Share This
The FINANCIAL 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, according to University of Amsterdam.
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 current and future use of these continental sensor networks for a broad range of non-meteorological sectors including biodiversity monitorin
10) are now fundamentally threatened.
The Operational Programme for the Exchange of Weather Radar Information (OPERA) coordinates the exchange of radar data among European national meteorological services (
11). It serves as a central hub for accessing weather radar data in Europe, allowing those in search of data to make one request instead of contacting each meteorological service separately. However, because of budget cuts and resulting prioritization of meteorological products, OPERA now requests that national meteorological services submit cleaned rather than uncleaned polar volume radar data (
12). Uncleaned radar data include both meteorological and biological signals, whereas cleaned data exclude biological signals.
OPERA is currently establishing new centers for European weather radar data that could serve as ideal access points for diverse users and stakeholders. Access to uncleaned polar volume data at these data centers would boost their utility for aerial biodiversit
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