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Table 1: Overview of key characteristics of the ECDE indices.
Data type | Grid |
Projection | Regular latitude-longitude grid |
Horizontal coverage | Europe |
Horizontal resolution | 0.25° x 0.25° |
Vertical resolution | Surface |
Vertical coverage | Single level |
Temporal coverage |
1940-2100 | |
Temporal resolution | Monthly, seasonal and yearly |
File format | NetCDF 4 |
Conventions | Climate and Forecast (CF) Metadata Convention v1.6, Attribute Convention for Dataset Discovery (ACDD) v1.3 |
Available versions | v1.0 |
Update frequency | Annual |
Indices description
Table 2: Description of the ECDE indices.
Main Variables | ||
Variable | Units | Description |
Heat and cold | ||
Mean temperature | °C | The temperature of air at 2m above the surface. |
Growing degree days | °C day-1 | The cumulative sum of daily degrees above a daily mean temperature of 5°C. |
Heating degree days | °C day-1 | The cumulative sum of daily degrees below a daily mean temperature of 15.5°C. |
Cooling degree days | °C day-1 | The cumulative sum of daily degrees above a daily mean temperature of 22°C. |
Tropical nights | day | The count of days with daily minimum temperature above 20°C. |
Hot days | day | The count of days with daily maximum temperature above a 30°C threshold (also 35°C or 40°C°). |
Warmest three-day period | °C | The highest daily mean temperature averaged over a three-day window over a year. |
Heatwave days | day | The count of climatological hot days in a year. A climatological heatwave is a period of at least three consecutive days exceeding the 99th percentile of the daily maximum temperatures of the May to September season during a reference period. |
High UTCI days | day | The count of days when UTCI remains above 32°C. UTCI stands for Universal Thermal Climate Index and is an equivalent to temperature (°C) corresponding to a measure of the human physiological response to meteorological conditions that also takes into consideration the clothing adaptation of the population in response to outdoor temperature. It is based on four surface variables: air temperature, relative humidity, wind speed and mean radiant temperature. |
Frost days | day | The monthly, seasonal and yearly count of days with daily minimum temperature below 0°C. |
Maximum temperature | °C | The maximum value of daily maximum temperature over a month, season or year. |
Minimum temperature | °C | The minimum value of daily minimum temperature over a month, season or year. |
Wet and dry | ||
Total precipitation | mm period-1 | Total precipitation is the accumulated liquid and frozen water, comprising rain and snow, that falls to the Earth's surface. |
Maximum consecutive five-day precipitation | mm 5-days-1 | Maximum five-day cumulated total precipitation taken over a month, a season or a year. |
Extreme precipitation total | mm | The total sum in a year of daily precipitation values exceeding the 99th percentile of the reference period. |
Frequency of extreme precipitations | day | The count of days with precipitation above the extreme precipitation threshold defined as the 95th percentile of total precipitation of rainy days over 1981-2010. |
Flood recurrence | m3 s-1 | Ensemble mean and distribution of flood recurrence. The River Flood index is defined as the 50-year flood recurrence. Other values from several recurrence periods (10, 5 and 2 years) are also shown as complementary information. |
Mean river discharge | m3 s-1 | The mean annual daily river discharge over a 30 year period. |
Aridity actual | Dimensionless | The monthly mean value of the ratio between actual evapotranspiration and precipitation over a 30 year period. Here actual evapotranspiration is the modelled evapotranspiration computed only with available water. |
Consecutive dry days | day | The longest period of consecutive days with daily precipitation below 1 mm in a year, season or month. |
Duration of meteorological droughts | month | The count of months in a year with anomalously low precipitation conditions based on the 3-month Standardised Precipitation Index (SPI-3) relative to a reference period, here 1981-2010. |
Magnitude of meteorological droughts | Dimensionless | The cumulative severity of drought events in a year based on the 3-month Standardised Precipitation Index (SPI-3) relative to a reference period, here 1981-2010. A drought event starts when SPI-3 values fall below -1 for at least two consecutive months and ends when the index returns positive. The magnitude of the event is defined as the sum of SPI-3 absolute values in the months of the drought episodes. |
Mean soil moisture | Dimensionless | Soil moisture is the water stored in the soil and is affected by precipitation, temperature, soil characteristics, and more. The mean soil moisture is defined as the monthly mean values of soil moisture in the root zone as the fraction of the field capacity volume over a 30 year period. |
Fire weather index | Dimensionless | The Fire Weather Index (FWI) is a meteorologically based index used worldwide to estimate fire danger. It is developed by the Canadian Forestry Service to estimate forest fire ignition and spread conditions based on several weather variables (temperature, precipitation, relative humidity, and wind speed). |
Days with high fire danger | day | The count of days in a period with a Fire Weather Index (FWI) value greater than 30 (Number of days) based upon the European Forest Fire Information System (EFFIS) classification. |
Mean wind speed | m s-1 | Magnitude of the two-dimensional (u and v components) horizontal air velocity at 10 metres averaged over a month a season or a year. |
Extreme wind speed days | day | The count of days over a month, season or year with 10m wind speed above the extreme threshold defined as the 98th percentile of 10m wind speed over 1981-2010. |
Snow and ice | ||
Snowfall amount | mm | The cumulative snowfall precipitation during the winter sports season (November to April). |
Coastal | ||
Relative sea level rise | cm | The annual mean sea level relative to the 1986-2005 reference period. |
Extreme sea level | m | The Total water level for a return period of 100 years estimated over 30-year periods (1951-1980, 1985-2014 and 2021-2050). |
Input datasets by indicator
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Table 3: List of the ECDE indices datasets.
