October 2026 - Announcements

Upcoming activities for Sentinel-6
by Galley, Chad R (US 362F) 20 Oct '26

20 Oct '26

Dear NWP centers, The two Sentinel-6 satellites “Michael Freilich” (MF, also known as “A”) and “B” are currently in a tandem orbit separated in time by about 30 seconds. As a result, and to our knowledge, RO NRT BUFR products from both satellites are not assimilated together currently into weather forecasts. The S6-B commissioning phase is coming to an end. The Sentinel-6 Project is planning to start moving the S6-MF satellite no earlier than November 17, 2026 to a new orbit. At the end of this transition, the two satellites will be sufficiently far away that RO NRT BUFR products from both satellites can be assimilated together into weather forecasts. In addition, the GNSS-RO instrument software on S6-MF will be upgraded to match the configuration of the S6-B instrument no earlier than November 2, 2026. Therefore, we recommend users to start assimilating S6-B RO NRT BUFR products on November 2, 2026. Doing so will ensure that operational BUFR products will be available from one satellite (namely, S6-B) during the S6-MF software upgrade and transition to the new orbit. We will follow up with another email when S6-MF BUFR products are available again for you to assimilate, perhaps towards the end of November (TBC). At that point, the two satellites will no longer be in tandem and assimilation of BUFR products from both S6-MF and S6-B can occur. Please let us know if you have any questions. Best, Chad, on behalf of the Sentinel-6 RO team [JPL logo] Chad Galley, PhD Group Supervisor 362F | Space Geodesy & Geodynamics JPL 4800 Oak Grove Drive Pasadena, CA 91109 Mail Stop 238-600 M: 410.491.0024 O: 818.354.1013 F: 818.393.4965 chad.r.galley(a)jpl.nasa.gov<mailto:chad.r.galley@jpl.nasa.gov>

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Update on voting for IROWG co-chair
by Mannucci, Anthony J (US 3620) 15 Oct '26

15 Oct '26

Dear IROWG, Apologies for the delay is setting up the vote for our new IROWG co-chair. We wanted to provide more time to solicit additional nominations. Nominations will continue to be open for one week and will close on Thursday October 22 at 2359 UTC. The new co-chair will replace Ulrich Foelsche who will be stepping down. Nominations (including self) may be provided in an email to co-chairs(a)lists.irowg.org<mailto:co-chairs@lists.irowg.org> , or individually to the co-chairs Hui and Uli via their native email addresses (cc: on this message). Members of NWP organizations are encouraged. We will start the vote soon after the nomination period closes. Voting will occur via anonymous Google Forms. Alternatively, you may send the Rapporteur an email with your vote. The voting period will be open for about two weeks. Please feel free to contact us if the voting schedule does not meet your needs. Thank you for your participation. Sincerely, Tony Mannucci, Rapporteur Hui Shao and Ulrich Foelsche, Co-Chairs

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IROWG Subgroup Mailing Lists
by Hui Shao 01 Oct '26

01 Oct '26

Dear IROWG, As mentioned during IROWG-11, in addition to the general IROWG mailing list, several subgroup mailing lists have been created to facilitate communication within specific IROWG subgroups. Currently, subgroup mailing lists are available for Climate, Innovation, NWP, and Space Weather. Each subgroup mailing list is managed independently from the general IROWG mailing list, and membership in one list does not automatically subscribe you to another. The subgroup leads serve as the moderators of their respective mailing lists and will manage how each list is used to support communication within the subgroup. If you participate in an IROWG subgroup, you are encouraged to subscribe to the relevant subgroup mailing list. Please visit https://lists.irowg.org <https://lists.irowg.org/?utm_source=chatgpt.com> to subscribe, manage your subscriptions, and access the mailing list archives. Instructions for subscribing to and managing the mailing lists are available on the IROWG Mailing List <https://irowg.org/further-information/mailing-list/> webpage. Thanks, Hui IROWG co-chair

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NWP SAF training course on satellite data assimilation
by Katrin Lonitz 01 Oct '26

01 Oct '26

Hi, I'd like to forward this announcement about an upcoming training course at ECMWF by my colleague Niels Bormann. Thanks, Katrin Hi all, ECMWF will again be running the EUMETSAT NWP SAF training course on satellite data assimilation next year, at ECMWF HQ in Reading, UK, 18-22 January 2027. The course gives a comprehensive overview of the use of meteorological satellite observations in operational NWP. It includes a series of lectures and practical sessions covering fundamental theoretical concepts through to detailed practical implementations in state-of-the-art data assimilation systems. The course is much earlier in the year than usual and the deadline for applications is 11 October 2026. Further details and information on how to apply can be found here: https://events.ecmwf.int/event/577/ Please forward to anyone who might be interested, particularly early-career scientists. All the best, Niels Katrin Lonitz Senior Scientist Earth System Assimilation Section European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts Reading, UK | Bologna, Italy | Bonn, Germany e: katrin.lonitz(a)ecmwf.int w: ecmwf.int/en/staff/katrin-lonitz<https://www.ecmwf.int> [ECMWF-logo] Any email message from ECMWF is sent in good faith, but shall neither have binding effect nor be construed as constituting a commitment by ECMWF, except where provided for in a written agreement or if explicitly stated otherwise in the content of such an email. Please note that any views or opinions presented in this email are solely those of the sender and do not necessarily represent those of ECMWF or its Member States. This message and any attachments are intended for the sole use of the addressee(s) and may contain confidential and privileged information. Any unauthorised use, disclosure, dissemination or distribution (in whole or in part) of its contents is not permitted. If you received this message in error, please notify the sender and delete it from your system.

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