Comprehensive compilation and quality assessment of street-level urban air temperature measurements across European networks
This study provides a comprehensive dataset (FAIRUrbTemp) that addresses the lack of high-resolution urban air temperature data across Europe. It compiles sub-hourly street-level air temperature data from 811 low-cost to commercial sensors across several European cities and offers data in a quality-controlled, standardized format in sub-hourly, hourly, and daily resolutions. In addition, detailed metadata, as an important source of information in urban studies, is provided at network, station, and measurement levels. This pan-European dataset is rigorously quality-controlled using a serially automatic method applicable to diverse city-scale air temperature data, which identifies systematic and minor inconsistencies to enhance reliability. Expert-based validation shows that the QC reliably identifies problematic measurements, while its performance varies across urban and climatic settings due to local environmental and instrumental effects. To ensure transparency, the results of the quality control are provided to the user together with the original value in the dataset. The validated FAIRUrbTemp is a valuable resource for urban climate studies, with direct applications in validating microclimate models, assessing heat-health risks, and informing climate-adaptive urban planning.
Authors
- Jukka Käyhkö (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3842-7355)
- Adrian Huerta (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2415-3402)
- Steven Caluwaerts (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7456-3891)
- Jörg Franke (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0700-2028)
- Yuri Brugnara (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8427-0064)
- Matthias Zeeman (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9186-2519)
- Branislava Lalić
- Gert-Jan Steeneveld
- Fred Meier
- Setareh Amini
- Julien Anet
- Lee Chapman
- AmirMasoud Azadfar
- Sebastian Schlögl
- Stevan Savić
- Moritz Gubler
- Vincent Dubreuil
Institutions
- Royal Meteorological Institute of Belgium (BE)
- University of Bern (CH)
- Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (FR)
- Oeschger Centre for Climate Change Research (CH)
- Federal Office of Meteorology and Climatology MeteoSwiss (CH)
- University of Turku (FI)
- University of Freiburg (DE)
- University of Novi Sad (RS)
- University of Banja Luka (BA)
- Université Rennes 2 (FR)
- Ghent University (BE)
- Universidad Iberoamericana (DO)
- Amt für Umwelt (CH)
- Pädagogische Hochschule Bern (CH)
- Littoral, Environnement, Télédétection, Géomatique (FR)
- Technische Universität Berlin (DE)
- Université de Rennes (FR)
- Lakehead University (CA)
- University of Birmingham (GB)
- Wageningen University & Research (NL)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Scientific Data
- Published
- 2026-02-14
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1038/s41597-026-06804-4
- Primary Topic
- Urban Heat Island Mitigation
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 0.00
Funders
- National Science Foundation
- University of Bern
- Schweizerischer Nationalfonds zur Förderung der Wissenschaftlichen Forschung
- Nederlandse Organisatie voor Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek
- Universiteit Gent