The long story, short
Reanalysis datasets are reconstruction of the past weather. They are used in many applications ranging from weather forecasting and wind energy to climate change studies.
Reanalysis are produced by small groups of very talented scientists, standing on the shoulders of a very wide community of experts.
Reanalysis datasets are often taken for granted, and rare are the practitioners having a detailed insight in how these datasets are produced, and by whom. In reality:
- Reanalyses are most often “one-off” projects, without long-term funding.
- Reanalyses are produced by small teams of dedicated scientists, that: they typically have a limited time and ressourced for doing user support.
- For validation and future improvements, reanalyses rely on their community of users!
At the occasion of the 6th International Conference on Reanalysis to be held in Tokyo this fall, the Reanalysis Appreciation Day 2024 calls all users of reanalysis data to share their stories about reanalysis: how these data support their work, and how much value they bring to the global society. With this campaign we hope to:
- Grow a community of reanalysis users on social media
- Bring attention to the necessity of continuing doing reanalysis
- Advocate for- and support the production of future reanalyses
Long live reanalysis!
Note: this is a personal intiative led by Rémi Gandoin from C2Wind (Denmark) without any affiliation to the ICR6 organisation.
What is a reanalysis?
If you are reading these words, chances are high that your know what reanalyses data are, what they look like and what they are used for. However, for the avoidance of doubt, see how the Copernicus Climate Change Service defines it:
Reanalysis combines weather observations with an advanced computer model to reconstruct past weather conditions over the entire globe. This can be done even when or where weather observations are missing.
The main purpose of reanalysis dataset is to provide meteorologists and forecasters with an accurate depiction of past weather and climate (for free), which they need for improving future weather models.
Since reanalysis are freely available global datasets covering several decades, they are well suited for several applications including renewable energy, hydrology, and weather forecasting (using AI, for instance).
Illustrations of use cases for Reanalysis
Copernicus Climate Bulletin
https://climate.copernicus.eu/climate-bulletins
The New European Wind Atlas
https://map.neweuropeanwindatlas.eu
earth: a visualization of global weather conditions
Climate Reanalyzer
