European University RadiOsonde Partnership (EUROP)

Overview

The European University RadiOsonde Partnership (EUROP) consists of a university partnership for coordinated radiosonde launches during the NAWDIC campaign, which will take place between 12 January and 20 February 2026. This initiative aims to obtain additional radiosonde observations from several European institutions that will be assimilated directly into global weather forecasting systems, such as the ECMWF system: thus, the effort will have a direct impact on the quality of the forecasts during the NAWDIC campaign. In addition to the scientific goals, EUROP aims to provide an exciting educational opportunity to involve students in an international field campaign. The EUROP partnership will be paired to an analogous one connecting universities across North America (the AR Recon initiative), and will emphasize the importance of radiosonde launches and meteorological observations for forecast quality and research activities.

The following universities and non-university partners are involved in EUROP:

  • the University of Helsinki (Finland)
  • the University of Cologne (Germany)
  • the University of Évora (Portugal)
  • Regional Agency for the Development of Research, Technology and Innovation (Portugal)
  • Institute of Meteorology and Water Management - National Research Institute (Poland)
  • MeteoSwiss (Switzerland)

the EUROP steering group:

  • Jacopo Riboldi (ETH Zurich)
  • Bastian Kirsch, Julian Quinting, Alexandre Ramos (KIT)
  • David Lavers (ECMWF)

Dry Run

The European University Radiosonde Partnership (EUROP) officially took off on 9 December 2025, with the first EUROP Dry Run. Radiosonde launches were planned on that day to test the capabilities and the workflow of the involved partner universities. Furthermore, the retrieved data of one sonde were then integrated in the assimilation cycle of the IFS and ICON numerical weather prediction models. 

The partnership consists of three participating universities so far: the University of Helsinki (Finland), University of Cologne (Germany), and the University of Évora (Portugal). The team will also profit of the collaboration with the Institute of Meteorology and Water Management National Research Institute (Poland) and the Regional Agency for the Development of Research, Technology and Innovation (Portugal) to obtain additional radiosonde launches. 

With the Dry Run, the EUROP team is preparing for the main observation period of NAWDIC, which will start on 13 January 2026. Over the coming weeks we will finalize logistics, further integrate the student generated observations with the global observational network, and continue to engage with the broader NAWDIC community. Stay tuned for further updates!

Radiosonde Bastian Kirsch