For the last 15 years, the CALIPSO satellite has been providing a unique, three-dimensional view of clouds and aerosols. Our scientists look back at its contribution to weather forecasting and atmospheric monitoring.
Science blog
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28 June 2021
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2 June 2021Irina Sandu and Bjorn Stevens present a European effort to build the next generation of Earth system models in the H2020 project NextGEMS.
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26 April 2021Patricia De Rosnay and colleagues discuss a recent study which uses neural network techniques to derive soil moisture from satellite observations. Neural networks are shown to outperform operational methods in some regions.
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12 April 2021The machine learning for scalable meteorology and climate (MAELSTROM) project began in April 2021. Peter Dueben, project coordinator, talks about its aims and the importance of co-design projects for concerted developments of applications, software, and hardware design.
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22 March 2021Data from surface-based observations are vital for skilful forecasts, but significant areas of the globe remain comparatively poorly observed. Bruce Ingleby looks at the role that surface-based observations play and the impact of gaps in coverage.
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1 March 2021Following a recent publication, Nikolaos Mastrantonas discusses the spatio-temporal characteristics of extreme precipitation events across the Mediterranean and their connection to large-scale atmospheric flow patterns.
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8 January 2021Irina Sandu and François Massonnet (Université Catholique de Louvain) discuss polar observations, their impact on forecasting, and how the development of observing systems goes hand in hand with the development of numerical prediction systems.
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18 December 2020Sean Healy has had a crazy year – and for a change we are not talking about COVID. Despite the restrictions of working from home, Sean and colleagues at the Centre have achieved remarkable progress in the use of data from global satellite navigation systems to improve our forecasts.
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6 November 2020ECMWF Fellow Louise Nuijens is daydreaming about a field campaign in Barbados earlier this year. Working with us, she is analysing the observations that were collected there, to understand how clouds affect and are affected by the wind.
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26 October 2020Julia Wagemann and Esperanza Cuartero discuss the exciting developments from this summer's ESoWC, which gives developers the opportunity to work with ECMWF mentors to solve a range of challenges facing the Centre.
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1 October 2020Colleagues from the Karlsruhe Institute for Technology join with ECMWF staff to discuss improvements in our understanding of how aerosols, clouds and radiation affect the monsoon rains of southern West Africa.
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15 September 2020Given that data assimilation is such a central aspect of ECMWF’s work, Geir Evensen was invited to present a seminar and a blog covering his work on its use in modelling aspects of the COVID-19 pandemic.
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21 August 2020Emmanuel Rouges and Nikolaos Mastrantonas are investigating predictability on the challenging sub-seasonal (or extended-range) timescale, focusing on extreme conditions over Europe, as part of the EU CAFE project.
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22 June 2020Nils Wedi describes the first ever 1 km seasonal timescale simulation of the atmosphere, run on the fastest computer in the world (as of November 2019). Modelling weather in such unprecedented detail is offering exciting opportunities to advance weather and climate prediction, and the testing of new satellite observations.
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19 May 2020Jonny Day and Gabriele Arduini discuss how they are using Finnish Meteorological Institute observations at a snow-covered boreal site in Lapland to improve the ECMWF snow model and forecasts in Northern Europe.
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28 April 2020ECMWF’s first science and art exhibition proved a great success. It demonstrated the importance of art as a way of engaging an audience, stimulating dialogue and encouraging the creativity which is at the heart of the Centre's scientific excellence.
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6 April 2020David Lavers relates his experience on a research aircraft flight to observe atmospheric rivers and the benefits such observations can bring to forecasts of precipitation and flooding.
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5 March 2020After spending a week at the ambitious EUREC4A observing campaign, Irina Sandu shares her excitement about how this major German-French led international effort can change our understanding of the coupling between clouds and circulation, and their representation in weather and climate models.
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14 January 2020Polly Schmederer looks at how measurements from observational super-sites are helping to better understand errors in forecasts of near-surface temperature.