University of Amsterdam
A group of international scientists, including UvA professor Judy Shamoun-Baranes, warns that changes to European meteorological data policies threaten biodiversity monitoring as they make vital data unavailable. In a letter published in Science on 16 April, they point out that policies in Europe should be adjusted to take into account the broad role that weather radars play beyond meteorology.
Migrating bramblings. Weather radars are not only used to measure weather, they can also detect animals in the sky, such as these small passerine birds. Picture: Nadja Weisshaupt
Biodiversity is changing at an unprecedented rate and countless initiatives exist to collect suitable information to monitor and understand changes in global biodiversity. Operational weather radars exist in many places around the world and are uniquely suited for monitoring aerial biomass flows, especially of migratory species. Recent changes to data exchange policies in Europe threaten cur