The use of Geographic Information Systems in climatology and meteorology: COST 719

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1 Meteorol. Appl. 12, 1 5 (2005) doi: /s The use of Geographic Information Systems in climatology and meteorology: COST 719 Izabela Dyras 1, Hartwig Dobesch 2, Estelle Grueter 3, Antonio Perdigao 4, Ole E. Tveito 5, John E. Thornes 6, Frans van der Wel 7 & Lorenzo Bottai 8 1 Institute of Meteorology and Water Management, Satellite Research Department, Kraków, Poland 2 Central Institute for Meteorology and Geodynamics (Zamg), Vienna, Austria 3 Meteoswiss, Zurich, Switzerland 4 Instituto Hidraulica, Engenharia Rural E Ambiente, Ihera, Lisbon, Portugal 5 Norwegian Meteorological Institute, Oslo, Norway 6 School of Geography and Environmental Sciences, University of Birmingham, Birmingham, UK 7 Royal Netherlands Meteorological Institute (KNMI), Debilt. The Netherlands 8 Laboratorio Per La Meteorologia e La Modellistica Ambientale, Florence, Italy izabela dyras@imgw.pl The COST Action 719 started in 2001 and presently 20 European countries are participating. The main objectives of the Action are to establish interfaces between GIS and meteorological data, assess the availability, contents and accessibility of meteorological and climatological data sets and encourage and foster European co-operation. The tasks are carried out within three working groups concentrated on issues such as data access and availability, methods of spatial interpolation and developing recommendations for standardised GIS applications. The applications that have been adopted mainly focus on three parameters, i.e. precipitation, temperature and energy balance for which three demonstration projects have been formulated. It is expected that the Action will result in recommendations for better and more cost-effective production of state-of-the-art meteorological and climatological information. Also an improvement of the co-operation between European countries in the application of GIS in the field of meteorology, climatology and environmental sciences should be achieved together with better-trained personnel within the operational and scientific divisions of national meteorological services. Additionally, the development of a visualisation system for climate data sets for internet applications is under preparation. This paper provides information concerning the work in progress on the demonstration projects made within COST Objectives The COST Action 719 started in 2001 with 18 European countries participating. Presently 20 countries have signed the Memorandum of Understanding. Its main objective is the demonstration of the extra value of GIS technology in the fields of meteorology and climatology. As these fields are concerned with spatial data, the use of geographical information systems seems straightforward. A long tradition of standards, geospatial analysis, visualisation and data distribution has matured GIS technology. In an environment in which huge spatial data flows are hardly exceptional, adopting standard tools like GIS could be helpful for an economical processing of at least part of these data. In the COST Action three working groups have been distinguished, investigating the role of GIS from a technological, scientific and user perspective respectively. Working Group 1 DATA ACCESS AND DATA AVAILABILITY is focusing on putting pointers to existing and potential GIS datasets and on the conversion 1

2 Izabela Dyras et al. and standardisation of climatological, meteorological and other relevant environmental data in view of data exchange. In particular, the Action will keep pace with the advancing state-of-the-art of applicable GIS tools (software/hardware) and developments in progress, and document the availability, contents and accessibility of climatological, meteorological and environmental datasets, including metadata, and relevant future developments therein. Its responsibilities also include the establishment of standardised interfaces between GIS systems and climatological and meteorological databases (where possible in close co-operation with GIS system providers) and the definition and/or development of filter tools as appropriate in order to improve the exchange of data between research institutes, NMS (national meteorological services) and the rest of the user community. Working Group 2 SPATIAL INTERPOLATION is responsible for establishing an inventory of interpolation functionality already present in GIS and statistical software and the recognition of gaps. In particular, it is studying the potential and limitations of existing GIS (interpolation) functionality for spatialisation of meteorological and climate data; comparing other spatialisation algorithms and setting up recommendations/specifications for future GIS tools, suitable for meteorological and climate applications, and taking these up with industry. Working Group 3 GIS APPLICATIONS is developing standardised GIS applications aimed at climatological, meteorological and relevant environmental users. In particular, the Action has established an inventory of the present use of GIS applications in meteorology and climate research. Also the perceived potential, as well as the limitations for future development, will be considered, taking into account the requirements of interested parties. The identification of a set of useful applications of GIS in the fields of meteorology and climate research, e.g. with respect to visualisation and mapping, is being examined. Furthermore, Working Group 3 will develop the specifications for such applications and encourage joint development of such applications to be shared between the participants of the Action (for example, with the European Climate Support Network (ECSN)). This paper presents the progress made so far, and especially emphasises cross-cutting activities defined through demo application projects focusing on different aspects of spatial information in meteorology and climatology (Chapman & Thornes 2003). 2. Demonstration projects In order to disseminate the findings of the three working groups, three demo projects are defined. These are crosscutting activities utilising different aspects of the use of GIS in climatology and meteorology. 2 Figure 1. Proposed workflow within the Demo A project. The applications that have been adopted focus mainly on three parameters: precipitation, temperature and energy balance. Demo A Mapping the precipitation using combined information from satellite data, mesoscale forecast models and ground measurements (synoptic and climatologic) is focused on precipitation. This demo project was started in the Satellite Research Department in the Institute of Meteorology and Water Management in Poland as a result of experience gained during research on the application of satellite microwave images from the polar orbiting satellites (NOAA K, L, M series). The satellite data, together with standard synoptic and climatic measurements as well as radar and Numerical Weather Prediction analysis,

