CONFESS results feature in ECMWF’s 2023 Winter Newsletter  

Featured Article titled: Updating land and aerosol properties to improve reanalyses and seasonal forecasts

Authors: Magdalena A. Balmaseda; Tim Stockdale; Souhail Boussetta; Retish Senan; Gianpaolo Balsamo; Angela Benedetti; Tanya Warnaars

Newsletter Number 174 – Winter 2023 (Published in January 2023)

To access the full article please visit:

https://www.ecmwf.int/en/elibrary/81330-newsletter-no-174-winter-202223

CONFESS 2nd General Assembly

CONFESS hosted its second General Assembly with project partners on the Wednesday, 1st December 2021 from 09:00 UK Time.

All work package leaders and most of the project team members were present and presented the progress of the project.

Presentations from the meeting are available below.

TimeItemPresenter
9:00-9:05WelcomeMagdalena Alonso Balmaseda (ECMWF)
  WP1  
9:05-9:10 WP1 updateConstantin Ardilouze (MF)
9:10-9:25 Comparison of LAI trendsGildas Dayon (MF)
9:25-9:40 Impacts of interannually varying LAI vs. evolving LULCSouhail Boussetta (ECMWF)
9:40-9:50Improved effective vegetation cover parameterizationFransje van Oorschot (CNR-ISAC)
9:50-10:00Multi-model study on the effect of inter-annually varying LAIFransje van Oorschot (CNR-ISAC)
WP2  
10:00-10:05WP2 updateRoberto Bilbao (BSC)
10:05-10:15Tropospheric and volcanic aerosol developmentsTim Stockdale (ECMWF)
10:15-10:25Preliminary evaluation of the CONFESS biomass burning experiments with the ECMWF ENS system.Angela Benedetti (ECMWF)
10:25-10:35An empirical model for predicting biomass emissions.Pablo Ortega (BSC)
10:35-10:45 Comparison of CMIP6, EVA and EVA_H volcanic forcings and climate response in EC-Earth3.Roberto Bilbao (BSC)
10:45-11:00  Coffee break 
WP3  
11:00-11:05WP3 updateLauriane Batté (MF)
11:05-11:20 Impact of interactive vegetation on seasonal prediction in the CNRM-CM modelGildas Dayon (MF)
11:20-11:35 Effects of the realistic vegetation cover on predictions at seasonal and decadal time scalesAndrea Alessandri / Emanuele DiCarlo (CNR-ISAC)
11:35-11:50 Time-varying vegetation: Initial results from ECMWF seasonal hindcastsRetish Senan (ECMWF)
11:50-12:05 Impact of volcanic eruptions on decadal predictionsRoberto Bilbao (BSC)
WP4 & closure 
12:05 – 12:10WP4 -Coordination and DisseminationTanya Warnaars (ECMWF)
12:10-12:15Closure

Upcoming Presentations of CONFESS

The month of May will be a busy time for the CONFESS consortium who will be presenting at a number of prestigious international events. The end of May is when EGU will hold their Annual General Assembly meeting, which is the same week as the ESA-Living Planet Symposium. These events will see our consortium members travelling to Vienna, where A. Alessanndri (CNR-ISAC) will host a session at EGU where five presentations related to CONFESS will be given. A strong representation will also be in Bonn to present the work of CONFESS at the European Space Agency’s 2022 Living Planet Symposium, which is held every three years. This is an exiting time for the project as we are eager to share our results with the community who can benefit from our findings as well as feedback on our project achievements. These and future presentations over the summer of 2022 are listed in our presentation page.

CONFESS General Assembly

CONFESS hosted its first public General Assembly online on the Wednesday, 1st December 2021 from 09:00 UK Time.

Over 70 participants from Europe and beyond heard about the objectives and progress of the project.

Presentations from the meeting are available below.

9:00 – 9:40 Welcome and Introduction to the GA

TimePresenterPresentation
9:00-9:10Jean-Noel Thepaut (Director of Copernicus department at ECMWF)Welcome 
9:00-9:20Magdalena A. Balmaseda (Project Leader)Introduction to the GA and practicalities

9:20-10:20 CONFESS in the Copernicus Context

TimePresenterPresentation
9:20-9:50Hans Hersbach (ECMWF, invited)C3S Earth System Reanalyses: progress and planned evolution
9:50-10:20Antje Innes (ECMWF, invited)Updates to CAMS reanalyses activities and synergies with climate

10:30 – 12:00 WP1: Continental Surfaces Impact (soil & vegetation, land-use)

TimePresenterPresentation
10:30-10:45Constantin Ardilouze (Meteo France)Overview of progress in WP1
10:45-11:00Souhail Boussetta (ECMWF)Task 1.1 Harmonization of Copernicus observational records with focus on vegetation
11:00-11:15Andrea Alessandri (CNR)Task 1.2. Implementation in HTESSEL/SURFEX to assess interannual variability
11:15-11:30Gildas Dayon (MeteoFrance)Task 1.3: Sensitivity of land surface conditions to dynamic vegetation
11:30-11:40Andrea Alessandri (CNR)Outreach and dissemination. Links to other international projects
11:40-12:00Questions and discussion

13:00 – 14:15 WP2  Aerosols in Troposphere and Stratosphere

TimePresenterPresentation
13:00-13:15Roberto Bilbao (BSC)Overview of Progress in WP2
13:15-13:30Tim Stockdale (ECMWF)Task 2.1 Harmonization of CMIP6 and C3S/CAMS data with IFS (decadal variations)
13:30-13:45Angela Benedetti (ECMWF)Task 2.2. Capability to react to hazardous events: Biomass burning.  PART A: Experimental set up and Biomass Climatology
13:45-14:00Etienne Tourigny (BSC)Task 2.2 Capability to react to hazardous events: Biomass burning. PART B:  Empirical model for biomass burning emissions
14:00-14:15Tim Stockdale (ECMWF)Task 2.3 Capability to react to volcanic eruptions events
14:15-14:30Questions/Discussion 
14:30-15:00Joao Teixeira (UK MetOffice, Invited)Coupling fire with vegetation  in the UK MetOffice Earth System Model
15:15-15:45Julia Green (University of Berkeley, Invited)Regional atmosphere-terrestrial biosphere feedbacks

15:45-16:15 WP3 Integration and testing in initialised forecast and multi-year integration and Final Discussion

TimePresenterPresentation
15:45-16:00Lauriane Batte (Meteo France)Overview and progress: Experimental protocol
16:00-16:15Final discussion 
16:15Closure

CONFESS – 9 months in

CONFESS has completed its first nine months of its planned activities, resulting in 7 deliverables, of which 8 are publicly available.

CONFESS partners are busy preparing first data sets in the form of harmonized CAMS and CMIP6 datasets for aerosols that are due to be published in October 2021.

Regular meetings are taking place both within the consortium as well as with stakeholders from the Copernicus Climate Change Service to ensure the results of the project will add value,

If you want to learn more about the project, please do not hesitate to contact us.

CONFESS Project Kicked Off

The CONFESS project has officially started on the 1st of November 2020. Led by the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts and with Partners Meteo-France, Barcelona Supercomputing Centre and the Italian National Research Council, the project will run for 36 months with the aim to  improve the reliability and usability of Copernicus Climate Change Service information in the land-atmosphere coupled system by exploiting new and improved Earth Observations data records of land-use, vegetation states and surface-emitted aerosols delivered across different Copernicus Services.

The project had its virtual Kick-off meeting on the 3rd and 4th of November, bringing together both members of the consortium as well as stakeholders and advisers. The meeting focused on planning the work for the first year of the project.

CONFESS Kick-off Meeting