The new Italia – Deutschland science-4-services network in weather and climate (IDEA-S4S) 

<p>Italy and Germany are establishing a new bilateral cooperation in meteorology, climatology and related disciplines that will create a hub of excellence for cutting edge research and translate the findings into improving operational services and university education. The joint research and education network IDEA-S4S will harness expertise of universities, research institutes and operational services in both countries and foster scientific exchange and collaboration to improve weather, climate and environmental services.</p><p>Within the new programme, the core areas of scientific expertise of both countries will be systematically brought together, activities will be streamlined and extended beyond basic research collaboration to form a holistic IDEA-S4S network of weather and climate science and education, extending from qualification of graduates to support for early career researchers to networking of senior scientists. The programme will cooperate with WMO and the European Meteorological Infrastructure (ECMWF, EUMETSAT, EUMETNET) and strengthen the scientific environment for the ECMWF sites in Bonn and Bologna. A Joint Steering Committee will oversee the cooperation and guide the overall scientific and strategic direction of the programme.</p><p>Through four-year funding periods, the network aims to make substantial progress in seamless high-resolution probabilistic Earth system prediction, employing state-of-the-art observing systems and Earth system models. This requires improved understanding and application of coupled processes between the components of the Earth system (including atmosphere-ocean-ice-land-vegetation-rivers) as well as between the impacts of human activities and the Earth system. Such complex weather and climate prediction systems place high demands on high-performance computing infrastructure, generate extremely large data volumes and need to integrate observations seamlessly into the models.</p><p>In this contribution, we will present the concept and roadmap of the IDEA-S4S network, which will focus on improving seamless weather and climate forecasts, in particular for high impact events such as floods and droughts. Both countries have experienced devastating impacts of such extreme events with unusual rainfall intensities, some of which even lead to the destruction of entire regions. Better understanding the complex structure and the numerous feedback processes in such events will improve the prediction of future events in support of a better prepared and resilient society.</p>