About

Learn who is responsible for Climate Explorer, how its climate-data content is prepared, and how corrections are handled.

Our Mission

Climate Explorer helps readers find, examine, and interpret meteorological observations and climate data from authoritative public sources. The site combines interactive explorers, practical guides, and evidence-led articles so that specialist datasets can be understood and checked without hiding their limitations.

The project is intended for researchers, data practitioners, students, and interested readers. It is an independent interpretation and visualization service, not an official meteorological authority, forecasting service, or source of weather warnings.

Publisher

Climate Explorer is an independently maintained climate-data and editorial project. It is maintained by a climatologist with experience in observational data processing, climate analysis, geospatial visualization, and the public presentation of meteorological information.

Articles and guides use the project byline Climate Explorer Team. This identifies the project responsible for the published work while allowing its maintainer to keep a private personal profile. Editorial questions, evidence, and correction requests remain attributable to Climate Explorer and can be submitted through the contact section.

Climate Explorer is not affiliated with NOAA, WMO, EUMETNET, DWD, Météo-France, JMA, IMGW, or the other data providers referenced on the site. Linking to, transforming, or visualizing a provider’s public data does not imply that the provider endorses Climate Explorer.

About the Project

The project provides access to historical and current observations from these authoritative sources:

  • EuroMeteo – Near-real-time European meteorological observations provided through MeteoGate (WIS 2.0 / E-SOH)
  • OPERA – Official pan-European weather radar composites provided by the EUMETNET OPERA program
  • DWD OpenData – German meteorological observations published by Deutscher Wetterdienst
  • Météo-France – French station observations published by Météo-France
  • JMA – Japanese meteorological observations published by the Japan Meteorological Agency, with daily, hourly, and 10-minute products where available
  • IMGW – Polish meteorological observations published by the Institute of Meteorology and Water Management (IMGW-PIB)
  • WMO Normals – Official 1991–2020 Climatological Standard Normals from the World Meteorological Organization
  • WMO Climate – Monthly CLIMAT station observations from the global WMO network, published in recent and historical files by DWD
  • NOAA SSOD – Synoptic Summary of the Day providing UTC-aligned daily global observations
  • NOAA GHCNh – Global Historical Climatology Network Hourly data supporting analysis of sub-daily variability
  • NOAA GHCNm – Global Historical Climatology Network Monthly data providing long-term climate records from weather stations worldwide

Technology Stack

The dashboards are developed using modern data science tools:

  • Shiny – Interactive web applications for data exploration
  • Quarto – Scientific publishing system for documentation
  • Node.js – Backend logic and edge computing
  • MapLibre GL JS – High-performance interactive mapping capabilities
  • Plotly – Dynamic data visualizations

Data Sources & Stewardship

The explorers and articles primarily use data and documentation published by official meteorological services and international programmes:

The original provider remains the authoritative source. Climate Explorer records the provider, dataset, time period, variable, and relevant station or spatial context wherever these details affect interpretation. Provider quality flags and metadata are retained or described where the source and processing workflow make them available.

Editorial Responsibility

Climate Explorer is responsible for:

  • selecting and documenting the public datasets used by the site;
  • implementing data ingestion, format harmonization, unit conversion, and visualization workflows;
  • checking derived values, labels, dates, units, station identifiers, and reference periods before publication;
  • distinguishing direct observations from calculations and editorial interpretation;
  • documenting material uncertainty, missing data, provisional values, and spatial or temporal limitations; and
  • maintaining the explorers, guides, articles, source links, and correction record.

Official data providers remain responsible for their original observations, metadata, upstream validation, and subsequent revisions.

How Content Is Prepared

Climate Explorer follows a documented, source-first workflow:

  1. Source selection. Preference is given to official meteorological services, WMO programmes, NOAA/NCEI, EUMETNET, and clearly documented public datasets.
  2. Data handling. Source formats may be harmonized for display. Missing values, units, quality flags, temporal resolution, and update timing are treated according to the documentation of each dataset rather than through one universal rule.
  3. Verification. Material values and claims are checked against the cited source, the stated period and variable, and any reproducible calculation used in the article.
  4. Interpretation. Weather observations, climate context, calculated results, and broader inference are kept distinct. A station result is not presented as representative of a wider region without supporting evidence.
  5. Presentation. Charts and articles use measured language, visible source attribution, plain-language explanations, and relevant limitations. Interactive displays are designed for exploration and should not replace official warnings or operational decisions.

Climate Explorer may apply documented checks for missing values, impossible values, duplicate records, or format inconsistencies. These checks supplement rather than replace the quality-control procedures of the originating data provider. Data can be provisional, incomplete, delayed, or corrected upstream.

Corrections and Updates

Readers are encouraged to report a suspected factual, data, methodological, attribution, or accessibility error through the contact section. A useful report includes the page URL, the statement or graphic concerned, and a link or citation supporting the correction.

Substantive corrections are checked against the source data or documentation before publication. When a change affects a result or its interpretation, Climate Explorer updates the page’s modification date and, where useful to readers, adds a visible correction or update note. Minor typographical or formatting fixes may be made without a separate notice. Upstream dataset revisions are incorporated when they materially change a published result and the revised data become available to the project.

Editorial Independence and Support

Climate Explorer’s primary purpose is public access to climate-data tools, documentation, and analysis. Financial support, sponsorship, consulting, or collaboration does not give an outside party control over scientific conclusions or corrections. Any relationship that materially contributes to a specific piece of content will be disclosed on that page.

Contact

For questions, suggestions, correction requests, or collaboration inquiries, please use the form below.

Or email us directly at Reveal Email

Information submitted through the contact form is handled as described in the Privacy Policy.

Climate Explorer – Understanding climate through traceable data.