Biological data derived from European weather radars
Weather radars detect more than weather, they also continuously register the movements of billions of animals aloft in the lower atmosphere. This makes archived, unfiltered weather radar data a goldmine for biological monitoring purposes, providing coverage of the aerial habitat in a way no other method can. Here we present two datasets of biological data extracted from European weather radar data, obtained through a collaboration with the Operational Programme for the Exchange of Weather Radar Information (OPERA) and three national meteorological services. The datasets were created by processing weather radar data with methods optimized for extracting bird targets, resulting in vertical profiles of biological targets. The datasets collectively cover 141 radar stations in 18 countries, from 2008 to 2023. Data quality and coverage differs between years, countries, and radar stations, so care must be taken when evaluating data for each specific use case. Despite these challenges the datasets are currently the most comprehensive of their kind in Europe and open new avenues in understanding continental scale movements of aerial animals.
Authors
- Bart Kranstauber (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8303-780X)
- Berend-Christiaan Wijers (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3208-3114)
- Stijn Van Hoey (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6413-3185)
- Nadja Weisshaupt (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4510-4121)
- Silke Bauer (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0844-164X)
- Judy Shamoun‐Baranes (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1652-7646)
- Adriaan M. Dokter (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6573-066X)
- Bart Hoekstra (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7085-3805)
- Cecilia Nilsson (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8957-4411)
- Pieter Huybrechts (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6658-6062)
- Günther Haase (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7753-6055)
- Peter Desmet (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8442-8025)
- Hidde Leijnse (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7835-4480)
- Baptiste Schmid (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7736-7527)
- Nicolas Noé (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9503-4750)
Institutions
- Finnish Meteorological Institute (FI)
- Swedish Meteorological and Hydrological Institute (SE)
- Royal Netherlands Meteorological Institute (NL)
- Lund University (SE)
- Research Institute for Nature and Forest (BE)
- Cornell University (US)
- Swiss Ornithological Institute (CH)
- Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research (CH)
- ETH Zurich (CH)
- University of Amsterdam (NL)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Scientific Data
- Published
- 2025-02-28
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1038/s41597-025-04641-5
- Citations
- 3
- Primary Topic
- Species Distribution and Climate Change
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 5.51
Funders
- National Science Foundation
- European Space Agency
- European Cooperation in Science and Technology
- Schweizerischer Nationalfonds zur Förderung der Wissenschaftlichen Forschung
- Svenska Forskningsrådet Formas
- Academy of Finland
- Belgian Federal Science Policy Office
- Fonds Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek
- Nederlandse Organisatie voor Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek
- Horizon 2020 Framework Programme