any ecCharts-2 bookmarks before the middle of June 2020, as redirection of ecCharts-2 to ecCharts will not be active after that.
Details for ecCharts November 2019 updates (including sharing in ecCharts and new layers), are available at the link below;
https://confluence.ecmwf.int/display/ECCHARTS/ecCharts+updates+-+November+2019
If you would like to report any issues or provide feedback, please contact developers at
eccharts-2@ecmwf.int.
Dear Colleagues,
Please note that the HRES Stand Alone Wave model (HRES-SAW : [https://www.ecmwf.int/en/forecasts/datasets/set-ii]) will be discontinued on 7 January 2020 after the 00 UTC run, as previously announced.
From this date onwards, you will need to acquire the equivalent products from the fully-coupled HRES WAve Model (HRES-WAM) product set. You can find additional information on how to change dissemination or your MARS retrievals at the following link:
How to access HRES-WAM (WAve Model) test data
ECMWF has implemented several changes which will improve access to its products by the WMO National Meteorological and Hydrological Services. All the static web charts and the ENSgrams on the ECMWF website are now available free of charge to all WMO Members. Additionally, the cost of the web products licence has also been reduced, and a new data licence with a lower fee has been introduced.
We would like to take this opportunity to present these changes and more on the products and licenses currently available to WMO National Meteorological and Hydrological Services in a short webinar, conducted in English. As we understand our audience may come from all over the world, this webinar will be held on Tuesday 5 November at two different times:
- Tuesday 5 November 9:00 UTC
- Tuesday 5 November 16:00 UTC
You may distribute this invitation to whoever you think could be interested. The webinar will be broadcast in Bluejeans, a videoconferencing system that does not require any installation of extra software to join. We recommend connecting at least 15 minutes before the start, using the following link:
ECMWF is pleased to announce that new, experimental "Point Rainfall" products are being introduced onto the ecCharts platform on Wednesday 17 April.
There is a new section in the Forecast User Guide to describe the products and how to use them (here).
At the June 2018 UEF meeting at ECMWF, during the "User Voice Corner" feedback session, users raised a number of issues. At the following link we itemise the main ones and provide an update on related ECMWF activities:
ECMWF is now actively planning the implementation of the new cycle 46r1 version of the integrated forecasting system (IFS).
IFS cycle 46r1 is an upgrade with contributions from many of our scientific streams, including major changes in data assimilation, in the use of observations, and in modelling. Major changes in IFS cycle 46r1 are the introduction of the continuous Data Assimilation scheme and the upgrade to a 50 members Ensemble Data Assimilation system. The new cycle does not contain changes of resolutions.
The implementation of cycle 46r1 is planned for early June 2019.
A dedicated information page for this change is available at
https://confluence.ecmwf.int/display/FCST/Implementation+of+IFS+cycle+46r1
Please note that we are planning two live-streamed seminars, the first one describing the scientific changes in the new cycle and the second one to cover its meteorological impact. Details are available at the above link.
The "Known IFS forecasting issues" web page, and the online "Forecast User Guide" have both just been updated by ECMWF. The changes relate in part to model cycle 45r1 which went live in early June.
The User Guide includes new sections, which describe how to use (a) new Lightning diagnostics, and (b) the new Vertical Profiles tool within ecCharts.
ECMWF informed all ecCharts users on the latest update to this service.
Highlight of the June 2018 update is the addition of ENS vertical profiles. New layers for ENS, and HRES have also been added and other improvements made.
Full details of this update are available at ecCharts updates - June 2018
A new web-based ECMWF Forecast User Guide has been released today:
To read more about this: "In Focus" news item
To see the guide: Forecast User Guide - Introduction
We are pleased to inform you that ECMWF is making good progress with the forthcoming implementation of cycle 45r1 of the Integrated Forecasting System (IFS). The cycle is now entering the release candidate phase. Test data are available through the dissemination. Details of the meteorological and technical changes in this cycle, together with information about the forecast performance (including scorecards), can be found at: https://confluence.ecmwf.int/display/FCST/Implementation+of+IFS+cycle+45r1 The implementation of the new cycle is scheduled for Tuesday 5 June 2018. The first operational run using the new cycle will be the 06 UTC analysis and forecast in the Boundary Conditions Optional Programme on 5 June followed by the 12 UTC main assimilation and forecast. The monthly forecast extension to the ensemble will be run with the new IFS cycle for the first time the following Thursday 7 June 2018. Please note that there will be no further communication on the implementation of 45r1 unless the implementation date changes.
ECMWF's new Data Centre will be located in Bologna, Italy, by 2019. We are glad to announce a new dedicated wiki page containing user information on the migration of ECMWF's services to Bologna: https://confluence.ecmwf.int/display/UDOC/Bologna+-+New+Data+Centre May we encourage you to "watch" the above web page to obtain notification of further updates on the Computer users services in Bologna. We have also created a mailing list to keep you informed about the relocation in Bologna. To subscribe to or unsubscribe from this list, please send an email to bologna-data-centre-users-request at lists.ecmwf.int with the word subscribe or unsubscribe as Subject. Many of the systems and services currently available in Reading will be moved to Bologna. We have agreed to decommission a number of older software packages with the relocation to Bologna. The two main software packages not ported to Bologna will be SMS and EMOSLIB. We have started advertising MIR, in replacement of EMOSLIB and will contact SMS users about the migration to ecflow. See the above link for more details on the services to be decommissioned. If you have any queries about the migration of ECMWF's services to Bologna, please do contact our Service Desk at servicedesk @ ecmwf.int. Best regards, Dominique Lucas, for User Support
Dear Colleagues, ECMWF is preparing for the forthcoming implementation of the 45r1 version of the integrated forecasting system (IFS). IFS Cycle 45r1 is an upgrade with many scientific contributions, including changes in data assimilation, in the use of observations, and in modelling, e.g. the coupling of the ocean and atmospheric models in HRES. New lightning and CAPE fields are also available with this new cycle. The new cycle does not contain changes of resolutions. The implementation is planned for 5 June 2018. A dedicated information web page for this change has been prepared and is available at: https://confluence.ecmwf.int/display/FCST/Implementation+of+IFS+cycle+45r1 May we encourage you to "watch" the above web page to obtain notification of further updates. A mailing list has also been created to inform interested parties about operational changes taking place at ECMWF. To subscribe to or unsubscribe, please send an email to: forecast_changes-request@lists.ecmwf.int <mailto:forecast_changes-request@lists.ecmwf.int> with the word subscribe or unsubscribe as Subject. Best regards Dr. Alfred Hofstadler Acting Director of Forecasts
ECMWF reported on the status of some requests put forward by users during the User Voice Corner feedback session at the UEF meeting held in June 2017.
UEF 2017 - User Voice Corner (feedback session) follow up provides a detailed description of the current status.