ELDAS End User Requirements – Draft Summary
The table below gives an overview of end user requirements. Shown are the potential end users and the (numbered) applications for which they
potentially benefit from ELDAS achievements. Also shown are their requirements and the way in which ELDAS may contribute to this. A final
column lists a number of relevant institutes in Europe.
End user group
Application
Numerical
1. Operational
Weather Prediction
weather
(NWP) centres
forecasting –
global scale
2. Operational
weather
forecasting –
regional scale
3. Seasonal weather
prediction
Requirements
ELDAS achievements
Examples of institutes
Near real-time soil moisture fields
For European area: see regional
expressed in quantities compatible to scale NWP (2).
the definition of root zone soil
moisture in the NWP model used.
Spatial resolution between 50 and
100 km. Temporal resolution 3 – 5
days. Areal coverage of soil
moisture fields must preferably be
global
European Centre for
Medium-range Weather
Forecasts (ECMWF)
Same as above, but spatial resolution
between 10 and 25 km, temporal
resolution daily, areal coverage at
least Europe
Set-up of infrastructure to make
compatible soil moisture
estimates; demonstration of the
system in case of availability of
forcing data covering Europe
only. Near real-time requirement
not met.
HIRLAM-consortium
(NWP centers in Spain,
Netherlands, Ireland,
Sweden and others)
See regional scale NWP (2),
which is relevant as European
sub-set for a global application
ECMWF
Same as global scale NWP
application (1), but less stringent on
near real-time requirement (delay of
about a week is allowed). Temporal
resolution is 10-daily.
German Weather
Service (DWD)
Météo-France
DWD
Météo-France
End user group
Application
Requirements
ELDAS achievements
Examples of institutes
NWP centres
(cnt’d)
4. Specialized
weather forecasts
(such as for
agricultural
purposes)
Same as regional weather forecasts
(item 2), but soil moisture products
may be directly disseminated to
customers of end user groups
Member of ELDAS Advisory
Board represents weather service
with agricultural specialization
Private Weather
forecasting Bureaus
Hydrological
services
5. Flood forecasting
Root zone soil moisture content in
big river catchments at 1 – 10 km
resolution for estimation of
infiltration-excess and flood peak
timing and intensity
ELDAS-infrastructure may be
applied here, but typical ELDAS
resolution (20 km) probably too
coarse for application
UK Environmental
Agency, Dept. of Flood
Prediction
6. Routine
monitoring
Near real-time daily precipitation
and evaporation estimates at 10 – 20
km resolution
Demonstration data bases of
evaporation and precipitation
fields are produced within
ELDAS, but near real-time
requirement not met
same as above
7. Development and
evaluation of
climate models
Weekly – monthly fields of
evaporation, runoff, soil moisture
and precipitation at 50 – 100 km
resolution, covering at least Europe
and preferably global (retrospective
analysis possible)
Products of ELDAS system
compatible with climate model
requirements. Analysis of
potential value of ELDAS
products
Laboratoire de
Météorologie
Dynamique (LMD)
Climate research
groups
Netherlands Institute
for Inland Water
Management (RIZA)
Rossby Centre Sweden