July 11th 2023
How climate data impacts your organisation, with accessible data from Met Office
Organisations can better understand and respond to climate change with new Climate Data Portal aimed at government, construction, energy, engineering, land use, transport and urban planning.
The Met Office Climate Data Portal has been built using geospatial tech provided by Esri UK and contains 60 data layers as well as useful guidance and information to support users. Organisations can combine authoritative climate data with their own data to see the impact of extreme weather and climate conditions – such as droughts, floods or heatwaves – on their operations.
Sample screen from Met Office Climate Data Portal
Extremes of temperature can have significant impacts on energy demand, health and transport infrastructure, and data on these extremes can help us understand and predict such impacts. For example, days below 0°C can correlate with transport disruption and increased energy demand for heating, while nights above 20°C can indicate ‘heat stress’, where the body is unable to recover from higher daytime temperatures. Days above 25°C have been known to overheat railway infrastructure disrupting train services etc.
Complex scientific climate projections are presented in formats that are easy to use and ready to visualise and analyse in geographic information system (GIS) or non-spatial applications. They can be integrated into business processes for improved decision-making. Localised action plans can be developed through spatial analysis at global, regional or local level.
Insights provided by the portal will also aid organisations in their response to regulatory climate reporting, including the Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD) currently being rolled out across the UK.
Professor Jason Lowe, Head of Climate Services at the Met Office, says: ‘Historically, climate science has defined the problem. Now it’s moving to help with the solution, providing information at a local level which is highly relevant to UK organisations. By combining the Met Office’s latest projections with Esri UK’s geospatial tools, the reach and value of this data is greatly extended.
‘UK stakeholders can investigate their physical climate risks over the next 50 to 100 years. The most detailed climate projections reveal a greater chance of warmer, wetter winters and hotter, drier summers. These help users plan and prepare for extreme weather, climate change and the reporting which new regulations, linked to climate change, will require.”
Pete Wilkinson, Managing Director of Esri UK, adds: ‘The Climate Data Portal is a giant step forward in making climate data more usable for UK stakeholders. Climate change presents a major challenge and this challenge is a geographic one. Using geospatial technology as a delivery mechanism for climate data makes it quickly accessible and usable in spatial and temporal analysis, helping to identify at-risk areas and develop location-specific action plans.’
The portal is part of the Met Office’s wider initiative to maximise the benefits of its data. Esri UK has been working with the Met Office for more than 20 years.
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