Fundamental research addressing the challenges of weather forecasts and climate monitoring is required in order to steadily improve the quality of meteorological and climatological services. However, the potential of transferring results from this research into operations increases significantly if carried out in collaboration with national meteorological and hydrometeorological services (NMHS). Out of this motivation and experience, the German “Hans-Ertel-Centre for Weather Research” (HErZ) has been established in 2011 as a virtual competence centre.
HErZ develops and organizes a lasting national consortium along common objectives between the German Meteorological Service (DWD), German universities and scientific institutes to accelerate innovation in DWD’s weather, climate and environmental services. HErZ carries out excellent research, strengthens university education and promotes early career scientists, ensures personnel and strategical development, and facilitates the establishment and success of new cooperation, also outside of Germany. Moreover, HErZ grants access to DWD’s infrastructure, including (global) observation data and prediction models. With the strong support of the German Federal Ministry of Digital and Transport, HErZ was able to overcome the difficulties within initiating a cooperation between partners of different institutional communities and established an unprecedented sustainable and national transdisciplinary network.
The current research and objectives of HErZ cover the whole value chain expected from this year’s EMS Annual Meeting’s additional focus on “Connecting Communities”: Bringing together fundamental and applied research, observations with prediction models, research institutions with NHMS, and developers with end-users. This intertwined and progressive structure in science and communication ultimately results in acquiring value for society as a whole.
Establishing and managing HErZ and its scientific, strategic and structural goals is challenging. The complex tasks of achieving excellence in science and long-term success require a suitable balance between demands and needs of all institutions involved as well as an independent and strong governance by national and international high-level experts.
In the future, HErZ must respond to new societal challenges in a targeted but flexible manner with new topics and competences, national and international partners, and a strengthened dialog with stakeholders and users.
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How to cite: Jones, S., Rotach, M. W., Simmer, C., Adrian, G., Ahlgrimm, M., Albert, S.-A., Craig, G., Deneke, H., Ditas, J., Fiedler, S., Göber, M., Hohenegger, C., Janjic-Pfander, T., Keller, J., Keller, J., Klocke, D., Löhnert, U., Masbou, M., Magro, F.-A., Ohlwein, C., Pardowitz, T., Riß, N., Rust, H. W., Sakradzija, M., Scheck, L., Schlemmer, L., Schmidli, J., Schomburg, A., Seifert, A., Trömel, S., Ulbrich, T., Vormann, A., Wahl, S., Wapler, K., Weißmann, M., Weingärtner, C., and Wirth, V.: The German “Hans-Ertel-Centre for Weather Research” (HErZ), EMS Annual Meeting 2022, Bonn, Germany, 5–9 Sep 2022, EMS2022-647, https://doi.org/10.5194/ems2022-647, 2022.
