ECMWF collaborates with the best experts in meteorology across the world to advance its research and forecasting operations.
This includes successful collaborations with a range of universities across its Member States, including on externally funded research projects and doctoral project work.
As part of an occasional series of articles, here we look at the University of Reading as a case in point.
The Centre’s location just 2 km up the road from the University helps to maintain close links between the two institutions.
“The Department of Meteorology at the University of Reading is one of the biggest in Europe, so there’s a lot of scope for synergies,” says Robin Hogan, a scientist in ECMWF’s Research Department.
Mutual benefits
Robin, a former head of the University’s Department of Meteorology in charge of research, joined ECMWF one and a half years ago. But he maintains close links with the University, where he continues to co-supervise doctoral students and post-doc researchers.
One of the post-docs he co-supervises, Andrew Barrett, is working on the benefits of satellite data in the evaluation of cloudiness in forecasting models. “That’s clearly an area that’s of interest to us at ECMWF,” Robin points out.
And the benefits are mutual. Rebecca Emerton is a PhD student in the University’s Department of Geography and Environmental Science. Her research project on the predictability of flood events across the globe requires access to global climate data and data from the Global Flood Awareness System – which ECMWF is able to provide.
She has ended up spending much of her time at ECMWF. And her project is clearly going well: in August, she won the prestigious Congressi Stefano Franscini award for the best presentation at the ETH Zurich’s Climate Summer School.
“Collaborating with ECMWF during my PhD affords me many unique opportunities, such as access to new, extensive datasets and the ability to discuss my research with world-leading scientists in the field,” Rebecca says.
Rebecca has been working closely with ECMWF analyst Ervin Zsoter on the datasets she needs for her project.
Collaboration can range from informal scientist-to-scientist contacts to joint participation in major international projects. The EU-funded PRIMAVERA project is an example of the latter.
Its goals include assessing the impact of higher resolution in atmosphere and ocean models, improving the representation of sea-ice processes and investigating the main drivers of variability in the Euro-Atlantic region – topics which tie in well with ECMWF’s research plans on Earth system modelling.
Like other research centres in ECMWF’s Member States, the University can also apply for the allocation of computing resources at the Centre for ‘special projects’ likely to be of interest to the general scientific community.
Professor Simon Chandler-Wilde, the head of the School of Mathematical and Physical Sciences at the University of Reading, which includes the Department of Meteorology, says both sides gain from collaborating: “The University benefits enormously from both its geographical and scientific proximity to ECMWF. Many of our leading scientists make regular use of the Centre’s resources and expertise, such as its supercomputer processing power. Working together helps us to drive weather science forward, which ultimately enables more accurate and useful forecasts.”
Training
In addition to advancing Earth system science, ECMWF and the University of Reading work together on educational programmes. Reading MSc students visit the Centre once a year, and ECMWF participates in a meteorology work experience programme for high school students organised by the University of Reading.
ECMWF is also involved as an external partner in the Centre for Doctoral Training in the Mathematics of Planet Earth, run jointly by Imperial College London and the University of Reading.
“An important aspect to our collaboration with universities is our ability to provide opportunities for specialist training,” says Florian Pappenberger, a scientist in ECMWF’s Forecast Department. “In the long run this helps us too, as we then have more well-qualified applicants for our specialist jobs.”
As far as collaboration with the University of Reading is concerned, it seems that it can only grow stronger: when the Centre recently needed more office space, it opted for the Reading Enterprise Centre on University premises (top photo), where some of its staff now work.