2015-03-09 Per Undén



UERRA MST meeting 6, 10 March 2015



      1. Present:

Per Undén, Dale Barker, Manola Brunet, Andrea Kaiser-Weiss, Albert Klein Tank





  1. Agenda



  1. Action points from MST 5 (2 min)

  2. Progress reports/updates (10 min)

  3. Insertion into observation archive (5 min)

  4. Archiving parameters and user requirements (20 min)

  5. Copernicus Climate Change services and UERRA approach (20 min)

  6. Meetings (2 min)

  7. Next MST meeting

  8. Action points



  1. Action points from MST5



1. Each WP leader will write a short summary of their WP activities and provide them for the Scientific Periodic Report for 9 February. Done

2. Phil will work out a guideline with ECMWF within 3 months. Manola will check with Phil. Yes, this has been achieved and the EURO4M rescued observation are now at ECMWF in the right format.

3. Andrea to identify the decisions needed before finalizing the RA output definitions (end of Feb). 3D parameters agreed and 2D updated and just need to be circulated



  1. Progress report and updates

1. WP1: The digitisation has continued and effort is concentrated on quality control issues for the new data. UERRA has taken a role to encode the data in ODB through UEA and supply to ECMWF, like has been done for EURO4M observations.

2. WP2:

There will be 2 staff changes, at SMHI and MF where replacement recruitments will take place.

The Met Office work is on track and enough computer resources at ECMWF have been secured. There are some difficulties with the old satellite data, but nothing major.

SMHI is running the two physics versions and have done 1.5 years wiht MF running downscaling from these. Observation monitoring has been developed but ODBs and fields are on ecfs and it is slow to retrieve them.

D2.5 SMHI physics ensemble delayed (June). It is still anticipated at that time.

D2.11 Uni Bonn ensemble Kalman filter observations. Dale will check on this and update (please cc to the Coordinator)

3. WP3:

D3.3 Software package is somewhat delayed but the components in R and using HARP are there. The conditions of proprietary rights and use are being checked. The code is open and MET Norway has helped with the software. The input needs to be modified both for the different MARS formats and for the different observations. KNMI will be contacted for remote access to E-OBS.

4. WP4:

D4.2 Data plan. This is about dissemination using the data services and interacting with CLIPC which has a planned interface to UERRA data and the plan will be made together with CLIPC. It will be done during April

D4.3 has been resubmitted and after some corrections/clarifications it is ready.

5: WP5:

The Periodic report was submitted after some IT problems delayed it at REA. There is a review of the report now.

6/7 WP7:_

There will be a UERRA Newsletter from the Coordinator.

8: WP8:

D 8.1 Initial user requirements review (delayed to 1 April). It is being worked on by Ge Verver. DWD will contribute to this through its share in WP8. The CORE-CLIMAX requirements will be supplied for this review.

Also DWD has taken on more responsibility of coordinating the requirements of output parameters to be archived so some of this will be counted in WP8.

Plans for the User Workshop (nothing new at this stage).

WP9 Web portal (A proposal will be sent out for the 5 projects in the Overarching activities)

  1. Insertion of rescued observation into ECMWF ODB

The data recovered in UERRA will be inserted into the ECMWF MARS ODB through UEA, as has been done for EURO4M. There will be more data available digitised e.g. in Sweden or Norway, but it is unclear how these can be transferred. (It would be nice to be able to use them in WP2 as well, if enough data and ready in time).

  1. Archiving of RA outputs

DWD has coordinated the specifications of output parameters after many iterations in the MST and WP2. For the 3D upper air parameters there is general agreement and we are more or less ready. DB suggested we need to consider ongoing costs of storing UERRA data, to ensure it is affordable in UERRA, and to provide input for Copernicus bid. Action on Andrea as part of WP3 review of output fields? The 2D/Surface parameters have been updated and just need to go around once more to be checked. (Andrea). ECMWF and the MST will receive the updated document at the same time.

  1. Copernicus Climate Change Service; UERRA approach

There will be different calls for the C3S which are relevant for the different WPs in UERRA. 3Q of 2015 there will be a call for observations and observation services wheres the regional reanalyses will have a call 3Q of 2016 aimting for operations in 2017. There is an overlap between UERRA and C3S so in year 3 of UERRA the quality of the pre-operational systems have to be demonstrated. Likewise the Evaluation and quality control will have another call.

The calls thus fit individual WPs of UERRA and at different times, so each of the relevant WPs need coordination and a common approach. DB asked if anyone thought we should look beyond current UERRA WP2 organizations (MetO, SMHI, DWD, MF) to bring in additional, significant partners. The MST felt that current group is wide enough. DB will circulate a short plan with the WP2 partners.

  1. Meetings

EMS/ECAM meeting in 7-11 September: Abstract by 24 April. We will aim for a common presentation and Per will compose an abstract to be checked by the MST.

  1. Next MST meeting

End of April. A Doodle will be set up.

  1. Action points

1. Dale will get an update from UBonn on status of the D2.11 deliverable.

2. Dale to contact all UERRA WP2 organisations and produce a draft white paper on regional reanalysis Copernicus proposal.

3. Andrea will circulate the latest version of the output parameter table to the MST and WP4 incl ECMWF.

4. Per will write an abstract for the EMS to be checked by the MST. Deadline 24 April.