Professor Anton Eliassen
Det Norske Meteorologiske Institutt
Niels Henrik Abels Vei 40
N 0313 – Oslo (Norway)

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Dear Prof. Eliassen,

ECMWF data access and utilization

This is to inform you that following the decision by the ECMWF Council at its 60th session to substantially lower the charge for the full set of ECMWF data, I have initiated a survey amongst PRIMET corporate members to determine the impact, if any, of this decision on their operational activities. The responses received so far indicate that most PRIMET companies will continue to take their initial and boundary data from NCEP Washington, as «140 000 euro per year is just as unreachable as 365 000», whilst some major players seem to be seriously considering to accept the lowered price level. This would result in an unfortunate division of the companies into those with full ECMWF data access and those with none, and a further price reduction is therefore desirable.

The decision to allow full access to the ECMWF data set could substantially increase the pressure on the communications facilities, with the single link between the Centre and each relevant Member State as a primary bottleneck unless direct dissemination by ECMWF over the internet is permitted.

Furthermore, and in support of local modelling throughout Europe, I would suggest that the option of ECMWF only transmitting the boundary data for user-defined areas using the WMO/GRIB code bit map feature is offered at a minimal charge. This option reduces the data volume by some 90% but would not allow use of the data for other purposes than use as boundary data input for high resolution limited area models.

Yours sincerely,

Daniel Soderman
PRIMET Secretary General