The goal of Module A during the second phase of MiKlip (MiKlip II) is (i) to improve estimates of initial conditions for the ocean, sea ice and the land soil moisture, (ii) based on those initial conditions to improve initialisation procedures, and finally (iii) to optimise procedures to span the MiKlip forecast ensemble. Through these tightly related and interacting activities, Module A contributes to further improve the MiKlip forecasts produced in Module D, and to set up an infrastructure that can be subsequently used for sustained decadal prediction efforts. As such, Module A supplies the project with initial conditions, know how, and software for assimilation and initialisation methods.