News

Nineteen speakers presented progress and challenges in Earth system data assimilation at ECMWF’s Annual Seminar from 10 to 13 September 2018. More than a hundred participants attended this flagship event in ECMWF’s calendar.

The Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service implemented by ECMWF has released a new global reanalysis of atmospheric composition for the period 2003–2016.

ECMWF’s Annual Seminar on ‘Earth system assimilation’ opened on 10 September. One of the speakers at the four-day event, ECMWF scientist Dinand Schepers, trained as an aerospace engineer before moving into Earth observations and their assimilation into Earth system models.

A group of scientists writing in Nature, including ECMWF's Vincent-Henri Peuch, have called for international action to improve air-quality forecasts worldwide to help reduce the death toll from air pollution. In a comment paper, they propose improvements in the areas of monitoring, modelling, interpretation, dissemination and training.

ECMWF supports the national meteorological services of its Member and Co-operating States and other users by providing them with state-of-the-art global weather predictions. A product launched in June enables users to visualise atmospheric conditions from the ground up to the lower stratosphere anywhere in the world.

The Aeolus satellite was launched successfully by the European Space Agency from the European spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana, on 22 August 2018. The mission is expected to improve weather forecasts by providing vital information on winds across the globe.

The first seven months of 2018 at ECMWF have seen a major upgrade of the Integrated Forecasting System; a series of events to drive forward numerical weather prediction; the launch of the Climate Data Store; and the appointment of a new Director of Computing.

The summer 2018 issue of the ECMWF Newsletter is now available. As well as news about ECMWF staff and events, it features articles about new developments and the use that can be made of ECMWF products.

ECMWF has substantially increased the amount of weather prediction data it makes available free of charge to Members of the World Meteorological Organization. The provision of the data is part of the Centre’s obligations as a World Meteorological Centre.

Finding better ways to couple small-scale physical processes and large-scale atmospheric dynamics in Earth system models could help to improve global weather forecasts, according to experts meeting at ECMWF from 10 to 12 July.