EuroClim: Monitoring the Cryosphere to Improve Climate Change Modelling

Abstract

One of the potentially greatest threats to human beings is climate change. Climate scenario modelling indicates that our environmental conditions will change with increasing speed in the coming years with one of the most significant changes being a warming of the global climate. The EuroClim system will be an advanced tool for climate monitoring and scenario modelling for the support of a sustainable development and protection of the environment in Europe. The European cryosphere (i.e., masses of sea-ice, snow, and glaciers) will be the main indicator system. Snow and ice variables are extracted from satellite data and processed by advanced sensor technology and algorithms and stored into a multidimensional distributed database system. Space-time data sets are retrieved from the databases and applied in a regional climate model for Europe. A statistical analysis module computes the climatic information required, in particular climate-change indicators, like extreme weather and changes in the length of the growing season. A web server provides access to the system for the two user groups professionals (like operational organizations and scientists) and the citizen.