Observer: Explore our changing climate with these apps

Data from Copernicus sneaks into many aspects of our lives. It's in daily forecasts of air quality and pollen levels across Europe, it's in our news channels, and it's even in your social media feeds, if you engage with Earth Observation content, of course!

But if you want to go one step further and actually explore Copernicus data for yourself, you don't have to be an expert user. Around the world, many researchers and developers have worked together to create easy-to-use applications, so you can explore Copernicus data at your own pace, with your own questions.

In particular, the Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S) has developed a wealth of applications — the C3S Apps — that you can navigate and use to explore different climate variables in context. As an appetizer, here are four easy-to-use apps to try if you want to better understand our changing climate.

Image description: Collage of visualisations from the C3S app gallery. Credit: C3S

App #1 - Global Temperature Trend Monitor

The Global Temperature Trend Monitor puts current shifts in global mean temperature trends into the context of the 1.5°C target set by the Paris Agreement.

This application is your window into understanding the pace of temperature change compared to the pre-industrial era. It includes a sliding scale to explore data from 2000 to the present. The visualisation is clear and compelling, with a red line extending into the future, marking the average rate of warming over the past 30 years until it reaches the critical 1.5°C limit. 

Updated monthly, this tool transforms data originally from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Special Report into an accessible, near-real-time resource. Whether you're an environmental enthusiast, a curious learner or a concerned global citizen, this app empowers you to understand the urgency of our changing climate and the importance of meeting the goals of the Paris Agreement.

Video of the Global Temperature Trend Monitor in action. Credit: C3S

App #2 - Monthly Climate Bulletin Explorer

Each month, C3S publishes the Climate Bulletin, a compilation of information on various climate variables around the world. It includes monthly maps of surface air temperature and sea ice, as well as other variables such as precipitation, humidity and soil moisture for Europe and other regions. 

The application provides an interactive version of the bulletin, allowing you to explore the datasets for aggregated regions (the globe, Europe and European macro-regions) and individual European countries. When you open the application, you'll see a global map where you can select one of the variables you want to explore: temperature, precipitation, humidity and soil moisture. Once selected, you can explore how the variables have changed over a selectable 30-year reference period. If you click on one of the highlighted regions, you'll see a time series of the anomalies of all the variables mentioned, averaged over the selected region.

This application is useful if you want to get a deeper understanding of the Climate Bulletins without having to check the datasets yourself.

Climate Bulletin Explorer showing September anomalies with respect to average September precipitation between 1991-2020 in Southwest Europe. Credit: C3S

App #3 - European Hydrology Seasonal Forecast Explorer

The European Hydrology Seasonal Forecast Explorer is useful if you want to explore river discharge across Europe. The interactive map within the app lets you explore the most likely river discharge forecasts provided by selected hydrological models, indicating whether conditions are expected to be above, near or below normal. By simply clicking on a specific grid point or catchment, you can access a more detailed visualisation and gain a comprehensive understanding of river discharge forecasts.

Screenshot of the European Hydrology Seasonal Forecast Explorer. Credit: C3S

These seasonal forecasts have far-reaching implications, serving various sectors of the water industry, including river management for hydropower and environmental protection. In essence, this application provides both a broad overview of river conditions across Europe and the tools to facilitate regional water management planning. 

Whether you're an environmentalist, a water manager or a concerned citizen, this application will help you explore water resources across Europe.

App #4- ERA5 Explorer

As the name suggests, this application is based on ERA5, the latest global climate reanalysis produced by the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF) for C3S. ERA5 describes the complete global history of the atmosphere for 1979-2020, using a combination of models and data assimilation systems to 'reanalyse' past observations. 

As a result, this app provides visualisations of historical climate statistics for any location in the world. Click anywhere on the interactive map or search for a city to explore the typical monthly climate and discover how it has changed over the past forty years.

You can use this app to explore a range of climate statistics between 1979 and 2020 around the world. You can even create a "Show Your Stripes" graphic, as we did here for the city of Sofia, Bulgaria:

User interacting with the ERA5 Explorer app. Credit: C3S

If you're eager to discover more climate-related apps, make sure to visit the C3S gallery. You can also explore other Copernicus Services to uncover exciting ways to engage with Copernicus data — even if you're not a seasoned data analytics expert!