NWP at the crossroads: How the Quiet, Digital and Data-Driven Revolutions are shaping the future of NWP

• The recording is available at the EMS YouTube Channel

EMS Webinar series continues. Our speaker this time will be Irina Sandu: Irina is the Director of Destination Earth (DestinE) at ECMWF, a flagship initiative of the European Union to develop a digital twin of planet Earth. Prior to taking the lead of ECMWF’s involvement in DestinE in summer 2023, she was Science Lead for the initiative from January 2022.
Find out more about Irina here.

 
Irina will speak about
“NWP at the crossroads: How the Quiet, Digital and Data-Driven Revolutions are shaping the future of NWP“

Wednesday, 20 March 2024, 4pm (CET)
Participation: The Webinar will be held as a @Zoom webinar.
Please register for the event here.

Abstract

Numerical weather prediction (NWP) stands at a pivotal juncture, influenced by three transformative revolutions. These revolutions, akin to converging roads, are reshaping the landscape of Earth system prediction.

• Quiet Revolution: Leveraging improved modeling, observations, and computational power, it has propelled NWP forward, constantly enhancing prediction quality.
• Digital Revolution: Enabled by modern supercomputing, it has ushered in a new era of high-resolution simulations, unravelling localized phenomena with unprecedented fidelity.
• Machine Learning Revolution: Compact, cost-effective machine-learned models recently emerged as formidable contenders of traditional ones, reimagining NWP boundaries.

These revolutions will be illustrated using examples from past and recent efforts at ECMWF, including from the ambitious Destination Earth initiative of the European Commission aiming to develop Digital Twins of the Earth System. Looking ahead, the future of NWP and more generally of Earth system prediction capabilities lies in synergising these revolutions, steering us towards a future where predictions are not only increasingly precise but also accessible to all.

The following webinar will be on

• 10 April 2024, 4pm (CEST): The Geomagnetic Storm: Beauty and the Beast: Arpad Kis, Hungary, speaking on the theory and Hanneke Luijting, The Netherlands, speaking about photography of Aurora Borealis

Future events and topics

• We invite the wider EMS Membership to make proposals for topics that would be of interest for successor events. Please contact the EMS Secretariat at the usual address.

Recordings of the event on 6 March are available at:

• Introduction by Ernesto Rodriguez
• Presentation by Bert Holtslag & following Q&A: Understanding the atmosphere of Starry Night