primet - association of private meteorological services re-use of meteorological information held by...

PRIMET - Association of Private Meteorological Services

Re-use of Meteorological Information held by the Public Sector:

The European Experience

Daniel Söderman, Secretary General

Association of Private Meteorological Services (PRIMET)

www.primet.org & [email protected]

PSI Group, 5th Meeting 23 April 2004, Luxembourg

http://www.primet.org/

mailto:[email protected]


PRIMET- Association of Private Meteorological Services

established in November 1999 as the Association of Environmental Data Users in Europe (AEDUE)

28 corporate members in 13 European countries promotes an open data policy for Europe provides advice and strategic guidance to its members monitors closely the application by the National

Meteorological Services of EU Competition Law and the EC Comfort Letter on ECOMET issued 21.10.1999


Meteorological Data - overview

• massive real-time data production on a global scale with the information updated/replaced within 0.5 – 6 hours depending on data type

• internationally agreed data representation standards such as WMO/GRIB, WMO/BUFR and CREX used globally

• data used in real-time meteorological forecasting and

associated operations, and archived for Research and Development purposes


Meteorological Data - overview

• surface- and satellite-based in-situ data and vertical soundings,surface- and satellite-based in-situ data and vertical soundings,• radar and lightning detection data, radar and lightning detection data, • aircraft observations,aircraft observations,• numerical model forecasts ranging from global to local scalenumerical model forecasts ranging from global to local scale


The European Commission has given the go-ahead to Ecomet, a grouping of European national meteorological institutes set up for the joint sale of meteorological products, having satisfied itself that there is still adequate competition between the Ecomet members.

The main factors on which the Commission has based its decision are

EC Comfort Letter on ECOMET issued 21 Oct. 1999 (excerpt)

The Ecomet rules ensure equal treatment of independent service providers and the commercial divisions of the national meteorological institutes with regard to access to meteorological data and the invoicing of that data.

In order to guarantee fair competition with independent service providers, the Ecomet rules require the national meteorological institutes to keep analytical accounts in which their commercial activities are entered separately and which thus ensure that there is no cross-subsidisation.


ECOMET Status Table

see details on www.primet.org


Condensed Facts about ECMWF Operational Forecasts

• The European Centre for Medium-Range forecasts (ECMWF) is an intergovernmental centre established in 1975 by 19 European Member States for global atmospheric forecast production and associated R&D

• Currently global forecasts are produced twice per day with a horizontal resolution of 0.4°-0.5° lat/long (40-50km) and 60 vertical levels

• ECMWF is connected by dedicated communications links to its Member States; however, so there is only one high-speed link to each Member State, terminating at the National Meteorological Service.

• The ECMWF global products are essential in the Member States, both as a foundation for general and specialised weather forecasting and as initial and boundary data for regional and limited area model forecasting.


Overview of ECMWF Data Volumes and Related Costs

Volume/day ECOMET-cost/year/providerTotal Operational Data Set: 32 250 MB € 50.757 millionData accessible to each NMS: 32 250 MB € 50.757 millionData actually used by NMS’s: Not known € 0.365 million1)

Average volume used by PMS’s: 6 MB € 0.020 million

1) ECOMET-defined “max. fee”; however, with full and flexible data access by (only) the NMS’s, the full cost of € 50.757 million would be more appropriate

Overview of Corresponding US (NOAA/NCEP) Data

Volume/day Cost/yearOperational Data Set: ~20 000 MB freely availableData accessible to NMS’s: ~20 000 MB $ 0Data actually used by NMS’s: Not known $ 0Average volume used by PMS’s: 2 700 MB $ 0


ECMWF Budgetary Cost and Expected Revenue

ECMWF Budget funded by the Member States: € 40 million p.a.

Projected revenue based on cost/benefit study1): € 800 - € 1000 million p.a.

Actual revenue collected by the NMS’s in 2003: € 0.460 million

1) The original cost/benefit study performed in 1971 as part of the overall plan (Doc. COST 138/71 with Annexes), with M. Hipp (Germany) in charge concluded that the cost/benefit ratio of the Centre would be in the range 1:20 - 1:25, on the basis that the six day forecasts of the European Centre to be established would be about as good as two-day forecasts at the time (in reality this was a rather accurate prediction)

Conclusion:

The actual revenue for ECMWF data in 2003 is less than 0.5 ‰ of the originally projected revenue.


NCEP / USAArchives

Price for example dataset 1 500 €

ECMWFArchives

Price for similar dataset 750 000 €

On-line dataannual price

0 €

On-line dataannual price50 000 000 €

PMS PMS

PMS PMS PMS

NMS NMS NMS

Internetfree downloadno restrictions

Dedicated line to NMSPrice for commercial use

Restrictions of re-use

Licence to use with NMSHeavy annual price

Restrictions of re-use

PMS service production:Europeans receive services based on

NCEP 99,23 % , ECMWF 0,13 %

Result: Public Data Policy destroys the value and significance of European investments in R&D


European Weather Data Problems - Summary

• Access to ECMWF data restricted intentionally by NMSs, although effective delivery channels and techniques exist

• Basic price level excessive in line with other ECOMET weather data prices

• Most public sector NMSs do not follow Comfort Letter requirements and Competition Law, having no separation of business units and no transparent accounting

• Cross-subsidation common• Ineffective bureaucracy, costs of the present ECOMET

system larger than data income• Hindrance to European R&D and innovativeness• Severely reduces Europe’s global competitiveness


European Weather Data Problems - Solution

Most of the current data-related problems in Europe would be reduced or disappear altogether if an open

environmental data policy be introduced,

not just on paper, also in practice!

primet - association of private meteorological services re-use of meteorological information held by...

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