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Biological data derived from European weather radars

Desmet, Peter ; Shamoun-Baranes, Judy ; Kranstauber, Bart ; Dokter, Adriaan M. ; Weisshaupt, Nadja ; Schmid, Baptiste ; Bauer, Silke ; Haase, Günther ; Hoekstra, Bart and Huybrechts, Pieter , et al. (2025) In Scientific Data 12(1).
Abstract

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... (More)

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.

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organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
in
Scientific Data
volume
12
issue
1
article number
361
pages
11 pages
publisher
Nature Publishing Group
external identifiers
  • scopus:85217615533
  • pmid:40021718
ISSN
2052-4463
DOI
10.1038/s41597-025-04641-5
language
English
LU publication?
yes
additional info
Publisher Copyright: © The Author(s) 2025.
id
30a7fc31-97cb-4f5e-804a-0e8d81cfeba1
date added to LUP
2025-05-23 10:47:03
date last changed
2025-06-06 11:21:32
@article{30a7fc31-97cb-4f5e-804a-0e8d81cfeba1,
  abstract     = {{<p>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.</p>}},
  author       = {{Desmet, Peter and Shamoun-Baranes, Judy and Kranstauber, Bart and Dokter, Adriaan M. and Weisshaupt, Nadja and Schmid, Baptiste and Bauer, Silke and Haase, Günther and Hoekstra, Bart and Huybrechts, Pieter and Leijnse, Hidde and Noé, Nicolas and Van Hoey, Stijn and Wijers, Berend and Nilsson, Cecilia}},
  issn         = {{2052-4463}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  month        = {{02}},
  number       = {{1}},
  publisher    = {{Nature Publishing Group}},
  series       = {{Scientific Data}},
  title        = {{Biological data derived from European weather radars}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41597-025-04641-5}},
  doi          = {{10.1038/s41597-025-04641-5}},
  volume       = {{12}},
  year         = {{2025}},
}