Borea Benchmark · Bring your own forecast

Submit a forecast fileOne file, one evaluation on the project server; the address you receive is the only way back.

The file and the choices

Before you send

What to sendOne JSON file in the format borea-external-path/1, up to 4 MB.
One series of daily Ap or 3-h ap per storm, issued at t0 = storm start − 24 h, covering at least 168 h after t0; the format is documented in docs/FORECAST_FORMAT.md of the kit, and the example file of the kit is a valid submission.
With scripts on, the file is read in your browser first and only its SHA-256 fingerprint is sent, with the chosen base, to ask whether this exact file was already scored.
How longA quick evaluation took 42 min on the project server (the last run).
The time measured once with the kit: 2525.6 s on 2026-10-03 on the project server (6 processes); the minutes on this page are those seconds rounded to the nearest minute. A measure of one machine, never a promise.
One run at a time: each run waits for the ones before it, and your private page counts down to the result. Project server last seen: 2026-10-27T15:18:35Z.
What you getA private page with a live countdown, then the result; its address is the only way back.
No account, no email: keep the address.
The result goes to the public list only if you ask, under the name you give, in order of completion; the list is not a ranking, and the private page stays private.
Your fileDeleted 7 days after the evaluation or 30 days after submission, whichever comes first.
The aggregate result is kept. Leave the producer field of your file empty or non-identifying.
This form sets one cookie, a random value valid two hours that ties the form to your browser; it identifies nobody and is used for nothing else.
Limits3 quick evaluations per day per network address, 12 per day in total, 20 runs waiting at most.
The density models run under academic research licences: the declaration of research, academic or non-profit use is required, and without it the file is not accepted.
The references (persistence, RSGA scenario, observed indices) are computed on the same base and the same objects. JB2008 is not admissible: it reads neither Kp nor ap.

Models and licences

Borea Benchmark is a free, non-commercial research service. It runs the density models below unmodified on the project's server and returns only aggregate error statistics; the model software is never distributed.

NRLMSIS 2.1. This software incorporates the MSIS® empirical atmospheric model software designed and provided by NRL. Use is governed by the Open Source Academic Research License Agreement contained in the file nrlmsis2.1_license.txt. Licence and source: https://map.nrl.navy.mil/map/pub/nrl/NRLMSIS/NRLMSIS2.1/. MSIS® is a registered trademark of the Government of the United States of America.

DTM2020. DTM2020 (operational) © CNES. Used unmodified under the MCM/DTM licence, for academic, non-commercial purposes. Reference: S. Bruinsma and C. Boniface (2021), The operational and research DTM-2020 thermosphere models, J. Space Weather Space Clim. 11, 47, doi:10.1051/swsc/2021032. Licence: https://github.com/swami-h2020-eu/mcm/blob/master/LICENSE.

Registered notice

An external path is never a reference of D-041 and changes no registered verdict (D-051 point 5); this result is not a benchmark number.

The absence of information observed after t0 in the submitted path is self-declared by the submitter and is not verified: the benchmark cannot verify it from the file (the GFZ indices of every storm are public and the storm list itself is post-t0 information).

T0 = storm start - 24 h is a favourable instant for any forecaster: the Kp >= 7 run begins at exactly t0 + 24 h by construction and the storm list says so; a path that places the storm day correctly gains from knowing the onset, not from forecasting it. The difference of errors below is not read as forecast skill.

Times are measured on one machine, never a promise.