OBSERVER: Atmosphere Data Store: easy-access data for a better world

It is a very twenty-first century problem: how to extract valuable information from vast datasets and use it to tackle complex real-world challenges.

This need is particularly acute in the spheres of climate change, energy generation and air quality management. As countries around the world race to reverse global warming and secure a sustainable future for their societies, scientists, business leaders and policymakers need easy access to reliable data in order to formulate strategies, policies and products that bring about positive change.

Launched last month by the Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service (CAMS*), the Atmosphere Data Store (ADS) is designed to bridge the gap between data and decision makers. The platform provides free access to a wealth of past, present and future information on Earth’s atmosphere, supporting applications in fields as diverse as health, environmental monitoring, renewable energies, meteorology and climatology.

A one-stop shop for authoritative data

Like its partner service, the Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S*), CAMS provides quality-controlled information using a combination of measurements from satellites and in situ stations located on land, in the air or at sea and detailed models of the atmosphere. Until now, these datasets have been made available through an online catalogue, which redirected users to different data portals. The ADS brings all the data into one platform, removing the need to visit a multitude of sites to download data. So far, five datasets have been included in the ADS, related to long-range pollution transport, greenhouse gas fluxes, solar radiation and air quality in Europe and around the world.  Several of these data sets are updated daily. A further seven datasets will be added shortly.

CAMS Senior Data Scientist, Miha Razinger, sees exciting potential in the new store. “As the ADS uses the same software and hardware infrastructure as the C3S Climate Data Store, in the future users will be able to combine climate and atmospheric datasets with ease. This will be a great asset for people studying Earth systems, who frequently need to consider data from both domains.”

Earth’s delicate atmosphere is impacted enormously by human activities. The ADS provides data to investigate and mitigate these impacts.

Paving the way for evidence-based design

Yet access to data is only the first step towards creating evidence-based products and policies that accomplish the kind of societal change needed to overcome current global challenges. Over the course of 2020, the ADS team will start to introduce a set of tools and guidance for users and content developers that will enable them to interact with the data directly in the platform and produce applications that address concrete needs. This level of support opens up CAMS resources to a broad range of actors beyond academia, who have a vital role to play as intermediaries connecting non-expert users with high-quality scientific research. 

As Razinger explains, the possibility to develop web-based applications that transform CAMS data into end services is a dramatic shift from the standard approach of simply offering access to raw datasets.

“From the beginning, CAMS has tried to respond to the need for tailored information, providing data in thematic output areas to support users in different sectors of society. Following the success of the Climate Data Store, the ADS will adopt the same approach, giving users the possibility to transform the data into the information they need inside the platform. It’s all about making it as easy as possible for all types of users to make the best use of the data we provide.”

Screenshot of the Atmosphere Data Store (ADS) homepage. Credit: Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service, ECMWF.

Supporting global action

CAMS data are already used in multiple ways to support monitoring, management and policymaking. To take just one example, CAMS recently set up a dedicated site to provide European air quality information in the context of the COVID-19 crisis. With maps, animations and modelling, the site is a great example of the broad audience for information on air quality, which ranges from people seeking to gauge adherence to lockdown measures to medical researchers examining the relationship between aerosols and the virus, not to mention members of the general public curious about how the restrictions have reduced air pollution in their local areas.

Visit the CAMS website for more examples of data in action and register for a free account for the ADS to start exploring the data yourself.

*CAMS and C3S are implemented by the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF) on behalf of the European Commission.