3 GIS in climatology and meteorology: COST 719 Figure 2. Workflow within the Demo B project, with examples of possible products (examples from Tveito et al. 2000, 2001 and Engeset et al. 2004). are merged together for precipitation analysis. The system allows the display of the rain field forecasted by the Numerical Weather Prediction Model and the precipitation observed with other ancillary information through a unique front-end software interface. Figure 1 presents the workflow of the project. Demo B Spatial interpolation of temperature in Alpine Regions is setting its focus on the spatial distribution of temperature. Because this demo project was started within this COST Action and is therefore not based on a currently running project within one of the participating institutes, no results are yet available. The aim is to use one pilot dataset accessible to all the group members. The MAP (Mesoscale Alpine Project) dataset, which is accessible on the internet, has been selected for this purpose. The proposed structure of the project is shown in Figure 2. Demo C Prediction of road surface temperature COST 719 Working Group 3 is participating in a trial to test the application of new road ice prediction software 3

4 Izabela Dyras et al. Figure 3. Proposed workflow within the Demo C project. Figure 4. Web interface of the SISTERIMS map server. 4

5 across the EU. The software IceMiser was developed at the University of Birmingham in United Kingdom and predicts road surface temperatures (RST) across the road network. Coded in Visual Basic as an extension of ArcGIS, the model combines GIS data with forecast meteorological data to produce a 24-hour forecast of RST (Bradley et al. 2002, Chapman et al. 2001). The GIS data is then combined with meteorological forecast data and entered directly into the model (Figure 3). The result is a dynamic forecast of RST around the road network at temporal and spatial resolutions of 20 minutes and 20 metres respectively. These are displayed immediately in ArcGIS, but can also be viewed in ArcExplorer. Successful trials have already been carried out in the UK and it is hoped that the model can be tested, refined and ultimately used across the EU. Additionally some tasks such as the development of a visualisation system for climate datasets for internet application are under preparation. For the demonstration projects, an Internet Map Server will operate as a means to access applied meteorology websites. In particular, we will use technologies developed to serve GIS data on the internet by means of maps. The WIM (Web Internet Map server) used is SISTERIMS ( which allows the display and analysis of maps with a standard browser without the necessity of installing any plug-ins on the client PC. The system uses the same data formats as the ArcInfo software (shape file, coverage, BIL, BSQ, ECW, IMG, TIFF, etc). The example of the WIM is shown in Figure Expected benefits There are several benefits expected of the international co-operation within COST 719. These include better and more cost-effective production of state-of-the art meteorological and climatological information, increased co-operation among European countries which apply GIS in the field of meteorology, climatology and environmental sciences, and better-trained personnel within the operational and scientific divisions of NMS. GIS in climatology and meteorology: COST 719 References and Bibliography Bradley, A. V., Thornes, J. E., Chapman, L., Unwin, D. & Roy, M. (2002) Modeling spatial and temporal road thermal climatology in rural and urban areas using a GIS, Climate Research 22: Chapman, L., Thornes. J. E. & Bradley, A. (2001) Modelling of road surface temperatures from a geographical database, Part 2 Numerical, Meteorol. Appl. 8, Chapman, L. & Thornes, J. E. (2003) The use of geographical information systems in climatology and meteorology, Progress in Physical Geography 27: Dobesch, H. & Tveito, O. E (2002) Geographical Information Systems in Climatological Application (2001) Final report of project no.5 in the application area of ECSN, DNMI, Rep/2002, Norway. Dyras, I. & Serafin-Rek, D. (2001a) The use of NOAA-15 satellite data for meteorological products generation and visualisation. In: W. L. Smith and Yu. M. Timofeyev (eds.), IRS 2000: Current Problems in Atmospheric Radiation, A. Deepak Publishing, Hampton, VA., pp Dyras, I. & Serafin-Rek, D. (2001b) The use of microwave NOAA/AMSU data for precipitation estimation, Proceedings RSPS2001, London, pp Dyras, I. & Serafin-Rek, D. (2002) Precipitation estimation from NOAA/AMSU data, (PDF), poster, 12th International TOVS Study Conference (ITSC-XII); cimss.ssec.wisc.edu/itwg/itsc/itsc12/itsc12agenda.html/. Engeset, R. V., Tveito, O. E., Alfnes, E., Mengistu, Z., Udnæs, H.-C., Isaksen, K. & Førland, E. J. (2004) Snow map system for Norway. 23rd Nordic Hydrological Conference 2004, 8 12 August 2004, Tallinn, Estonia. Tveito, O. E.& Schöner, W. (2002) Applications of spatial interpolation of climatological and meteorological elements by the use of geographical information systems (GIS), Met. No. Report 28/02 Klima (Report no.1 /WG2 Spatialisation/COST-719), Norwegian Meteorological Institute, 44 str., Oslo, Norway. Tveito, O. E., Førland, E. J., Heino, R., Hanssen-Bauer, I., Alexandersson, H., Dahlström,B., Drebs,A.,Kern-Hansen, C. Jónsson, T. & Vaarby-Laursen, E. & Westman, Y. (2000) Nordic Temperature Maps. DNMI Klima 9/00 KLIMA. Tveito, O. E., Førland, E. J., Alexandersson, H., Drebs, A., Jónsson, T., Vaarby-Laursen, E. (2001) Nordic Climate Maps. DNMI report 06/01 KLIMA. Wel van der, F. J. M. (2002a) Geographical Information Systems. The Encyclopaedia of Life Support Systems (EOLSS), Wel van der, F. J. M. (2002b) Remote Sensing. The Encyclopaedia of Life Support Systems (EOLSS), eolss.net/. 5