Using ECMWF's Forecasts (UEF2019)

This presentation will provide updates on strategic projects ECMWF is currently working on and their impact on users of the Centre’s data.
An overview will be given on the move of ECMWF’s computing facilities to Bologna (the BOND Programme). The building work has started, and the operating model is being finalised as well as the way in which the teams in the two locations will work seamlessly together to provide a quality service to the Centre’s data users.
Another important activity that will be covered is the European Weather Cloud project which will provide cloud computing in collaboration with EUMETSAT and, later, national entities. The selected approach is a federation of cloud computing infrastructures giving access to the resources of the different entities. A pilot project of 2 years has started with four key objectives: 1) to define the governance and test the overarching technical management layer; 2) to consolidate user requirements; 3) to harmonise data access models; 4) to agree upon the offering (hosted processing…). The world will be prominently based on the running of use case studies, as well as on dedicated experts working groups looking at the technical, legal and security aspects.
ECMWF currently has a fixed dissemination schedule which determines the exact time at which time individual products are released. This fixed schedule has served the Centre well and allowed the arrival time of ECMWF products to be reliably predicted. Over the years, requests have been made for the earlier release of products and ECMWF’s latest plans for this will also be presented.