DA coordinator position.

The 22^nd ALADIN General Assembly approved the creation of a 20% DA coordinator position in ALADIN to assist the ALADIN PM and the CSSI :

• with the coordination of the ALADIN DA starter countries with their DA activities;
• with the coordination of the basic kit DA core program (meetings, inquiries, reporting,
  follow up of the actions, link with HIRLAM, ...);
• with the elaboration of the ALADIN-HIRLAM common work plan for the DA basic kit core
  program.

After being selected, Maria Monteiro (from IPMA) started her job as the new ALADIN DA coordinator on January 1^st, 2018.

 DAsKIT : Data Assimilation starters kit

• Extensive inquiry among the 8 DAsKIT ALADIN Partners of the DA core program (see the outcome, as presented at the 28^th ALADIN Wk) :
  • all countries have available data to be assimilated in their local DA systems;
  • the know-how to process conventional data using the ALADIN system already exists in all countries;
  • some countries already setup a DA cycling and there is a trend/common wish to invest on surface DA in this moment; data Monitoring and validation tools know-how are missing;
• Regular video-conferences with DAsKIT countries are established
• DAsKIT Working Days were held in Bucarest on 19-21 September 2018
  • main topic on surface DA (CANARI+OI_MAIN) and further monitoring&validation
  • focus will be done on the OBSMON monitoring tool and on the HARP3 verification tool.