Research and development services and related consultancy services

Tender description

ECMWF as the Entrusted Entity for the Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S) issued contracts for the production of regional reanalyses covering geographical areas of special interest to European users of climate services. The regional reanalyses are needed to generate high-resolution, physically consistent, gridded estimates of Essential Climate Variables (ECVs, Bojinski et al. 2014) that will complement the information available from lower-resolution global reanalyses. The scope of activities for each contract includes: — development of a production system for regional reanalysis; — preparation and quality control of observations and other input data; — reanalysis production, post-processing and quality assurance; — user guidance and user support via the C3S Service Desk; — management, implementation and coordination. C3S shall take ownership of all regional reanalysis data products delivered by these contracts. The Contractor for Lot 1 will generate and deliver regional reanalysis products for Europe based on the concept of a single pan-European reanalysis in accordance with the following requirements: — the spatial domain shall be a single domain consistent with CORDEX Region 4 (see www.cordex.org); — the effective spatial resolution of data products shall be 10 km or less; — the reanalysis shall span a time period of at least 30 years continuing into present time; — the temporal resolution of data products shall be sufficient to resolve the diurnal cycle; — reanalysis products shall be updated on a monthly basis; — the reanalysis shall be produced using a single model-based data assimilation system with firm basis in estimation theory; — consistent estimates of uncertainty shall be generated based on explicit statistical assumptions on model errors and observation errors; — a well-defined strategy for ensuring temporal consistency of the reanalysis products shall be implemented; — well-defined strategies for quality assessment during production and post-production shall be implemented, e.g. based on comparison with alternative C3S ECV products derived from observations and/or global reanalyses. The Contractor for Lot 2 will generate and deliver regional reanalysis products for the Arctic based on the concept of a single pan-Arctic reanalysis in accordance with the following requirements: — the reanalyses shall assimilate the main components of the Arctic observing system, including satellite data; — the reanalyses shall make good use of complementary data on surface properties in the region, e.g. related to snow and sea ice; — the reanalyses shall span a time period that is as long as possible given the availability of observations and other input data; — spatial and temporal resolution of data products shall be commensurate with key processes affecting climate change in the region; — reanalysis products shall be updated on a monthly basis; — consistent estimates of uncertainty shall be generated based on explicit statistical assumptions on model errors and observation errors; — a well-defined strategy for ensuring temporal consistency of the reanalysis products shall be implemented; — well-defined strategies for quality assessment during production and post-production shall be implemented, e.g. based on comparison with alternative C3S ECV products derived from observations and/or global reanalyses.