News

Since 2004 HEPEX has developed into a broad network of scientists, forecasting groups, and end-users

ECMWF is launching a new fellowship programme to foster collaboration with renowned international scientists. July 2014 marks the start of a three-year tenure for the first ECMWF Fellows: Professor Tilmann Gneiting, Professor Rupert Klein and Professor Tim Palmer.

The European Union Council’s Space Working Party visited EUMETSAT on June 17 for a series of presentations demonstrating the organisation’s central role in bringing data to Copernicus services’ and their end users.

ECMWF met its data users at the ‘Using ECMWF’s Forecasts’ (UEF2014) meeting from 4 to 6 June 2014.

An international audience of more than 80 professionals from national meteorological services, commercial businesses and international organisations met at ECMWF to learn about new developments, exchange ideas on the use of ECMWF data and share their experiences. For ECMWF, the meeting was a valuable opportunity to gather feedback on its forecast performance and services.

The Italian Ambassador in London, His Excellency Pasquale Terracciano, and the Scientific attaché, Prof. Roberto di Lauro, were at ECMWF on 6 June 2014. This was the first visit by an Italian Ambassador since ECMWF was established in 1975.

The Director-General, Prof. Alan Thorpe, highlighted the important role of Italy as one of ECMWF’s Member States in providing the resources needed to develop research and operational programmes.

ECMWF hosted the 2014 meeting of the Waves In Shallow water Environment group (WISE), which took place from 8 to 12 June.

Using a modern analysis and forecasting system, ECMWF revisits the meteorology of the D-Day period.

A meeting of the NEMO Waves Working Group, hosted by ECMWF on 13 and 14 May, brought together the majority of the scientific groups currently active in Europe on wave-ocean modelling.

Exceptionally intense rainfalls from 13^th May onwards following weeks of wet conditions led to disastrous and wide spread flooding in the Balkans, in particular Bosnia-Herzegovina and Serbia. Critical flooding was also reported in other countries including Southern Poland, Slovakia, and the Czech Republic. The events in Bosnia-Herzegovina and Serbia are reported to be the worst since more than 100 years. 44 casualties have been reported so far for both countries, also one person died due to the floods in Croatia and in the Czech Republic.

Vienna was recently the host of yet another highly successful European Geophysical Union General Assembly from 28 April to 2 May 2014.

This prominent annual event is a collaborative enterprise that brings together geoscientists from all over the world and covers all disciplines of the Earth, Planetary and Space Sciences. ECMWF was very present, from convening sessions to presenting on a broad spectrum of our work.