(Picture from Drought Watch webtool – https://droughtwatch.eu/)

It is once again my pleasure to introduce the third, and final, publication in the Climateurope publication series on the state of European Earth system modelling for climate services.

The first publication in 2017 focused on the state-of-the-art of European Earth system modelling to explain and illustrate the abilities and limitations of Earth system models in relation to the potential for climate services.

The second publication in 2019 updated the first and gave special attention to the best use of climate models and Earth system models to underpin climate services, including support for their interpretation to strengthen the science base of climate services.

This final one focuses on matching the new demands of climate services with evolving Earth system modelling capabilities.

The publication series is intended to have a wide readership including the scientific community, and decision- and policy-makers from industry, professional federations and public sector. The backdrop and motivation for the publication series is the continued and growing awareness among decision-makers
of the relevance and importance of climate information to a range of social and economic issues. To attempt to better inform such decisions a market of climate services is emerging.

The climate services are based on climate data and scientific knowledge covering the past, present and possible future climates. A key component of the data and knowledge, particularly concerning the future climate, is derived from numerical models of the climate and the associated Earth system including physical, chemical and biological processes.

The European Commission has been supporting Climateurope, a coordination and support action, under the Horizon 2020 framework programme, to build an environment and a range of activities around Earth system modelling and climate services. One key activity is the production of this publication series to map and analyse relevant initiatives, challenges and emerging needs relating to Earth system modelling and climate services in Europe, involving expertise from a range of stakeholders.
I hope this publication is of interest and use.