ECMWF is excited to be running another edition of its popular online computing week!
The computing week features webinars on a variety of topics related to software and applications used at ECMWF, in both operational production and non-operational environments. The aim is to provide updates on software and introduce new tools and computing activities at ECMWF, with a focus on familiarising participants with how these applications and software are used and teaching them how to use them most efficiently.
Some webinars covered software packages specifically developed to handle data and observations coding and decoding, visualisation, data manipulation and archiving, and managing of workflows. A full list of software packages available can be found on our software page.
The webinar recordings are open to all, however some products and services that were showcased are only accessible to ECMWF's Member and Co-operating States.
Webinar 1 - Transition to the new Copernicus Data Store (CDS) and Atmospheric Data Store (ADS)
Monday 18 November 14:00 UTC - 15:00 UTC
This session provided an update on the transition to the new CDS and ADS, we cover key changes - including the release of the new cdsapi package for retrieving data programmatically and the discontinuation of the legacy CDS toolbox and associated applications. Learn how to update your API setup and adapt to the new system as we introduce new tools like the Copernicus Interactive Climate Atlas and Climate Pulse, which replace older applications. Finally, we explained how to provide feedback and report any issues as users transition to the new system.
Speakers: James Varndell and Edward Comyn-Platt (both ECMWF)
Webinar 2 - EarthKit
Tuesday 19 November 10:00 UTC - 11:00 UTC
EarthKit is ECMWF's new open-source Python project designed to simplify workflows in weather and climate science. EarthKit offers high-level tools for data access, processing, analysis and visualisation - built on popular Python libraries like numpy, pandas and matplotlib and integrated with ECMWF's operational software stack, including ecCodes and FDB. With components like earthkit-data, earthkit-geo and earthkit-meteo, EarthKit enhances efficiency and scalability, bridging research and operations.
This session included a presentation and a live demo, showcasing how EarthKit can support our users' work with meteorological data.
Speakers: Iain Russell, Sandor Kertez and James Varndell (all ECMWF)
Webinar 3 - JupyterHub on Atos
Tuesday 19 November 14:00 UTC - 15:00 UTC
In this session we introduced JupyterHub on Atos HPC, showcasing how it can enhance scientific workflows. Aimed at users with existing HPC access who may not yet be using JupyterHub, this session demonstrated the platform's benefits such as simplifying the development and execution of scientific code. We guided participants through the main elements of JupyterHub and the working with ECMWF libraries, including EarthKit, directly with JupyterHub on the HPC.
Speaker: Xavier Abellan (ECMWF)
Webinar 4 - Working with BUFR data: ecCodes Python API
Thursday 21 November 10:00 UTC - 11:00 UTC
This webinar focused on handling meteorological data in BUFR format using the ecCodes library and its Python API. BUFR is a complex and widely-used format for encoding meteorological observations, and ecCodes provides robust tools for accessing, decoding and processing this data.
The session featured a presentation and a live demo, walking through practical examples of how to manage BUFR data using Python.
Speakers: Marijana Crepulja and Roberto Ribas (both ECMWF)
Webinar 5 - Migration of ECMWF Forecast Data to GRIB2 format
Thursday 21 November 14:00 UTC - 15:00 UTC
This session provided update on ECMWF's ongoing effort to migrate all forecast data to the WMO GRIB2 format. Currently, ECMWF produces forecasts in a mix of GRIB1 and GRIB2, but there is a transition underway to fully adopt GRIB2 for all forecast products. We discussed the current progress of the migration, highlighted key differences between the two formats and outlined the roadmap for completing the transition. This presentation is essential for users who rely on ECMWF forecast data and need to prepare for upcoming changes in data format.
Speaker: Sebastien Villaume (ECMWF)
Webinar 6 - European Weather Cloud
Friday 22 November 10:00 UTC - 11:00 UTC
The European Weather Cloud (EWC) is a cloud-based processing infrastructure as a joint initiative of ECMWF and EUMETSAT offering computing resources to their Member and Co-operating States. Designed for those new to the platform, this training session provided an overview of the available cloud services offered within the EWC, featured potential use cases, and demonstrated how users can benefit from seamless access to meteorological datasets provided by ECMWF and EUMETSAT.
Speaker: Samuel Langlois (ECMWF)