Archived Environmental Data Discovery Trails – from present to past meteorology around the globe Welcome to the Digital Trail challenge: Archived Environmental Data Discovery Trails - from present to past meteorology around the globe May 12, 2024 We have set 5 questions to explore the Met Office’s Weather Observations Website (WOW), and 4 questions to explore the Meteorological Observations taken from Ben Nevis and Fort William available through NERC’s repository for Atmospheric Science and Earth Observation (the Centre for Environmental Data Analysis, CEDA). Here's the challenge: You are an amateur meteorologist and are about to install your own home weather station, but would like to see who else in your location is also observing weather. You are planning to share your data through the Met Office’s Weather Observations Website (WOW), a portal for weather enthusiasts to share and view weather observations, worldwide. As someone interested in citizen science you are also aware of the Operation Weather Rescue project that digitized historic meteorological records taken from Ben Nevis and Fort William to make them publicly available from the Centre for Environmental Data Analysis (CEDA). You are interested to find out how these historic data have been made available to expand our access to a range of detailed meteorological data overtime. Need a hint? Throughout the quiz, if you get stuck there are 'hint' buttons to help you. This quiz is an archive of our event run in April 2021. We will not be collecting any feedback or information in relation to this quiz anymore. Part One - WOW Met Office Weather Observation Website trail: You are about to install your own weather station, but first would like to see who else has a weather station in your location and what data are available across the nation and the globe. Can you find the weather observations which others are contributing? To start find the WOW website. Hint You live on the Isle of Wight, are there weather stations that already provide wind speed and direction data on the island? Answer format: The answer should be yes or no Hint You were thinking about having a spring break somewhere along the Welsh coast. Find the nearest WOW station with coordinates (52.500853° N, 4.053707° W) and get the mid-day (12:00-12:59) air temperature (° C) for the last two early May bank holidays - Friday 8th May 2020 and Monday 6th May 2019? Choose the station that is closest to the coast and has data available for both dates. Answer format: Provide 2 integer numbers separated by a comma followed by a space (e.g., 10, 15) Hint Your favourite hobby is windsurfing and you are also looking for a good holiday destination in the UK for late summer. You have heard Tiree is a good location. Find the nearest weather station to Tiree airport and find the maximum wind gust speed (in knots) between 1st September 2020 (00:00) and 30th September 2020 (23:00)? Answer format: The answer should be a number to 1 decimal place. Hint In 2018 you went windsurfing in New Zealand along Christchurch’s coastline. You wonder what the wind conditions were like there during your holiday for comparison. What is the name of the weather station with wind speed and direction between Pines Beach and Waikuku Beach? Answer format: The answer should be text only. Hint Before you stop your search to make a cup of tea you remember that the Met Office issued a number of yellow and amber warning of snow and ice early February. Did any members of the public across the UK submit a weather impact report to WOW relating to cold weather (snow or ice) that month? Answer format: The answer should be yes or no. Hint Part Two - CEDA Now you’ve seen how your weather station will contribute to a global dataset you want to find out what other historic data are also available to create a long-term database of weather data. CEDA is a national data centre for atmospheric and earth observation research and holds data from sources including aircraft campaigns, satellites, automatic weather stations and climate models, amongst many more. The online CEDA catalogue includes meteorological observations taken from Ben Nevis and Fort William (1883 -1904)*. These records were produced as part of the Operation Weather Rescue project. Can you find the temperature data available on Ben Nevis? To start find Ben Nevis meteorological data in the CEDA catalogue. Hint What was the publication date of this dataset? Answer format: Provide a date formatted as follows: YYYY-MM-DD Hint You are planning to climb Ben Nevis in the future and sell some kites at the top and you are wondering whether you can use this data. What does the licence say you can use this data for? Choose the options that apply to this data: a) Research, b) Commercial use, c) Personal use, d) Open to all to use, e) Can’t use it at all Answer format: provide a list of letters in alphabetical order separated by a comma and space, e.g. b, d Hint Now we have discovered whether we can use the data we are now going to continue to download the daily data for Ben Nevis (V2). What is the elevation (in m) of the summit station? Answer format: The answer should be an integer number Hint Using the same file what’s the lowest minimum temperature (° C) on Ben Nevis in February 1890 and highest maximum temperature in August 1890? Answer format: The answers should be provided to 1 decimal place separated by a comma and a space, e.g. -20.2, 6.7 Hint Part Two - CEDA *Hawkins, E.; Burt, S.; Roy, M. (2019): Meteorological Observations taken from Ben Nevis and Fort William (1883 -1904). Centre for Environmental Data Analysis Time's up
