The project

Climate has gained greater visibility and relevance over the past decade due to the growing public awareness and concern about climate change and extreme meteorological and climatic events.

Thus, IPMA, as the National Authority in the field of climate, is required to take on a leading role as the reference body for climate knowledge, monitoring, variability and climate change, essential for the planning and management of the country’s socio-economic activities (agriculture, hydrology, environment, health and energy).

The activities in which IPMA is engaged ensure the continuous monitoring of the main climate variables using observational data (in-situ and remote), the development of climate information based on reanalyses and the production of climate scenarios for the 21st century. It also guarantees the free provision of this information to civil society, in line with the European Community’s Open Data Directive, by offering data services via the internet (gridded information and regional spatial statistics). In this way, IPMA contributes decisively to the development of adaptation strategies.

Climatological and meteorological observation programmes have always been the cornerstone for the climatological analysis of each region.

With the increasing use of automatic meteorological observation systems, the decline in the number of human observers, and the rising demand and expectations of users regarding the representativeness of climatological information, the scientific community has developed methodologies to improve climate monitoring (a fundamental pillar in understanding the climate variability of a region). One of the greatest challenges stems from data gaps caused by various operational constraints, which is why the methodologies developed in the field of climate modelling have assumed particular importance.

Currently, the Copernicus programme, coordinated by ECMWF, provides the scientific community with access to global-scale datasets generated through numerical modelling.

Objectives

This initiative aims to:

• Make available climate model indicators for both mainland and island regions;
• Improve the spatial representation of various climatological parameters through dynamic downscaling processes, which will serve as a reference for calculating climatological normals and monitoring the climate using climate indicators tailored to different sectors of activity;
• Provide estimates of climate indicators for different territorial units;
• Equip IPMA with an interactive digital platform that provides access to climate indicators.
  

The platform makes available modelled statistical data, updated monthly, between the 5th and 12th day of the following month.

Partners

This activity has, as partners:

C3S – the Copernicus Climate Change Service, a European Union service that provides climate information at the global scale;

ECMWF – the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts, a consortium of European countries that coordinates the joint effort of medium-range global weather forecasting.