The Met Office has launched its new Climate Data Portal to help AEC organisations respond to climate change
The Climate Data Portal comes as part of the Met Office’s wider strategy to maximise the benefits of its climate data.
The portal contains 60 different data layers, as well as guidance and information.
Using geospatial technology from Esri UK, the Climate Data Portal makes it easier for organisations to combine open climate data with their own data.
The data will help to reveal the future impact of heatwaves, floods or droughts
The main users are expected to be within government, construction, land use, urban planning, transport and energy industries.
Spatial analysis can be performed at a global, regional or local level enabling location-specific action plans to be developed.
The data portal will enable UK stakeholders to investigate their physical climate risks over the next 50 to 100 years
Professor Jason Lowe, head of climate services at the Met Office: “Historically, climate science has defined the problem; now it’s moving to help with the solution, providing information at a local level which is highly relevant to UK organisations.
“By combining the Met Office’s latest projections with Esri UK’s geospatial tools, the reach and value of this data is greatly extended. UK stakeholders can investigate their physical climate risks over the next 50 to 100 years.
“The most detailed climate projections reveal a greater chance of warmer, wetter winters and hotter, drier summers, and these help users plan and prepare for extreme weather, climate change and the reporting which new regulations, linked to climate change, will require.”
Data on temperature extremes can be used to understand the impacts on transport infrastructure, health and energy demand
- Days above 25°C can indicate when trains could be disrupted due to overheating of railway infrastructure
- Nights above 20°C can indicate heat stress as nighttime temperatures impact the body’s ability to recover from higher daytime temperatures
- Days below 0°C can indicate transport disruption and increased energy demand for heating
The portal will also help provide insight to help organisations start their response to regulatory climate reporting, which is being rolled out across the UK.
Pete Wilkinson, managing director of Esri UK, commented: “The Climate Data Portal is a giant step forward in making climate data more usable for UK stakeholders.
“Climate change presents a major challenge, and this challenge is a geographic one. Using geospatial technology as a delivery mechanism for climate data makes it quickly accessible and usable in spatial and temporal analysis, helping to identify at-risk areas and develop location-specific action plans.”
