The European Climate Data Explorer (ECDE) is a web application developed by the Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S) that allows users to explore past trends and projected future changes for a range of key climate indicators from multiple datasets. Check out the application here.
The underlying data are available through the Copernicus Climate Data Store (CDS):
Data citation: Copernicus Climate Change Service, Climate Data Store (2024)
Purpose & development¶
The development of the ECDE was driven by the European Environment Agency (EEA) to address information needs regarding climate impact indicators relevant to national climate change adaptation initiatives across the EU. The list of indicators is based on a technical report from the European Topic Centre on Climate Change Impacts, Vulnerability and Adaptation (ETC‑CCA).
The indicators describe how climate variability and change of essential climate variables can impact sectors such as health, agriculture, forestry, energy, tourism, and water/coastal management.
Data sources¶
Reanalysis: ERA5 (1940–present), the ECMWF global atmospheric reanalysis, provides a consistent historical baseline.
Climate projections: An ensemble of downscaled Euro-CORDEX regional climate models forced by two emissions scenarios:
| Scenario | Description |
|---|---|
| RCP 4.5 | Intermediate emissions pathway, stabilisation around 2100 |
| RCP 8.5 | High emissions pathway, continued rise through 2100 |
Full technical documentation: confluence.ecmwf.int — Input data underpinning the ECDE
Drought variable used in this book¶
Duration of meteorological droughts (dmd)¶
CDS variable name: duration_of_meteorological_droughts
Short name: dmd
Unit: months per year
Coverage: Europe (NUTS2 regions), 1940–2100
Source: sis-ecde-climate-indicators on CDS
The Duration of meteorological droughts indicator counts the total number of months per year in which the Standardized Precipitation Index at the 3-month timescale (SPI-3, read more about these indices here) falls below −1, indicating a meteorological drought. It captures how many months of a year are affected by anomalously low precipitation relative to the local climatology.
Reanalysis data (ERA5): covers 1940–2023, providing an observed baseline.
Climate projections (Euro-CORDEX): cover 1950–2100 for an ensemble of GCM–RCM combinations under RCP 4.5 and RCP 8.5.
- Copernicus Climate Change Service, Climate Data Store. (2024). Climate indicators for Europe from 1940 to 2100 derived from reanalysis and climate projections [Data set]. Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S) Climate Data Store (CDS). https://cds.climate.copernicus.eu/datasets/sis-ecde-climate-indicators