Real-time data can be delivered to authorised or licensed users either ​directly by ECMWF or via the chosen Member or Co-operating State National Meteorological Service. This choice is specified during the ordering process.

Open real-time data can be accessed free of charge via the public FTP. 

Technical considerations

We deliver real-time data products using ftp (ports 21, 2121), sftp (ports 22, 2222), AmazonS3 (using your AWS access credentials and bucket name), Microsoft Azure or Google Cloud. You will also need to ensure the correct firewall settings are in place to allow connections from ECMWF.

ECMWF operators monitor the transmission and notify you in the case of dissemination issues.

Once you have a licence, please visit our setup information for customers where you will find details about system requirements for receiving real-time data through dissemination from ECMWF.

Real-time data - file naming convention & format

If you wish to know more about the dissemination filename convention and format of the GRIB or BUFR files used for the production and transmission of ECMWF dissemination products please see our user documentation.

We recommend using ecCodes to manipulate ECMWF GRIB and BUFR files.

You can also find out more about compression options in our user documentation.

Data dissemination overview

Dissemination schedule

Products are disseminated according to a schedule applying to all real-time dissemination.

Managing dissemination

For maximum charge licence holders only, ECPDS and PREd allow you to access your configuration and self-manage your dissemination; user documentation is provided.

For commercial and research users please see: requests for changes and technical support