The AIFS (Artificial Intelligence Forecasting System) is ECMWF's machine-learning forecasting system. Its real-time output is published as open data, free of charge, under the Creative Commons CC-BY-4.0 licence and the ECMWF Terms of Use, with appropriate attribution. Data are released as soon as they are produced and kept for up to four days on the ECMWF open-data platform (longer on some mirrors).
| Model | Request keyword | What it is | Data from |
|---|---|---|---|
| AIFS Single | model=aifs-single | Deterministic machine-learning forecast | February 2025 |
| AIFS ENS | model=aifs-ens (aifs-ens-crps in MARS) | Ensemble machine-learning forecast | July 2025 |
Both models are on a 0.25° global grid in GRIB edition 2, with 6-hourly steps out to 15 days (360h), on the same dissemination schedule as the IFS open data.
| Model | Stream | Type | What it is | Format |
|---|---|---|---|---|
aifs-single | oper | fc | Deterministic forecast | GRIB2 |
aifs-ens | enfo | pf (use cf for the control member; ep for probabilities) | Ensemble forecast | GRIB2 |
Parameters are listed in the ECMWF shopping-cart tool under Group D: AIFS; see the AIFS machine-learning dataset pages for the full product list.
AIFS products use a different file-naming convention from the IFS. Build AIFS requests with the |
AIFS open data is available from the same locations as the IFS open data (see Getting the data). With the Python package, set the model explicitly.
AIFS Single (deterministic):
from ecmwf.opendata import Client
client = Client(source="ecmwf", model="aifs-single")
client.retrieve(
stream="oper", type="fc", param="2t",
step=24, target="aifs-2t-step24.grib2",
) |
AIFS ENS (ensemble — one perturbed member of mean sea-level pressure):
from ecmwf.opendata import Client
client = Client(source="ecmwf", model="aifs-ens")
client.retrieve(
time=0, stream="enfo", type="pf", number=1,
param="msl", target="aifs-ens-msl.grib2",
) |
class=ai and model=aifs-single or model=aifs-ens.model keyword (aifs-single; aifs-ens-crps for the ensemble). AIFS Single from February 2025, AIFS ENS from July 2025.