Main Variables |
| |
Variable | Dataset | Product User Guide |
Heat and cold | ||
Mean temperature | Add link when Confluence PUG finalised | |
Growing degree days | Add link when Confluence PUG finalised | |
Heating degree days | Add link when Confluence PUG finalised | |
Cooling degree days | Add link when Confluence PUG finalised | |
Tropical nights | Add link when Confluence PUG finalised | |
Hot days | Add link when Confluence PUG finalised | |
Warmest three-day period | Add link when Confluence PUG finalised | |
Heatwave days - Climatological | Add link when Confluence PUG finalised | |
High UTCI days | Add link when Confluence PUG finalised | |
Frost days | Add link when Confluence PUG finalised | |
Maximum temperature | Add link when Confluence PUG finalised | |
Minimum temperature | Add link when Confluence PUG finalised | |
Wet and dry | ||
Total precipitation | Add link when Confluence PUG finalised | |
Maximum consecutive five-day precipitation | Add link when Confluence PUG finalised | |
Extreme precipitation total | Add link when Confluence PUG finalised | |
Frequency of extreme precipitation | Add link when Confluence PUG finalised | |
Flood recurrence | Add link when Confluence PUG finalised | |
Mean river discharge | Add link when Confluence PUG finalised | |
Aridity actual | Add link when Confluence PUG finalised | |
Consecutive dry days | Add link when Confluence PUG finalised | |
Duration of meteorological droughts | Add link when Confluence PUG finalised | |
Magnitude of meteorological droughts | Add link when Confluence PUG finalised | |
Mean soil moisture | Add link when Confluence PUG finalised | |
Fire weather index | Add link when Confluence PUG finalised | |
Days with high fire danger | Add link when Confluence PUG finalised | |
Mean wind speed | Add link when Confluence PUG finalised | |
Extreme wind speed days | Add link when Confluence PUG finalised | |
Snow and ice | ||
Snowfall amount | Add link when Confluence PUG finalised | |
Coastal | ||
Relative sea level rise | Add link when Confluence PUG finalised | |
Extreme sea level | Add link when Confluence PUG finalised | |
Input datasets
ERA5 and derived products.
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Table 4: The 9 GCM/RCM combinations of the Climate and energy indicators for Europe from 2005 to 2100 derived from climate projection dataset
Global Climate Model | Regional Climate Model | Ensemble member |
EC-EARTH | HIRHAM5 | r3i1p1 |
EC-EARTH | RACMO22E | r1i1p1 |
EC-EARTH | RCA4 | r12i1p1 |
HadGEM2-ES | RACMO22E | r1i1p1 |
HadGEM2-ES | RCA4 | r1i1p1 |
IPSL-CM5A-MR | WRF381P | r1i1p1 |
MPI-ESM-LR | CCLM4-8-17 | r1i1p1 |
MPI-ESM-LR | RCA4 | r1i1p1 |
NORESM1-M | HIRHAM5 | r1i1p1 |
ERA5 Heat
The High UTCI Day index data are from Thermal comfort indices derived from ERA5 reanalysis. As indicated, it is based on surface variables from the ERA5 reanalysis (ERA5 single levels) and inherits the same spatial (0.25° x 0.25°) and temporal resolution (hourly). There are no climate projections of UTCI at the moment. More technical details can be found in the dataset documentation.
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Table 7: The 8 GCM/RCM combinations of the water related indices dataset.
Global Climate Model | Regional Climate Model |
EC-EARTH | CCLM4-8-17 |
EC-EARTH | RACMO22E |
EC-EARTH | RCA4 |
HadGEM2-ES | RCA4 |
HadGEM2-ES | RACMO22E |
MPI-ESM-LR | RCA4 |
MPI-ESM-LR | REMO2009 |
MPI-ESM-LR | REMO2009 |
SIS EU Tourism
The Days with high fire danger and Fire Weather index data are from the Fire danger indicators for Europe from 1970 to 2098 derived from climate projections dataset. It is a set of 6 bias-adjusted multi-model simulations from the EURO-CORDEX experiment. These simulations have a daily temporal resolution, a spatial resolution of 0.1° x 0.1° and cover scenarios RCP4.5 and RCP8.5. The 5 combinations of the 5 GCMs with 1 RCM is given in Table 1. More technical specifications can be found in the dataset documentation.
