During this period, the project has identified the climate-related information needs of different users. Five case studies have been defined with the 5 end-users involved in the co-production of climate services. Moreover, 2 User Forums (that run across 5 different sessions) have been organised in 2023 and 2024, with the aim of expanding the knowledge base on user decision-making and building capacity by exposing users to new findings. The forums have engaged with an audience of >260 participants so far. Additionally, the results of a survey with 1864 answers on the needs of climate information by European organisations have been published. The information on user needs, including both project partners and users external to the project, has enabled the design of prediction systems that incorporate new improvements (i.e. larger ensembles and longer reforecasts) and the definition of new experimental protocols bridging seasonal to decadal predictions (S2D) and decadal to projections (D2P). This has allowed the extension of predictions beyond what is currently available, going up to 2-3 forecast years in the case of seasonal predictions produced twice a year (in May and November) and the extension of decadal predictions to 20-30 years ahead. The skill of current climate predictions has been assessed, together with opportunities that can arise from climate predictions going beyond the current skill assessment, which include improving the understanding of mechanisms of forecast skill, how sources of predictability can be used in dedicated sectors, and extending the skill assessment to climate extremes.Various downscaling methods have also been explored (i.e. statistical downscaling and event-based dynamical downscaling), including the method development, initial testing, and user interaction. Additionally, methodologies for temporal merging are being developed to combine seasonal, multi-annual and decadal climate predictions to provide consistent information to users.
