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| HIRLAM | |
|---|---|
| Name | HIRLAM |
| Developer | Swedish Meteorological and Hydrological Institute, Danish Meteorological Institute, Finnish Meteorological Institute, Icelandic Meteorological Office, Norwegian Meteorological Institute, Royal Netherlands Meteorological Institute |
| Released | 1980s |
| Programming language | Fortran (programming language), C (programming language) |
| Operating system | Linux, Unix |
| Genre | Numerical weather prediction, Operational forecasting |
HIRLAM
HIRLAM is a regional numerical weather prediction system originating in northern Europe, developed by a consortium of national meteorological institutes including Swedish Meteorological and Hydrological Institute, Danish Meteorological Institute, Finnish Meteorological Institute, Icelandic Meteorological Office, and Norwegian Meteorological Institute. It provides short-range and medium-range atmospheric analyses and forecasts used for aviation, marine, hydrology, and public weather services across Europe and the North Atlantic. The system influenced and interworked with projects such as ALADIN, European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts, and later initiatives including the HARMONIE-AROME and ECMWF Integrated Forecast System collaborations.
The project began in the 1980s amid efforts at European Economic Community-era cooperation to improve regional forecasting, drawing on advances from institutions like Met Office and Météo-France. Early milestones include operational implementations at Danish Meteorological Institute and Swedish Meteorological and Hydrological Institute and collaborative meetings with teams from Royal Netherlands Meteorological Institute and Finnish Meteorological Institute. Throughout the 1990s and 2000s HIRLAM incorporated scientific results from groups at University of Oslo, Uppsala University, University of Helsinki, and Bergen School of Meteorology, while engaging with projects sponsored by European Union Framework Programmes and interacting with centers such as Deutscher Wetterdienst and Met Éireann.
The system is a hydrostatic, limited-area model built in Fortran (programming language) with numerical schemes informed by work at European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts, National Center for Atmospheric Research, and university research groups. It employs terrain-following vertical coordinates similar to methods used by ARPEGE and WRF, and spectral or finite-difference horizontal discretizations comparable to approaches at Météo-France and Met Office. Physical parameterizations for convection, boundary layer, radiation, and microphysics drew on science from groups at University of Reading, Laboratoire de Météorologie Dynamique, CNRS, and NOAA. Data assimilation capabilities interfaced with systems like 3D-Var frameworks used at ECMWF and observational networks including EUMETSAT, METEOSAT, Global Observing System, and radiosonde programmes run by national services.
HIRLAM was run operationally by national services including Danish Meteorological Institute, Icelandic Meteorological Office, Finnish Meteorological Institute, and Norwegian Meteorological Institute to support aviation operations at airports such as Copenhagen Airport, Oslo Airport, Gardermoen, and Helsinki Airport. Outputs fed into decision-support used by agencies like Swedish Civil Contingencies Agency and maritime authorities operating in North Atlantic corridors patrolled by Icelandic Coast Guard and shipping routed via the North Sea. Couplings were made with hydrological routing tools produced by institutes such as SMHI and Rijkswaterstaat for flood forecasting, and with air-quality frameworks linked to European Environment Agency reporting.
Development occurred under a consortium model with governance by member institutes mirroring cooperative arrangements seen in EUMETSAT and ECMWF collaborations. Scientific exchanges involved researchers from Utrecht University, University of Copenhagen, Ghent University, and Université de Toulouse, and integration efforts coordinated with projects like ALADIN and HARMONIE. Collaborative code repositories, workshops, and training were organized in conjunction with World Meteorological Organization regional activities, and funding often involved European Commission research calls and national research councils such as Swedish Research Council and Research Council of Norway.
Verification studies compared HIRLAM forecasts against reference datasets produced by ECMWF, Met Office Unified Model, and Météo-France ARPEGE. Metrics included deterministic scores (root-mean-square error) and probabilistic measures aligned with standards from World Meteorological Organization and EUMETNET. Intercomparisons were published alongside work from HARMONIE-AROME and COSMO consortia, with sensitivity experiments conducted using data from EUMETSAT satellites and in situ networks maintained by European Hydrological Cycle Observation System partners. Performance tuning addressed issues highlighted by users at Copenhagen University Hospital and aviation stakeholders represented by International Civil Aviation Organization protocols.
HIRLAM outputs supported short-range forecasting for sectors including aviation at Eurocontrol-coordinated airports, maritime shipping managed via International Maritime Organization guidance, and emergency planning by Scandinavian national agencies. Research leveraging HIRLAM contributed to published studies in journals associated with American Meteorological Society, Royal Meteorological Society, and European Geosciences Union, and informed operational integration projects with ECMWF and the Copernicus Programme. The legacy influenced successor systems adopted by national services and regional initiatives across Europe.
ALADIN HARMONIE-AROME ECMWF Met Office Unified Model COSMO WRF ARPEGE EUMETSAT European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts Swedish Meteorological and Hydrological Institute Danish Meteorological Institute Finnish Meteorological Institute Icelandic Meteorological Office Norwegian Meteorological Institute Royal Netherlands Meteorological Institute World Meteorological Organization European Union Copernicus Programme Eurocontrol International Civil Aviation Organization International Maritime Organization American Meteorological Society Royal Meteorological Society European Geosciences Union Météo-France Deutscher Wetterdienst Met Éireann NOAA National Center for Atmospheric Research Uppsala University University of Oslo University of Helsinki University of Copenhagen Utrecht University Ghent University Université de Toulouse Laboratoire de Météorologie Dynamique CNRS EUMETNET European Environment Agency Rijkswaterstaat SMHI Met Office Copenhagen Airport Oslo Airport, Gardermoen Helsinki Airport European Hydrological Cycle Observation System European Economic Community Swedish Research Council Research Council of Norway EUMETSAT