Table 8: The 5 GCM/RCM combinations of the Fire danger indicators dataset
Global Climate Model | Regional Climate Model |
CNRM-CM5 | RCA4 |
EC-EARTH | RCA4 |
HadGEM2-ES | RCA4 |
IPSL-CM5A-M | RCA4 |
MPI-ESM-LR | RCA4 |
Note: The Fire Weather Index values were bias-corrected in this project to be compatible with the CEMS reanalysis FWI. See subsection 2.4.2 Indicator calculation.
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Table 9: The 9 GCM/RCM combinations of the snow indicators dataset.
Global Climate Model | Regional Climate Model |
CNRM-CM5 | RCA4 |
CNRM-CM5 | ALADIN53 |
EC-EARTH | RCA4 |
HadGEM2-ES | RCA4 |
IPSL-CM5A-M | RCA4 |
IPSL-CM5A-M | WRF331F |
MPI-ESM-LR | RCA4 |
MPI-ESM-LR | REMO2009 |
MPI-ESM-LR | RCA4 |
SIS European Storm Surges
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The ECDE indicators dataset provides a series of climate indices derived from reanalysis and model simulations data hosted on the CDS. It gathers data both in a gridded format and as regional averages that are used to make the indicators available through interactive visualisation apps on the European Climate Data Explorer hosted on EEA’s Climate-adapt site. It is provided as a dataset to support further analysis by climate change adaptation practitioners that wish to have access to the underlying data of the ECDE.
Glossary
Acronym | Term |
C3S | Copernicus Climate Change Service |
CDS | Climate Data Store of the Copernicus Climate Change Service |
GCM | Global Climate Model |
RCP | Representative Concentration Pathway |
RCM | Regional Climate Model |
VM | Virtual Machine |
Term | Definition |
Essential Climate Variable (ECV) | An ECV is a physical, chemical or biological variable or a group of linked variables that critically contributes to the characterization of Earth’ s climate. Source. |
Representative Concentrations Pathway (RCPs) | RCP’s comprise greenhouse gas emission scenarios that have similar radiative forcing characteristics. Source. |
RCP4.5 | RCP4.5 is a stabilisation scenario in which total radiative forcing stabilises at 4.5 W/m2 shortly after the year 2100. Source. |
RCP8.5 | RCP8.5 is representative of scenarios that lead to high greenhouse gas concentration levels and has a radiative forcing of 8.5 W/m2 in the year 2100.Source. |
References
Crespi A., Terzi S., Cocuccioni S., Zebisch M., Berckmans J., Füssel H-M (2020) “Climate-related hazard indices for Europe”. European Topic Centre on Climate Change impacts, Vulnerability and Adaptation (ETC/CCA) Technical Paper 2020/1. DOI: https://doi.org/10.25424/cmcc/climate_related_hazard_indices_europe_2020
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The table below lists all the regional layers available and the corresponding code to use in the file naming conventions.
Regions | Region | Code |
NUTS | NUTS 0 | nuts_0 |
NUTS 1 | nuts_1 | |
NUTS 2 | nuts_2 | |
NUTS 3 | nuts_3 | |
Non NUTS | Non NUTS | non_nuts |
Europe Zones
| EEA EU 27 | eea_eu_27 |
EEA EU 32 | eea_eu_32 | |
EEA EU 38 | eea_eu_38 | |
Transnational Regions
| Interreg VI-B Adriatic-Ionian | eea_trans_adriatic_ionian |
Interreg VI-B Alpine Space | eea_trans_alpine_space | |
Interreg VI-B Northern Periphery and Arctic | eea_trans_northern_periphery_and_arctic | |
Interreg VI-B Atlantic Area | eea_trans_atlantic_area | |
Interreg VI-B Baltic Sea Region | eea_trans_baltic_sea_region | |
Interreg VI-B Central Europe | eea_trans_central_europe | |
Interreg VI-B Danube | eea_trans_danube | |
Interreg VI-B Mediterranean (EURO MED) | eea_trans_mediterranean | |
Interreg VI-B North Sea | eea_trans_north_sea | |
Interreg VI-B North West Europe | eea_trans_north_west_europe | |
Interreg VI-B South West Europe (SUDOE) | eea_trans_south_west_europe |
| Info | ||
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This document has been produced in the context of the Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S). The activities leading to these results have been contracted by the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts, operator of C3S on behalf of the European Union (Delegation Agreement signed on 11/11/2014 and Contribution Agreement signed on 22/07/2021). All information in this document is provided "as is" and no guarantee or warranty is given that the information is fit for any particular purpose. The users thereof use the information at their sole risk and liability. For the avoidance of all doubt , the European Commission and the European Centre for Medium - Range Weather Forecasts have no liability in respect of this document, which is merely representing the author's view. |
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