Meteorological data

Description

Quantitative data on surface weather variables including forecasts, local observations and historic archives.

Key datasets

• Short-term weather forecast
• Seasonal weather forecasts (3-6 months ahead)
• Real-time observations
• Historic archives of observations
• Historical simulated weather from re-analysis (e.g. ERA-INTERIM)
• Climatological observations
• Climatological reference data
• Climate zones
• Climate change predictions

Rationale

Plant growth is driven by weather variables and therefore agricultural production is directly dependent on weather conditions. Many agricultural activities (e.g. sowing, harvesting, fertilizer application) are dependent on weather conditions for planning and effectiveness. Given this, all agricultural stakeholders are interested in some form of meteorological data. Most governments have a specific department or agency dealing with weather information. By making meteorological information available as open data it not only becomes easier to share, but also allows the development of specialised information services by infomediaries targeting specific user needs. Examples of such specialized services are early warning systems for weather-related crop diseases, encouraging farmers to take preventive measures, and the prediction of suitable conditions for farm activities.

Expected impact:

Farmer use

• By having timely and accurate weather information, a farmer can plan farming activities better

Use by other actors

• By having access to weather archives, (local) climatic conditions can be objectively determined, allowing more accurate:
  • farm management advice for the farmer; and
  • investment risk investigation for financial institutions, resulting in better access to finance for farmers.
• By having access to archives of local weather variables, the weather forecast for that particular area can be improved (downscaling).
• By having access to near real-time weather observations, insurance companies are enabled to build index insurance products, reducing food security risks for the farmer and increasing the access to finance.

Readiness

Nearly all countries have a network of weather stations for collecting local weather data. However, some countries have a high-density network of automated weather stations, archives of measurements with long time series and local weather models, and radar equipment. Others have limited numbers of weather stations, often managed manually, with data being stored irregularly. Sharing of local weather data is strongly dependent on local policies for data sharing and access. In many countries, local weather observations are considered to be a commercial or strategic asset, which makes data sharing difficult. Institutional barriers may thus obstruct the sharing of available information.

Globally, the World Meteorological Organisation (WMO) is facilitating the exchange and distribution of observations and processed information via the Global Telecommunications System (GTS) http://www.wmo.int/pages/prog/www/TEM/GTS/index_en.html. However, the number of stations available on the GTS is small compared with the total number of operational stations worldwide.

Sharing of products from numerical weather prediction models (forecasts and re-analyses) is also dependent on the organisational data-sharing policy. Two main sources of such products are the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) with its Global Forecasting System (GFS), and European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF). The GFS forecasts can be obtained without restriction as open data while the ECMWF forecasts and products are often restricted to ECMWF member states or only available at commercial rates. Nevertheless, some of the ECMWF products are available on GeoNETCast to a wider user community.

In addition, sharing of local (high-resolution) weather forecasts made by individual weather services for specific regions are often difficult to acquire due to restrictions in data sharing policies or technological difficulties in providing access.

Examples of Implementation

• The government of Australia provides real-time forecasts, warning and observation products and analysis charts, available freely via the web and FTP, together with their historical records:
  • http://www.bom.gov.au/catalogue/data-feeds.shtml
  • http://www.bom.gov.au/climate/data/
• The US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) with its Global Forecasting System (GFS) provides the weather forecast globally as open data and is often used as the main source of weather information in countries without an accurate weather service or where weather information is not distributed well. https://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/data-access/model-data/model-datasets/global-forcast-system-gfs

Initiatives that support interoperability

Global standards for meteorological and climate data are given by:

• World Meteorological Organisation
• Climate and Forecast conventions