News
Rapid Evaluation Framework launched
The Rapid Evaluation Framework (REF) was recently launched in March at the CMIP Community Workshop 2026 in Japan. This free-to-use tool enables scientists to rapidly assess how accurately climate models represent the real world. Researchers worldwide can access REF online or download it for local use at climate modelling centres. Results are displayed through an interactive online dashboard and are also provided in standard scientific data formats to support further analysis.
“This tool brings together climate scientists and Earth observation researchers to quickly check how accurately climate simulations reflect reality. The better we can do that, the more reliable our picture of future climate change becomes, and the better equipped policymakers and communities are to respond to it,” said Dr Ranjini Swaminathan, co-lead of the Model Benchmarking Task Team and scientist at the UK’s National Centre for Earth Observation, University of Reading, also member of the TerraFIRMA project.
