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Meteorological data policies needed to support biodiversity monitoring with weather radar

Weather radar networks have great potential for continuous and long-term monitoring of aerial biodiversity of birds, bats, and insects. Biological data from weather radars can support ecological research, inform conservation policy development and implementation, and increase the public’s interest in natural phenomena such as migration. Weather radars are already used to study animal migration, quantify changes in populations, and reduce aerial conflicts between birds and aircraft. Yet efforts to establish a framework for the broad utilization of operational weather radar for biodiversity monitoring are at risk without suitable data policies and infrastructure in place. In Europe, the meteorological and ecological communities have made joint efforts towards sharing and standardizing continent-wide weather radar data. These efforts are now at risk as new meteorological data exchange policies render data useless for biodiversity monitoring. In several other parts of the world, weather radar data are not even available for ecological research. We urge policy makers, funding agencies and meteorological organizations across the world to recognize the full potential of weather radar data. We propose several actions which would ensure the continued capability of weather radar networks worldwide to act as powerful tools for biodiversity monitoring and research.

Details

Volume 103
Magazine issue 4
Pages (to-from) E1234–E1242
Type A1: Web of Science-article
Category Research
Magazine Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society
Language English
Bibtex

@misc{901700cc-9c1a-43e5-b4f7-e1e31c4db35f,
title = "Meteorological data policies needed to support biodiversity monitoring with weather radar",
abstract = "Weather radar networks have great potential for continuous and long-term monitoring of aerial biodiversity of birds, bats, and insects. Biological data from weather radars can support ecological research, inform conservation policy development and implementation, and increase the public’s interest in natural phenomena such as migration. Weather radars are already used to study animal migration, quantify changes in populations, and reduce aerial conflicts between birds and aircraft. Yet efforts to establish a framework for the broad utilization of operational weather radar for biodiversity monitoring are at risk without suitable data policies and infrastructure in place. In Europe, the meteorological and ecological communities have made joint efforts towards sharing and standardizing continent-wide weather radar data. These efforts are now at risk as new meteorological data exchange policies render data useless for biodiversity monitoring. In several other parts of the world, weather radar data are not even available for ecological research. We urge policy makers, funding agencies and meteorological organizations across the world to recognize the full potential of weather radar data. We propose several actions which would ensure the continued capability of weather radar networks worldwide to act as powerful tools for biodiversity monitoring and research.",
author = "Judy Shamoun‐Baranes and Silke Bauer and Jason W. Chapman and Peter Desmet and Adriaan M Dokter and Andrew Farnsworth and Hans van Gasteren and Birgen Haest and Jarmo Koistinen and Bart Kranstauber and Felix Liechti and Tom Mason and Cecilia Nilsson and Raphael Nussbaumer and Baptiste Schmid and Nadja Weisshaupt and Hidde Leijnse",
year = "2022",
month = apr,
day = "27",
doi = "https://doi.org/10.1175/BAMS-D-21-0196.1",
language = "English",
publisher = "Instituut voor Natuur- en Bosonderzoek",
address = "Belgium,
type = "Other"
}

Authors

Judy Shamoun‐Baranes
Silke Bauer
Jason W. Chapman
Peter Desmet
Adriaan M Dokter
Andrew Farnsworth
Hans van Gasteren
Birgen Haest
Jarmo Koistinen
Bart Kranstauber
Felix Liechti
Tom Mason
Cecilia Nilsson
Raphael Nussbaumer
Baptiste Schmid
Nadja Weisshaupt
Hidde Leijnse