Update on EUMETSATs Operational Commercial Weather Data Buys WMO OCP-HL5 13 June 2024 Paul COUNET Head of Strategy, Communication and International Relations Agenda EUMETSAT Pilot Project on commercial data service Lessons learned Next
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01
Update on EUMETSAT’s Operational Commercial Weather Data Buys
WMO OCP-HL_5
13 June 2024
Paul COUNET
Head of Strategy, Communication and
International Relations<br>
02
Agenda EUMETSAT Pilot Project on commercial data service
Lessons learned
Next Steps<br>
03
EUMETSAT Council Policy towards Commercial Data Procurement EUMETSAT could act as procurement agent on behalf of its 30 MS
Procurement of commercial data should remain marginal compared to EUMETSAT own-programmes
Technology should be European and data procured on best value for money – according to EUMETSAT procurement rules
Positive impact of the data has to be demonstrated before the initiation of a procurement – was done through studies performed by ECMWF – and uptake by users need to be prepared
Specific requirements on industry to be able to set-up a sustained operational service
Global licensing is preferred but value should be checked comparing market prices
Regular assessment of the (emerging) market in Europe is mandatory<br>
04
EUMETSAT Pilot Project On that basis, EUMETSAT initiated a 3-years Pilot Project in 2021
Contract kicked off 12 August 2021 with preparation and validation period to prepare the operational service
Contract organised in 6-months Delivery Orders (DO) - Council decision on each DO
DO1 placed 14 February 2022 and marked start of operational service
Latest DO (DO-5) activated in February 2024, Pilot Project ending in August 2024<br>
05
Overview of the Delivery Orders<br>
06
Licensing during the Pilot Project EUMETSAT required industry to make proposals with a range of licensing options, from EUMETSAT limited use up to full free and open license
For DO1, EUMETSAT Council decided to procure a global license, enabling free sharing of data, including bilaterally and via WMO mechanisms (GTS), of all product levels including level 0
The global licensing was continued for all DO’s and applied throughout the pilot project
As a consequence, the price paid by occultation was higher than for other licensing options<br>
Value of commercial data and benefits to Member States Based on pilot, EUMETSAT Member States confirmed:
Commercial RO were assimilated by main EUMETSAT Member States (UK, FR, DE, ECMWF,…) and the value of the data in their operational NWP systems was demonstrated by providing a measurable improvement in forecast quality
The value of EUMETSAT acting as an intermediate and providing consistent processing, quality control and monitoring across multiple RO missions, both public (EPS/GRAS, Sentinel-6) and commercial
The benefits of a global license allowing the free sharing, including bilaterally and via WMO mechanisms, of all product levels including level 0 were real, in particular with other agencies (e.g. NOAA) which applied the same licensing scheme
The value of regular exchange with MS of the status and further evolution the commercial data service provided by EUMETSAT, to ensure that the service continues to provide maximum value for Member States. Positive feedback from EUMETSAT Member States on overall value and benefits of commercial RO data and its implementation via EUMETSAT.<br>
09
Transparency:
Documentation provided by commercial data providers can be sparse and occasionally incomplete
It has proven to be sometimes difficult to obtain technical details about instrument characteristics
Pre-delivery quality control implemented by the vendor, even if documented, remains difficult to assess
Changes in processing, quality control and delivery numbers take place outside of EUMETSAT's control and were occasionally not communicated, raising issues on user side
Good Reliability:
In EUMETSAT's data buy, the agreed amount of data / number of occultations was consistently delivered
Other obligations - like the need to deliver large number of occultations to another customer - resulted in changes in the data composition (e.g. increase in the number of Beidou occultations being delivered) or drops in the excess occultations being provided.
Only very few (and minor) minor issues regarding data delivery occurred; they were all quickly resolved by the contractor Lessons learnt from commercial data service<br>
10
Definition of service
The specification of data quality requirements is complex, as their formulation in parts depends on details in processing and quality control algorithms, as well as on data characteristics typical for different instruments
Heavily tailored license terms can have implications which only become apparent down the line and lead to unforeseen complications. Use of more standardised license terms would be beneficial
Preparation of service
Extensive data evaluation before procuring data is key to assess quality issues and improve data selection, to achieve a mature status of the data delivered
The service preparation period with users is key for familiarisation and agreeing operational interfaces and related processes between the vendor and agency
Operations of service
Frequently changing satellites, instruments , data mix or even data providers pose difficult problems for users operationally assimilating the data in NWP
While EUMETSAT could mitigate most of these changes, it remains difficult for a public agency to monitor the quick pace of changes on the vendor side while continuing to deliver an operational service Lessons learnt from commercial data service<br>
11
Cost:
Commercial data procurements carry additional costs on EUMETSAT beyond the actual data procurement to implement and operate overall service (including processing, quality control and monitoring).
Frequent changes (e.g. between data providers / delivery orders) add a significant overhead in operations in comparison to a typical data service with a longer-term outlook
Price per occultation is highly variable depending on factors such as delivery order length and license terms Lessons learnt from commercial data service<br>
12
2024 Extension of Pilot Project Based on the positive experience, Council decided to extend the commercial data service
Contract was placed under direct negotiation – as no competition exists in Europe today
Contract with 2-year baseline duration and 3 annual optional extensions – starting on 1 August 2024, with the objective to regularly probe the market
Quantity : 1,400 Occ. / day
Allow continued access to radio occultation data for official use by NMHSs of all Member States and ECMWF in near-real time, with similar service level agreement as pilot with Spir with regards to data timeliness and quality and global license for redistribution
Global licensing confirmed<br>
13
Synthesis Commercial RO Data Service at EUMETSAT Commercial RO Pilot Commercial RO Operational Follow-on Aug 2024
Operational contract start<br>
14
Next Steps Discussions are on-going with EUMETSAT Member States to establish a permanent mechanism to fund the procurement of commercial data
Target is to have this in place by 2025. Best Value for Money will remain the procurement principle.
Consider other types of data if / when available: GNSS-R, GNSS-PRO, MWS, IRS,…
Regular checks on data available from the market and eligible with EUMETSAT procurement rules
Regular discussions on opportunities offered through international cooperation<br>
