Trafalgar Hit for the flagship of European meteorology, despite Brexit and contrary to what had been planned (¹), on April European Center for Medium-Range Weather Forecast will stay in England ! Even better, a new headquarter for ECMWF to be fully funded by the UK government through the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy. Proof that the British have gone all out to keep this European scientific hotspot in Reading (²).
Indeed, le campus de l’université de Reading est sur le point d’accueillir le plus grand groupe de spécialistes de la météorologie et du climat au monde, suite à l’accord sur la construction d’un nouveau siège ultramoderne pour le CEPMMT sur le campus Whiteknights de l’université de Reading. Le projet de déménagement du siège du CEPMMT, actuellement situé à environ 1,5 km away on Shinfield Road, Reading, in a new facility adjacent to the University's Meteorology Department on the Whiteknights campus, has just been approved at a meeting of the ECMWF's governing council.
Le futur bâtiment du CEPMMT
Together with the University's Department of Meteorology, and parts of the UK Met Office of National Center for Atmospheric Sciences, and National Centre for Earth Observation NERC pour les sciences atmosphériques et l’observation de la Terre, currently located with the Department of Meteorology, ECMWF will create the largest cluster of weather and climate research and operational forecasting in the world.
Le ministre britannique des sciences, George Freeman, declared :
“We want the UK to lead in climate research and are proud to continue to host the ECMWF headquarters at the University of Reading. By investing in this crucial cluster, we are using UK science for global good to understand our climate and help us build back better from the pandemic. The UK and the ECMWF have worked hand in hand for well over four decades and we look forward to continuing our work with them at the highest levels of weather and climate science.. ”
Le Dr Florence Rabier, Director General of ECMWF, a renchérit :
« Il s’agit d’un résultat très positif pour le CEPMMT, paving the way for a new headquarters building with sustainability at its core. Nous sommes reconnaissants au gouvernement britannique et à l’Université de Reading pour leur proposition réfléchie et approfondie, and to all our Member States for their support in approving it. ”
Le Professeur Robert Van de Noort, Vice-Chancelier de l’Université de Reading, a déclaré à son tour :
“ECMWF and the University have worked closely together on cutting-edge science for decades, and have become known as leading institutions in the fields of weather and climate. I am thrilled that, through agreement between the UK Government and ECMWF, we will be able to build on this success at a time when a greater scientific understanding of the Earth's changing weather and its impacts is more important than ever. ”
Les anglais ont donc cassé leur tirelire pour conserver le CEPMMT chez eux, and one can only be surprised that the European institutions and the French government have abandoned the project of a relocation, however seriously considered (¹). Mystères de la politique et de la diplomatie !
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(¹) ReadECMWF weather data soon open to public [1st part]
(²) Source : New home for ECMWF on University of Reading campus agreed
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