In December 2009, the respective Councils of ECMWF and ESA agreed to the extension of the Co-operation Agreement between ECMWF and ESA for another five years, i.e. to 31 May 2015.
On 31 May 2005 the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF) and the European Space Agency (ESA) signed a cooperation agreement, with the purpose of establishing a general framework for mutual cooperation with regard to exchange of information and of expertise between the Parties in the field of meteorological data provision and assimilation.
The agreement provides an umbrella to cover various scientific and technical activities. Regular bi-lateral meetings are held at management level and points of contact have been established. More specifically, this agreement has allowed a close working relationship enabling data access, monitoring, exploitation and feedback on data quality and impact from ESA’s Earth Observation Programmes, in particular the SMOS and the ADM-AEOLUS missions.
Climate monitoring and generation of Essential Climate Variables (through reprocessing and reanalysis activities) are identified as areas where collaboration between ECMWF and ESA should expand in the future.