Relation between the SRNWP Core-Programme and the Projects

Chair: Andras Horanyi

Among the actions triggered by the document "A Vision for NWP in Europe", one has been to accompany the third phase of the SRNWP Programme by Projects, whose aim is to develop concrete deliverables to augment the efficiency in NWP and to foster the collaboration in this field between the European NMS as between and their five Consortia.

In the EUMETNET organization, these Projects would be standard Programmes, each formally independent of the others as of all the other EUMETNET Programmes. Each of these Programme-Projects would have its own Responsible Member and Programme Manager.

At the difference of EUCOS, where the Programmes for observations (E-AMDAR, E-ASAP, E-SURFMAR and, from 2008, E-WINPROF) are all under the umbrella of the EUCOS Programme itself, which acts as a coordinating and monitoring Programme, it has not been planed for SRNWP to have a central Programme with coordination and monitoring duties.

Presently, only the Project "Interoperability between the European NWP Systems" has been accepted by Council as EUMETNET Programme. It is hoped that the Projects "Verification" and "European Short-range EPS" will also become EUMETNET Programmes.

These Programmes - Interoperabiluty, Verification and European EPS - need coordination, at least for the data formats. It is out of question that each Project defines its own data formats.

Every participant agrees that some kind of coordination must exist between the Projects and that it should be taken over by the SRNWP Programme itself.

However, there are different opinions about the extension of that coordination. Fears have been expressed that the SRNWP Core Programme could coordinate everything and takes leadership and initiative away from the Project-Programmes. This must not happen because the Responsible Members of the Projects bear alone before Council, each for itself, the responsibility of their activities.

It has been proposed to the new SRNWP Programme Manager that he should discuss the problem of the relation between the SRNWP Programme and the Project-Programmes (presently between the SRNWP and the Interoperability Programmes) with the Executive Director of the EIG-EUMETNET, Mr. Steve Noyes, in spring 2008 in Brussels.