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The aim of this User Guide is to help meteorologists make the best use of the forecast products from ECMWF - to increase understanding of the ensemble forecast process, to develop new products, to reach new sectors of society, to satisfy new demands.  The User Guide presents the Integrated Forecast Forecasting System (IFS) and advises on how best to use the output, not least on how to build up trust in the forecast information.  A good forecast that is not trusted is a worthless forecast.  The emphasis is on the medium-range forecast products, as this is ECMWF's primary goal, and because medium-range NWP output generally differs significantly from dealing with short-range or seasonal NWP.

This guide is intended to give an outline of structure and use of ECMWF Integrated Forecast System the ECMWF IFS and how the high-resolution forecast (HRES), ensemble forecast (ENS), extended range forecast and seasonal forecast models inter-depend and interact.  Links to more detailed descriptions of processes are given, mainly at the end of each section, but online ECMWF training resources are available to explain aspects of the ECMWF Integrated Forecast Systems IFS more visually.  Education is a key element of the work at ECMWF and further educational material is available through the web site (e.g. Webinars (recordings), Slidecasts (slides and audio recordings), Tutorials, Training lectures (presentations in PDF))

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The User Guide is broadly divided into two parts.  Sections 2 to 5 describe the structure of the ECMWF Integrated Forecast Forecasting System, while Sections 6 to 11 describe how the IFS may be used to best advantage by forecasters.

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