After some 30 years of cooperation, the ALADIN, LACE and HIRLAM Numerical Weather Prediction Consortia have decided to reinforce their collaboration and at the end of 2020, twenty-six European National Meteorological Services became Members of the new, unified Consortium ACCORD, under this Memorandum of Understanding – MoU covering the period 2021-2025.
The Members have adopted an ambitious 2021-2025 Strategy outlining their objectives in meteorological and computer science for this time period.
The development of all codes will continue, in order to support world-leading operational NWP suites operated by the Members, with a priority on high resolution (from kilometric to hectometric grid size) and short-range (including nowcasting suites). Another priority of the Strategy is to further increase the interoperability and portability of the codes. The codes are currently grouped in three “Canonical System Configurations” (CSC AROME, ALARO and HARMONIE-AROME), and full interoperability is only achieved inside the CSCs. The Consortium will strive to increase interoperability across the CSCs. It will also work to make the codes portable on various computer architectures, in order to cope with the rapid evolution of HPC systems and encourage maximum competition in procurements of the Members.
The human resources provided by the Members for this work represent approximately 150 FTE. These staffs are employed by the Members and work at their premises, but meet regularly. All aspects of the work are coordinated internationally by a Management Group. For the first years of the Consortium, the list of officers is as follows:
- 1 Programme Manager (the “PM”)
- 3 CSC Leaders
- 1 Integration Leader (provided by Météo-France).
- 8 Area Leaders (“AL”)
- 1 Coordinator for the Data Assimilation starters KIT applications.
- 1 Scientific Secretary (provided by Météo-France)
- 1 Coordinator of Networking Activities (“CNA”)
The Consortium appoints these officers via calls for applications. The applicants are interviewed by a selection panel composed of the PM, the 3 CSC Leaders, the chairs of STAC and PAC. The selection panel ranks the applications per Area, taking into account the way the function is proposed to be fulfilled, the level of expertise, the interpersonal skills of candidates, the coherence of the vision and motivation of the Applicant with respect to the strategical goals and ToRs of each Area Leader function.
The final definition and the attribution of the Area Leader functions is done by the Assembly.
The current composition of the Management Group is provided here.
First call: Programme Manager and 3 CSC leaders, summer 2020
In a specific Call for Applications issued in the summer 2020, four management positions have been already appointed:
• Claude Fischer from Météo-France as PM,
• Jeanette Onvlee from KNMI (Netherlands) as Harmonie-Arome CSC Leader,
• Martina Tudor from DHMZ (Croatia) as Alaro CSC Leader,
• Eric Bazile from Météo-France as Arome CSC Leader.
Second call: Areal Leaders and CNA, November 2020
Call for applications for the 8 positions of the Area Leaders of the new Consortium
• Issue Call for Applications: 10 November 2020
• Deadline for Applications: 15 January 2021 (incl.)
The general and specific Terms of Reference for the 8 Area Leaders are provided here.
Call reopened for Areal Leaders in Physics and in MQA, January 2021
Physics and MQA Area Leaders: call reopened
In agreement with the Assembly, the Call for Applications for the Area Leader positions in Physics and Meteorological Quality Assurance (MQA) was reopened on 29 January 2021, as there was no spontaneous candidacy received on these two Areas in the first Call, with a deadline for applications on 11 February 2021.
Call: Area Leaders in Physics and in DA, December 2022
Call for Physics Area Leader and DA Area Leader
• Issue Call for Applications: 14 December 2022
• Deadline for Applications: 10 February 2023 (incl.)