The European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF) is an independent intergovernmental organisation supported by most of the nations of Europe and is based at Shinfield Park, Reading, United Kingdom, and Bologna, Italy, and Bonn, Germany. It operates one of the largest supercomputer complexes in Europe and the world's largest archive of numerical weather prediction data.
ECMWF was established in 1975, in recognition of the need to pool the scientific and technical resources of Europe's meteorological services and institutions for the production of weather forecasts for medium-range timescales (up to approximately two weeks) and of the economic and social benefits expected from it.
The Centre employs about 350 staff, mostly appointed from across the member states and co-operating states.
In 2017, the centre's member states accepted an offer from the Italian Government to move ECMWF's data centre to Bologna, Italy. The new site, a former tobacco factory, would be redesigned by the architecture firm gmp.
During 2020, the Centre arranged to move its Copernicus operations away from Reading and into European Union territory. Following bids from Toulouse, Italy, Austria, Germany, Spain and Ireland, eventually Bonn (Germany) was chosen. The move has been directly attributed to Brexit.
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