As most websites do, we sometimes place small data files called cookies on your computer to make the website work properly.
What are cookies?
‘Cookies’ are small text files that are stored by the browser (e.g. Internet Explorer, Firefox, Chrome or Safari) when you visit our website.
Cookies allow our site to remember your preferences and play an important role in making the site work better for you. To some extent, cookies can be seen as providing a “memory” for the website, enabling it to recognise a user and respond appropriately.
How do we use cookies?
A visit to the website may generate “first-party” cookies and “third-party” cookies.
First Party Cookies
These are cookies which originate from our own website:
• “cookie-agreed”: This cookie is set when you accept our cookie policy. It is set to expire a 999 days after it is deployed.
• “SESS<unique 32 character reference>”: This cookie is set when you login. It enables the site to track that you are logged in.
Removing or Blocking Cookies
Your web-browser has settings which allow you to remove or block cookies. In some cases doing so will prevent some parts of our website from working. However, due to the wide variety of web-browsers in use, it is not possible for us to provide detailed instructions on how to do this. We recommend you check with your browser vendor for further information.
You can also obtain additional information on cookies by visiting www.aboutcookies.org
Use of Cookies
A cookie is a small file temporarily placed on your computer, that enables the collection of the usage and statistical information we use to improve, maintain and manage the operation of the website service. Our cookies automatically keep track of the website pages you visit to determine what services are the most popular and is only used internally for website traffic analysis and to ensure the website responds to your needs.
We use the Google Analytics cookie which automatically collects information about your computer hardware and software that can include your IP address, browser type, domain names, access times and referring website addresses, as well as the services you searched for, viewed, length of visits to certain pages, navigation and how you left our site.
The purpose of a cookie is to tell the web server that you have returned to a specific page. For example, if you register to use a website service, a cookie helps ECMWF to recall your specific information on subsequent visits. This simplifies the process of recording your personal information, so that when you return to the same ECMWF website, the information you previously provided can be retrieved, so you can easily use the ECMWF features that you prefer.
You can accept or decline cookies. Most web browsers automatically accept cookies, but you can usually modify your browser setting to decline them if you prefer. If you choose to decline cookies, you may not be able to fully experience the interactive features of the ECMWF online services or websites you visit.