France, as part of its Presidency of the European Union, and the European Commission jointly held a Forum in Lille, France, on 16 and 17 September 2008 to mark the launch of the first GMES services. The aim was to provide information about these pre-operational services and to stimulate discussion between providers and users of services.
The Forum opened with a re-branding of GMES as Kopernikus by the European Commission. The opening speeches were followed by presentations about the pre-operational services concerned with the marine environment, the atmosphere, land use and planning, crisis management after disasters and security issues such as illegal immigration and drug trafficking.
The presentation about atmospheric environmental services was given by Adrian Simmons (Coordinator for GMES Activities at ECMWF). He explained how the atmospheric services combine model simulations with world-wide observations to monitor the composition of the Earth’s atmosphere and predict regional air quality using a consistent and comprehensive system. Particular attention was paid to services associated with:
• The ozone layer and UV
• Chemical weather and air quality
• Aerosol
Specially prepared videos on these topics were shown. A recording showing the presentations and videos will be available shortly here.
As well as the presentations and round-table discussions, there was also an exhibition which included a stand dedicated to the GMES atmospheric services. Greenhouse-gas work undertaken within these services was featured in a display on a separate stand devoted to climate. This stand also included a display on reanalysis provided by ECMWF. The Centre also contributed to a smaller stand presenting the European Meteorological Infrastructure, of which ECMWF is a part.
The French Secretary of State for Transport, Dominique Bussereau, visited the stands following his closure of the meeting, and was shown some of the GMES work on air quality and some of the results from ERA-Interim.
From mid-2009 it is expected that the core GMES atmospheric services - the central atmospheric component of Kopernikus - will be provided by a new ECMWF-led consortium comprising most of the partners of the EC-funded GEMS project and core production partners from the ESA-funded PROMOTE project, with funding provided by the EC under the 7th Framework Programme.