EPS II

/ EPS II

EMMA

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10 August 2016

EMMA

Objectives

EMMA (European Multi service Meteorological Awareness) and the Meteoalarm web page represent one of the most successful and visible achievements of EUMETNET. EMMA has improved national and European multi-hazard warning systems over the last decade by developing standards, and has deepened the cooperation with partners like civil protection, the DRR community and the water sector. Meteoalarm has been operational since 2007 and the website has generated large public interest.

The objectives of EMMA are:

  • To show the most relevant information on Meteoalarm needed to prepare for extreme weather and related hazards expected to occur somewhere over Europe.
  • Provision of warnings understandable by all actors from the private and public sector. Warnings are multilingual and harmonized as far as possible, whereas the four level color code is seen as understandable “language“.
  • The Meteoalarm web page provides a one-stop shop and a repository for multi-hazard warnings.
  • Research and Development: harmonization of the warnings towards impact oriented warnings.
  • Support of the regional cross-border collaboration between forecasters.
  • Networking and coordination with relevant organizations like Civil Protection Organizations and ERCC the Emergency Response and Coordination Centre of the European Commission
  • EMMA provides the basis for knowledge transfer to other regions and the service delivery improvement of developing weather services.

  • “We travel more frequently, either on business or privately, and the exposure to risks abroad is greater than at home. Meteoalarm integrates all important severe weather information over Europe originating from the official National Public Weather Services across all participating European countries - ensuring that information is presented consistently to allow for coherent interpretation as widely as possible, with easy accessibility across languages and culture.”

The tasks

Collection and online publication of the authoritative warning information for meteorological and hydrological hazards delivered by 37 (as of 2018) National Meteorological and Hydrological Services (NMHSs) in 33 languages across the European domain for the next 48 hours.

Consistent presentation of the information to ensure coherent interpretation as widely as possible throughout Europe.

Technical quality control of the incoming messages and display of this information on maps with European, national and regional levels.

Operation of Meteoalarm as one-stop shop and a repository for relevant multi-hazard warnings to be used e.g. by professionals or tourists on a European scale. Re-user are able to acquire warning data from RSS and CAP (Common Alert Protocol) feeds or alternatively the alert hub.

Harmonization of the warnings as much as national procedures allow any adaptation with thresholds based on climatologically chosen regions and impact considerations.

Provision of a platform for meteorologists and hydrologists to discuss a consistent and harmonized system of warnings across Europe.

Comprehensive relaunch of Meteoalarm. The modernization and redesign of the whole system with improved functionality will give Meteoalarm a contemporary professional on-line presence, thus enhance the visibility of EUMETNET and the participating members and improve the accessibility of their authoritative warnings.

 

The organisation

The current phase of EMMA started in January 2019 and will last until the end of 2023. The Coordinating Member is ZAMG (Austria). The Programme Manager is Rainer Kaltenberger. The EMMA Team is advised by the Meteoalarm Expert Group

For questions about EMMA please contact meteoalarm@zamg.ac.at

Further Information

For further information, please go to the MeteoAlarm web page.

C-SRNWP

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9 August 2016

C-SRNWP

Objectives

The SRNWP (Short Range Numerical Weather Prediction) Working Group was established in 1993 on the basis of the already existing EWGLAM (European Working Group on Limited Area Modelling) network. Since that time the SRNWP project is the main vehicle for the cooperation between the European limited area modelling consortia (the main developing entities of short range numerical weather prediction models). These numerical weather prediction consortia are the ALADIN, COSMO, HIRLAM, LACE projects and the UK Met Office. The C-SRNWP (“C” stands for the coordination) Project has been working under the EUMETNET project since 2000.

 

  • "high resolution numerical models"

The tasks

– Enhance SRNWP related information and knowledge exchange between members

– Represent the interests of short-range NWP in front of other organizations (e.g EUMETNET Observation Projects, ECMWF, etc.)

– Popularize European NWP systems in education

The requirements

The main aim of the C-SRNWP Programme is to foster the efficient exchange of information between the Project Participating Members and across the European limited area modelling consortia related to scientific, technical as well as operational aspects of NWP. The main vehicle of this information exchange is the yearly EWGLAM/SRNWP Meeting, the scientific program of which is compiled by the C-SRNWP Programme Manager and the Expert Teams of the Programme.

 

The C-SRNWP Programme is also playing a coordinating role between the European LAM NWP community and other EUMETNET projects, particularly with EUCOS on observation impact studies, with OPERA on the possible re-distribution of radar volume data for data assimilation purposes and with EMMA on the best exploitation of NWP products for severe weather warnings. An evident collaboration is also taking place with the ASIST and EPS-II Projects.

 

The Programme is responsible for an intensified collaboration with ECMWF (participation as observer on the ECMWF Scientific Advisory Committee) and EUMETSAT, and promotes contacts with non-European NM(H)S’s and institutions.

The organisation

The current phase of the C-SRNWP Project started in January 2013 and will last until end of 2018. The Project Coordinating Member is the Hungarian Meteorological Service. The Project Manager is Mr Balazs Szintai from the OMSZ.

The inter-consortia cooperation is stimulated by a part-time coordinator (Project Manager) and realised within the activities of the Expert Teams (ET).

