External datasets catalogue

HadISST - Global sea ice and Sea Surface Temperature analyses — 26 Oct 2011

Global SST fields were created using a variety of techniques including Reduced Space Optimal Interpolation (RSOI). Sea ice concentration fields from different sources were analysed to make them as consistent as possible through time. Some care should be taken when using the sea-ice concentration data, particularly in the Southern Hemisphere where there is no realistic interannual variability in sea ice prior to 1973. The HadISST1 data set has been shown to be an improvement upon (and has superseded) the GISST data set.

Monthly mean graphs for CPR standard areas (dataset URL is not available) — 26 Oct 2011

The CPR survey is the longest running, large-scale marine biological survey in the world. The CPR is a near-surface (10 m) plankton sampler voluntarily towed each month behind merchant ships on their normal routes of passage. Methods of analysis for 400 phyto and zooplankton taxa have remained almost unchanged since 1958.  

Changes in mean sea level along European coasts — 26 Oct 2011

Novotny, K. and Groh, A., 2007. Untersuchung von Pegelreihen zur Bestimmung der Änderung des mittleren Meeresspiegels an den europäischen Küsten; Technical University of Dresden; internal report prepared for the German Federal Environment Agency (UBA)

Global sea-level change rates — 26 Oct 2011

Reconstruction of global mean sea level back to 1870 and calculation of rates of sea level rise.

Sea-level changes in Europe — 26 Oct 2011

Based on satellite data ; trends in mm/year, inverted barometer included, seasonal signal removed.

Snowmelt extent and duration on the Greenland ice sheet — 24 Oct 2011

Active and passive microwave satellite data are used to map snowmelt extent and duration on the Greenland ice sheet.

Snow-Covered Area (SCA) — 24 Oct 2011

A comparison of monthly anomalies in Northern Hemisphere SCA derived from two satellite data sets: the NOAA snow charts revised by D. Robinson that map snow cover from primarily visible-wavelength sensors like AVHRR and GOES, and passive microwave (PM) algorithms using SMMR and SSM/I EASE-Grid brightness temperatures. Since both data sets exhibit significant month-to-month autocorrelation, we have estimated monthly trends with an autoregressive lag-1 model (AR(1)), using the method described by Weatherhead et al. (1998).

Sea ice index — 24 Oct 2011

The Sea Ice Index provides a quick look at sea ice changes in spatial and historical context and gives a consistent, up-to-date source of sea ice extent and sea ice concentration values and images. The NSIDC Near-Real-Time DMSP SSM/I Daily Polar Gridded Sea Ice Concentrations and the Sea Ice Concentrations from Nimbus-7 SSMR and DMSP SSM/I Passive Microwave Data data sets are used to generate the monthly records of sea ice extent and sea ice concentration for the Arctic and Antarctica from satellite passive microwave data. Data files tabulate monthly mean extent and area, in millions of square kilometers, by year for a given month. Plots of monthly sea ice extent anomalies with trend lines and significance intervals are available. Monthly images show sea ice extent (with an outline of the median extent for that month for comparison), sea ice concentration, trends in sea ice concentration, and anomalies in sea ice concentration. Anomalies and median extent are calculated using a reference period of 1979 through 2000.

Permafrost in the Swiss Alps — 24 Oct 2011

PERMOS is based on three types of observations: (1) ground temperatures measured at and below the surface at borehole sites, (2) changes in subsurface ice and unfrozen water content at these sites in- ferred by geoelectrical surveys, and (3) velocities of permafrost creep determined by geodetic surveys and/or photogrammetry. In addition, standardized documentation of fast mass movements from permafrost areas (e.g., rock fall) is being established.

Greenland ice-sheet volume changes — 24 Oct 2011

Comparison of rates of surface-elevation change on the Greenland ice sheet derived from European Remote-sensing Satellite-2 (ERS-2) radar-altimeter data with those obtained from laser-altimeter data collected over nearly the same time periods.

Extent of Arctic perennial sea ice — 24 Oct 2011

Observations by the QuikSCAT/SeaWinds satellite scatterometer (QSCAT). Moreover, the buoy-based Drift-Age Model (DM) provided long-term trends in Arctic sea-ice age since the 1950s

Arctic sea ice extent at the end of the melt season in September — 24 Oct 2011

All models participating in the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Fourth Assessment Report (IPCC AR4) show declining Arctic ice cover over this period. However, depending on the time window for analysis, none or very few individual model simulations show trends comparable to observations.

Fluctuation of Glaciers Database — 24 Oct 2011

Standardized observations on changes in mass, volume, area and length of glaciers with time. WGMS (2016): Fluctuations of Glaciers Database. World Glacier Monitoring Service, Zurich, Switzerland. DOI:10.5904/wgms-fog-2016-08.

European storminess — 24 Oct 2011

Regional trends of wind storm occurrence in Europe are investigated using the 20th Century Reanalysis (20CR). While based on surface observations only, this dataset produces storm events in good agreement with the traditional ERA40 and NCEP reanalyses. Time series display decadal-scale variability in the occurrence of wind storms since 1871, including a period of enhanced storm activity during the early 20th century. Still, significant upward trends are found in central, northern and western Europe, related to unprecedented high values of the storminess measures towards the end of the 20th century, particularly in the North Sea and Baltic Sea regions.

A drought climatology for Europe — 24 Oct 2011

The climatology provides, for a given location or region, the time series of drought strength, the number, the mean duration, and the maximum duration of droughts of a given intensity, and the trend in drought incidence. The drought climatology is based on monthly standardized precipitation indices (SPIs) calculated on a 0.5° grid over the European region 35–70 °N and 35 °E–10 °W at time scales of 3, 6, 9, 12, 18, and 24 months for the period 1901–99.

E-OBS gridded dataset — 22 Oct 2011

E-OBS gridded version of the ECA dataset (netCDF) with daily temperature, precipitation and pressure fields The ECA dataset contains series of daily observations at meteorological stations throughout Europe and the Mediterranean. Temperature data from E-OBS (KNMI) the ENSEMBLE FP6 project    

National accounts, including GDP (Eurostat) — 17 Oct 2011

Eurostat access to a selection of methodological and other background information regarding core national accounts aggregates such as Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and its main components.

Eurostat statistics on waste (env_was) — 17 Oct 2011

   

Population statistics (Eurostat) — 14 Oct 2011

Eurostat Statistic data on population, includes: Demographic data Demographic indicators Statistics on the population and housing censuses Population projections Migration and citizenship Residence permits Asylum statistics Statistics on the enforcement of immigration legislation

Surface and groundwater abstraction as a share of available resources — 20 Feb 2012

This indicator looks at total water abstraction as a percentage of available resources, separated into groundwater and surface water. Annual total gross abstraction from groundwater is presented as a percentage of Member States' renewable groundwater resources available for abstraction, which are defined as long-term annual average groundwater available for abstraction. Annual total gross abstraction made from fresh surface water is presented as a percentage of Member States' renewable surface water resources available for abstraction, which are calculated as total long-term fresh water resources (external inflow plus precipitation less evapotranspitration) less groundwater available for abstraction.