Scoping Meeting for a Mediterranean Climate Outlook Forum.

12-14 June 2013, Madrid.

The scoping meeting focused on collaboration/cooperation across the Mediterranean basin for operational provision of climate information at seasonal scales (and tentatively beyond).

It was mainly organized to allow in depth discussions on the scientific issues relevant for a potential Regional Climate Outlook Forum (RCOF) covering partially or totally the Mediterranean basin. RCOFs are a key component of the climate-related activities performed by WMO and a pillar of the Global Framework for Climate Services.


The main objective of the meeting was to lay the foundations for an interregional (RAI and RAVI) RCOF. This potential RCOF will also strengthen the capacity of its participants. The meeting, organized by AEMET in collaboration with WMO, aimed to define the scope of the future RCOF, stakeholders involved and their responsibilities, task and procedures.

The meeting took place at AEMET headquarters in Madrid. 

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First MEDITERRANEAN CLIMATE OUTLOOK FORUM (MedCOF-1)

Belgrade, Serbia, November 13-19, 2013

   As agreed in the MedCOF Scoping Meeting (12-14 June 2013, Madrid, Spain), the first session of the Mediterranean Climate Outlook Forum (MedCOF-1) was held on 18-19 November 2013 in Belgrade, Serbia, kindly hosted by the Republic Hydrometeorological Service (RHMS) of Serbia.


    Development and dissemination of a consensus-based seasonal climate outlook, along with an estimate of its associated uncertainty, will be the flagship product of the Mediterranean Climate Outlook Forum (MedCOF), who aims to provide a clear user-relevant message through the National Meteorological and Hydrological Services of the participating countries.

   This collaborative initiative will contribute to the capacity building and will build trust among climate information providers as well as user communities. However, as some participants in MedCOF are still in an incipient status of developing the seasonal forecasting both in operations and research domains, MedCOF will also facilitate the periodic organization of courses, workshops and other activities aiming to strengthen the existing capabilities in seasonal forecasting and other working areas.

   The session was held in connexion with two other related events planned in a consecutive way as follows:

  • 13-16 November 2013 - Regional training on Long-Range Forecasts
  • 18-19 November 2013 - MedCOF-1
  • 20-21 November 2013 - SEECOF-10

Second MEDITERRANEAN CLIMATE OUTLOOK FORUM ON-LINE

April 18 - May 28, 2014

>> Online Forum   

MedCOF-2 comprises 3 steps. The first one had been devoted to verification of the MedCOF-1 winter forecast; the second one to the assessment of current state of climate and, finally, the third one to the building of consensus statements.


In every step, all communications have gone through the forum tool.

  • STEP-1: Verification of winter 2013-14 seasonal forecast

    Click here to download the Final Assessment of MedCOF1 Climate Outlook for winter season 2013-14 and the National Reports.

  • STEP-2: Assessment of the current state of climate
  • STEP-3: Building of the consensus statement

    Click here to download the Consensus Statement MedCOF-2 for summer season 2014.

Third MEDITERRANEAN CLIMATE OUTLOOK FORUM

Antalya, Turkey, November 17-18, 2014

The Third Session of MedCOF (MedCOF-3) has taken place in Antalya, Turkey, on 17-18 November 2014, kindly hosted by the Turkish State Meteorological Service. 


MedCOF-3 has been followed by the parallel sessions of the South East European Climate Outlook Forum (SEECOF-12), and the Northern African Climate Outlook Forum (PRESANORD-7) on 19-20 November. Furthermore, the Global Framework for Climate Services (GFCS) has convened a Regional Consultation Meeting (RMC) with users communities across South East Europe (SEE) on 21-22 November at the same venue.

MedCOF-3 comprises 3 steps, which all require your participation. The first one has been devoted to verification of the MedCOF-2 summer forecast; the second one to the assessment of current state of climate and, finally, the third one to the building of consensus statements.

  • STEP-1: Verification of summer 2014 seasonal forecast

As this time MedCOF and SEECOF/PRESANORD are organized back-to-back and in order to avoid overlaps with respect to verification, we have conducted the verification sessions only in the subregional sessions (SEECOF and PRESANORD). Consecuently we have required from all participants to upload in step 1 of the MedCOF forum the national verification reports using the same template as in MedCOF2, to provide:

      • information on high-impact events of the last summer season,
      • brief assessments of the correctness of the MedCOF-2 outlook and
      • comments on user perceptions of the MedCOF-2 outlook

The facilitators (P. Bissolli, S. Ben Rached and A. Mestre) have compiled information from country reports and summarised them in one final report discussed in Antalya.

Here you can download the final verification reports:

  • STEP-2 (Assessment of the current state of climate) and STEP-3 (Building the consensus statement)

Presentations have been given both for the monitoring step and for the building of the consensus statement step based on model outputs and on empirical predictive signals.

Summaries for Step-2 and Step-3 have been prepared by RCCs followed by contributions of participant GPCs and regional modelling centres. These presentations have been followed by discussion.

Here you can download the Consensus Statement MedCOF-3 Report:

We have also uploaded in the MedCOF on-line forum model outputs from available GPCs previously to the MedCOF3 meeting. 

If you are a participant in MedCOF-3, but you are not registered in the MedCOF forum, please, contact us.


OTHER DOCUMENTS TO DOWNLOAD:

First Training MedCOF Workshop on Seasonal Forecasting

Madrid, Spain, 26-30 October 2015

Fifth MEDITERRANEAN CLIMATE OUTLOOK FORUM

Marrakech, Morocco, November 23-26, 2015

The Fifth Session of MedCOF (MedCOF-5) will take place in Marrakech, Morocco, on 23-26 November 2015, kindly hosted by the TDirection de la Meteorologie National of Morroco. 

Second Training MedCOF Workshop on Seasonal Forecasting

Rome, Italy, 15-18 November 2016

Second Training MedCOF Workshop on Seasonal Forecasting will take place in Rome, Italy, on 15-18 November 2016, hosted by the National Council of Research (CNR-IBIMET) and the Centre for Euro-Mediterranean Climate Changes (CMCC). 

Ninth MEDITERRANEAN CLIMATE OUTLOOK FORUM

Zagreb, Croatia, November 20-23, 2017

The Ninth Session of Mediterranean Climate Outlook Forum (MedCOF-9), the 18th Session of South East European Climate Outlook Forum (SEECOF-18) and the 11th Session of Northern Africa Climate Outlook Forum (PRESANORD-11) will be take place in Zagreb, Croatia, from 20 to 23 November 2017, hosted by the Meteorological and Hydrological Service of Croatia (DHMZ). In addition, Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S) related event will be held during the MedCOF session devoted to interaction with users.