Definition of eGAFOR issuing protocols
Time properties of eGAFOR issuing protocol
The partners have agreed on the following time properties of the eGAFOR issuing protocol:
- The validity of the eGAFOR product will be 6 hours. It is defined as the “Validity time” (VT).
- Each of the 6-hour eGAFOR products will be divided into three 2-hour time intervals.
- The eGAFOR product will be issued every 4 hours.
- The eGAFOR product will be issued one hour before the beginning of the validity of the first forecast, which is defined as “Issuance time” (IT),
- Forecasters from all partner countries will collaboratively start to produce the eGAFOR product at least one hour before Issuance time and this is defined as “Collaborative time” (CT).
- Collaborative time will last until Issuance time.
| Validity time | ||||
| Collaborative time | Issuance time | 1. Time interval | 2. Time interval | 3. Time interval |
| 01:00 – 02:00 | 02:00 | 03:00 – 05:00 | 05:00 – 07:00 | 07:00 – 09:00 |
| 05:00 – 06:00 | 06:00 | 07:00 – 09:00 | 09:00 – 11:00 | 11:00 – 13:00 |
| 09:00 – 10:00 | 10:00 | 11:00 – 13:00 | 13:00 – 15:00 | 15:00 – 17:00 |
| 13:00 – 14:00 | 14:00 | 15:00 – 17:00 | 17:00 – 19:00 | 19:00 – 21:00 |
Table 1 First guess for the time properties of eGAFOR (see Remarks). All the times are in UTC
Collaborative forecasting
- During collaborative forecasting, each forecaster is responsible only for his/her own Area of Responsibility (AOR).
- The forecasters will aim to produce forecasts of meteorological phenomena that affect more than one AOR, together during Collaborative time.
- After the completion of his/her forecast the forecaster will check whether his/her forecast is harmonized with the neighboring forecasts.
- After harmonization of all forecasts, the eGAFOR product will be issued.
Remarks
- Depending on the duration of the illuminated part of the day, partners may individually decide not to issue all time intervals of the eGAFOR product.
- The training for Collaborative forecasting will be carried out within Work Package 4 in 2020. If any new rules and/or recommended practices are established during the training, they will be added to this Report.
- If during training it is found that Time properties of eGAFOR are not adequate in operational work, they will be changed.