Yes, due to the nature of the upgrade, ECMWF will transfer all installed requirements in the test PREd to the production system on the day of the cycle implementation. During the RCP, any changes made in the production system should also be installed in the test system to ensure continuity.
If you're a Basic/Bronze user, the Data Support team can push a test batch of IFS Cycle 50r1 data to the host configuration.
If you're a Silver/Gold user, then you can either push the data to yourself or set the data to be delivered in 'NORMAL' mode. If you put the data in 'NORMAL' mode, the data will be disseminated to your host automatically. However, the data are disseminated between operational windows to protect network capacity, meaning the data will not be disseminated according to the usual dissemination schedule. There is no fixed delivery schedule, and products may not be available in real time, delays of up to one day are possible.
Note: 'NORMAL' mode will not be available until w/c 2nd March 2026.
The data are disseminated between operational windows to protect network capacity. There is no fixed delivery schedule, and products may not be available in real time, delays of up to one or days are possible. Usually as we get close to implementation the delay gets smaller.
The same TOTP token should be used for the xdiss as for the diss system.
No, the test data are strictly for non-operational use. Test products are intended for internal testing and validation only and must not be used in operational services or shared on social media.
We would encourage this, yes. In the IFS Cycle 49r1, (ex) HRES and Ensemble Control are numerically identical. If the users make this change at IFS Cycle 49r1, then they won't need to make it at IFS Cycle 50r1.
In IFS Cycle 50r1 it will still be a blend of GRIB1 and GRIB2. Full migration to all GRIB2 will happen with IFS Cycle 50r2, planned for implementation in late 2026, with plenty of test data available during the year or so leading up to this. Read more in this article from Spring 2023 Newsletter and In Focus article: Migration to GRIB2 data format: implications for users.
We are not planning to replace GRIB2 in the near future.
No, we will not be forcing users to migrate to the CCSDS compression with the IFS Cycle 50r1 update. However, we strongly recommend testing and switching to the CCSDS compression.