ECMWF Operational Seasonal Forecast Data

In support of the COAPEC Thematic Programme the BADC has extracted seasonal forecast ensemble data from the ECMWF MARS (Meteorological Archive and Retrieval System) archive. These data are also known as "Hindcasts" as they are forecasts run retrospectively. Since the data is part of the ECMWF Operational system BADC users must successfully apply for access to this dataset before they can obtain the data.

The ECMWF produced two sets of runs, System 1 and System 2. The data archived at the BADC are the System 2 runs which use the atmospheric component Cy23r4 of the IFS (Integrated Forecasting System) with a horizontal resolution of TL95 at 40 levels in the vertical. This is the same cycle of the IFS used for the ERA-40 re-analysis.

A detailed description of the ECMWF Seasonal Forecasting system can be found on the ECMWF web site.

Products:

The BADC has extracted monthly means, maxima, minima and standard deviations for the available surface variables from 1987 to 6 months before the present date. Atmospheric variables are only currently available as monthly means. The data is held as part of the main BADC Operational ECMWF archive.

For each month there are six forecast months archived, with 5 ensemble members for 10 months of the year, and 40 ensemble members in May and November of each year from 1987-2001. From 2002 onwards there are 40 ensemble members per month. There are 33 parameters held on surface or single levels and 6 parameters available on pressure levels.

The data is held on a regular 1.875 x 1.875 degree grid in GRIB format.

Date (Publication): 2012-06-07T13:10:39

Date (Creation): 2012-06-07T13:10:39

Citation identifier: https://catalogue.ceda.ac.uk/uuid/d3dbcfab79150df509a5c033864f94e5

Citation identifier: NCAS British Atmospheric Data Centre (NCAS BADC) / d3dbcfab79150df509a5c033864f94e5

Point of contact

Organisation name	Electronic mail address	Role
European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF)	unknown	Author
NCAS British Atmospheric Data Centre (NCAS BADC)	badc@rl.ac.uk	Custodian
NCAS British Atmospheric Data Centre (NCAS BADC)	badc@rl.ac.uk	Distributor
European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF)	unknown	Principal investigator
NCAS British Atmospheric Data Centre (NCAS BADC)	badc@rl.ac.uk	pointofContact
NCAS British Atmospheric Data Centre (NCAS BADC)	badc@rl.ac.uk	Publisher

Maintenance and update frequency: Not planned

Update scope: Dataset

Keywords

ECMWF
operational
forecast
analysis
surface
model
Seasonal

GEMET - INSPIRE themes, version 1.0

atmospheric conditions

Access constraints: Other restrictions

Other constraints: Restricted data: please submit an application using the REQUEST ACCESS link for access.

Use constraints: Other restrictions

Other constraints: Under the following licence https://artefacts.ceda.ac.uk/licences/specific_licences/ecmwf_op_agreement.pdf, appropriate use of these data may fall under academic use. This message is intended as guidance, always read the full licence. When using these data you must cite them correctly using the citation given on the CEDA Data Catalogue record.

Spatial representation type: Grid

Language: English

Topic category

Climatology, meteorology, atmosphere

Begin date: 1987-01-01T00:00:00

End date: 2003-08-31T23:00:00

Unique resource identifier: WGS 84

Distribution format

Name	Version
Data are GRIB-1 formatted

Distributor contact

Organisation name	Individual name	Electronic mail address	Role
NCAS British Atmospheric Data Centre (NCAS BADC)		badc@rl.ac.uk	Distributor

OnLine resource

Protocol	Linkage	Name
	https://catalogue.ceda.ac.uk/uuid/d3dbcfab79150df509a5c033864f94e5	CEDA Data Catalogue Page

OnLine resource

Protocol	Linkage	Name
	http://data.ceda.ac.uk/badc/ecmwf-op/data/seasonal_fcs	DOWNLOAD

OnLine resource

Protocol	Linkage	Name
	http://www.ecmwf.int/products/forecasts/seasonal/documentation/index.html	Link to ECMWF seasonal forecast data documentation

OnLine resource

Protocol	Linkage	Name
	https://zenodo.org/record/7356596	Research Manual 2 - ECMWF forecast model - Adiabatic part

OnLine resource

Protocol	Linkage	Name
	https://zenodo.org/record/7356547	Encoding and decoding GRIB data (GRIBEX)

OnLine resource

Protocol	Linkage	Name
	https://zenodo.org/record/7356606	The description of the ECMWF Observational Data Set (Time series of vertical soundings from ground-based stations)

OnLine resource

Protocol	Linkage	Name
	https://zenodo.org/record/7356612	The description of the ECMWF/WCRP Level 3-A Global Atmospheric Data Archive - Technical Attachment

OnLine resource

Protocol	Linkage	Name
	https://zenodo.org/record/7356614	The description of the ECMWF-WCRP Level III-A global atmospheric data archive

OnLine resource

Protocol	Linkage	Name
	https://zenodo.org/record/7356633	User Guide to ECMWF Products

Hierarchy level: Dataset

Conformance result

Title: Commission Regulation (EU) No 1089/2010 of 23 November 2010 implementing Directive 2007/2/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council as regards interoperability of spatial data sets and services

Date (Publication): 2010-12-08

Statement: Data extracted from European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF) MARS system and transfered to BADC daily, 10 days in arrears of production.

Metadata

File identifier: d3dbcfab79150df509a5c033864f94e5 XML

Metadata language: English

Character set: UTF8

Parent identifier: ECMWF operational analysis: Assimilated Data
c46248046f6ce34fc7660a36d9b10a71

Hierarchy level: Dataset

Date stamp: 2025-07-21T02:01:15

Metadata standard name: UK GEMINI

Metadata standard version: 2.3

Metadata author

Organisation name	Individual name	Electronic mail address	Role
NCAS British Atmospheric Data Centre (NCAS BADC)		badc@rl.ac.uk	Point of contact

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