The following Expert Teams (they were created at the beginning of 2008) are acting in the framework of the C-SRNWP Project:

– Data assimilation and use of observations (mailing list: etda(at)met.hu)
– Diagnostics, validation and verification (mailing list: etverif(at)met.hu)
– Dynamics and lateral boundary coupling (mailing list: etdyn(at)met.hu)
– Link with applications (mailing list: etapp(at).met.hu)
– Physical parameterisation (upper air) (mailing list: etphys(at).met.hu)
– Predictability and EPS (mailing list: eteps(at).met.hu)
– Surface and soil processes (mailing list: etsfc(at)met.hu)
– System aspects (mailing list: etsystem(at)met.hu)
– SRNWP Advisory Expert Team (NWP Consortia leaders and chairs of the above Expert Teams)

The activities under the SRNWP Project and the work of the Project Manager is supervised by the SRNWP Advisory Expert Team.

Traditionally the entire SRNWP group meets once per year (early autumn), where the annual “business” meeting is held in conjunction with the annual EWGLAM meeting.
More details about the Project can be found on the C-SRNWP webpage.

E-NWC

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E-NWC

The EUMETNET Nowcasting Programme (E-NWC) started in January 2019 and will last until December 2023. It is the follow-up project of ASIST (Application oriented analysis and very short range forecast environment).

Objectives

  • Exchange experiences in end-user applications related to nowcasting and also seamless prediction systems;
  • Demonstrate the benefits of extensive data exchange between NMHSs;
  • Provide guidelines for the development of seamless prediction systems;
  • Compile training sessions with focus on nowcasting and seamless lead times;
  • Advance the cooperation in nowcasting and seamless issues through common projects, conferences and cooperation with other EUMETNET programmes;
  • Liase with WMO programmes involved in similar topics.

 

 

 

  • "Application oriented analysis and very short range forecast environment."

The tasks

  • Describe end user groups with their needs and requirements concerning nowcasting and also seamless prediction systems.
  • Exchange new observation data for classical or new nowcasting systems.
  • Summarise available information about seamless prediction systems in an inventory.
  • Verify and test the European nowcasting and seamless prediction systems, if applicable, by means of ESSL and gather training material from members to be published on the EUMETNET learning platform (EUMETCAL).
  • Initiate and coordinate future EU project(s) supporting E-NWC goals and organize the European Nowcasting Conferences (ENC), establish the specific Expert Team (ET) and coordinate the knowledge exchange.

 

The organisation

  • 25 EIG participating members (ZAMG, AUSTRA; RMI, BELGIUM; DHMZ, CROATIA; CYMET, CYPRUS; DMI, DENMARK; ESTEA, ESTONIA; FMI, FINLAND; DWD, GERMANY; OMSZ, HUNGARY; IMO, ICELAND; Met Éireann, IRELAND; ITAF-ReMET, ITALY; LEGMC, LATVIA; MeteoLux, LUXEMBURG; KNMI, NETHERLANDS; MET Norway, NORWAY; IMGW, POLAND; IPMA, PORTUGAL; RHMSS, SERBIA; SHMU, SLOVAK REPUBLIC; ARSO, SLOVENIA; AEMET, SPAIN; SMHI, SWEDEN; MeteoSwiss, SWITZERLAND; Met Office, UK) have nominated their nowcasting experts as well as 1 EIG cooperating member (NMAR, ROMANIA).
  • 4 Working Areas (WAs) have been defined within E-NWC:

    o  WA1: Seamless prediction systems
    o  WA2: Observations
    o  WA3: Verification
    o  WA4: End user aspects

    Nowcasting experts from different member states participate in each WA. In each WA, one WA leader is coordinating the work to achieve the tasks. An ET is formed and consists of:

    o   Programme manager and assistant,
    o   FCA manager
    o   2 Co-Chairs
    o   2-3 representatives from each WA

 

 

ENC2017

Summary of 2nd European Nowcasting Conference

3-5 May 2017
DWD, Offenbach

The 2nd European Nowcasting Conference (ENC), organised under the umbrella of the EUMETNET nowcasting project ASIST, was held at the headquarters of DWD in Offenbach, Germany, from 3 to 5 May 2017. Close to 100 participants from 24 nations presented their latest findings on observations, nowcasting techniques, verification, user aspect and combined nowcasting/numerical weather prediction. Besides the many excellent presentations, there was plenty of room for discussions during dedicated time slots at the end of each session as well as during poster sessions and coffee breaks.

 

To a large extent, observation and nowcasting techniques dedicated to convective phenomena were presented, indicating that thunderstorms and lightning are still one of the major themes in nowcasting. Furthermore, it could be noted that, even at individual national meteorological services (NMS), a wide variety of nowcasting systems and models are available which can lead to an overwhelming (and sometimes inconsistent) suit of nowcasting information available for forecasters. It is thus not surprising, that efforts towards seamless prediction systems, incorporating a multitude of nowcasting and NWP models, can be noted.  While nowcasting is still tied to observations and their short-term extrapolation, the combination of nowcasting with NWP is gaining momentum as NWP systems with rapid update cycling are approaching the nowcasting domain.

 

While the conference gave an impressive view of the many efforts in nowcasting techniques, there currently still seems to be a lack of coordinated activities. Similar systems are developed in parallel at different research institutes or NMS’s and one might ask if a coordination of those efforts could be fruitful and result in widely accepted and applied nowcasting tools. Modelling consortia, such as those for NWP’s, are not yet existent for nowcasting. Possibly, such cooperation is difficult due to regional and observation specific characteristics as well as the end-user focused nature of nowcasting . In this heterogeneous and interdisciplinary setting, it is important that the EUMETNET nowcasting project ASIST continues to support the cooperation between nowcasting researchers and practitioners among NMS’s.

The presentations from this conference can be found here.