30 March 2022, Apia - Pacific countries, territories and Timor Leste, are learning about the purpose and features, including new ones, of the Climate Data for the Environment (CliDE) database.
The 16 countries, who are part of the Climate and Oceans Support Program in the Pacific (COSPPac), are participating in a three-day virtual training, facilitated by the Australia Bureau of Meteorology with support from the Secretariat of the Pacific Regional Environment Program (SPREP).
The training was opened on Tuesday by Australia Bureau of Meteorology (BoM) COSPPac Technical Science Lead, Dr. Simon McGree, who highlighted the importance of the virtual meeting.
“This is a very important gathering for all of us who are here in this virtual space,” said Dr McGree. “For the next three days, we’ve got 12 modules where we will cover everything about CliDE, what it is designed to do and how your countries can benefit. We are excited about this opportunity to be able to engage and share with you all.”
CliDE, a Climate Data Management System (CDMS) was initially developed as part of the Australian Aid funded Pacific Climate Change Science Program (PCCSP) in 2009 and has been further developed under COSPPac. It provides each country with a central database for climate records, with key entry forms, quality assurance tools, reports and data dumps. It is free and open-source software, using a web-based user interface and high reliability relational database system.
Among other things, the workshop is designed to provide new users of CliDE with training on its basic features, as well as an introduction of new features, to members who have already familiarised themselves with the system.
“This workshop is designed so that Pacific countries and Timor Leste can get the most out of this climate data management system to enhance the quality of the science that informs Pacific Islands capacity to manage and mitigate the impacts of climate variability, support climate research as well as sectorial/infrastructure development. We work with stakeholders in the Islands to build tools that can forecast and report on climate, tides and the ocean and CliDE is a critical tool,” said COSPPac Capacity Development Officer at SPREP, Ms Azarel Maiai.
“We see that there are tremendous benefits for our partners in using CliDE, hence this training. We’ve designed it so that it caters for both novice and the more experienced users and we are looking forward to the next few days where we want the participants to learn as much as they can so they take the skills and use it for the benefit of their countries,” added BoM Data Manager and co-presenter, Dr. Lynda Chambers.
Some of these new skills will come from sessions where participants will learn about metadata, quality flags, data quality assurance, data aggregation, and the new data viewer designed to help participants better understand the data held by their organisations.
The CliDE project and Climate Date for the Environment (CliDE) Training are co-funded by the Australia Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) and New Zealand Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade (MFAT) through Climate and Oceans Support Program in the Pacific (COSPPac). The workshop ends on Thursday 31 March 2022 and the program on 30 June 2023.
The history, background CliDE
The CliDE project commenced in October 2009 and was part of the Australian Aid funded Pacific Climate Change Science Program (PCCSP, 2009-11, USD2.3M) with further development under the Pacific-Australia Climate Change Science and Adaptation Planning (PACCSAP) Program (2011-14).
The initial project included hardware procurement, software development, travel, training, and costs involved with seeding the database through data rescue and digitisation. For a brief period after PACCSAP, CliDE was funded via a World Meteorological Organization (WMO) Global Framework for Climate Services (GFCS) grant.
CliDE become part of the Australian Aid Climate and Oceans Support Program for the Pacific (COSPPac) towards the end of the first phase of the program (July 2012 – June 2018). It is now a major component of the second phase (COSPPac2, July 2018 - June 2022). An additional AUD1.04M in funding was received mid-way through the second phase from New Zealand Aid to better address end of phase outcomes associated with COSPPac2 objectives (https://www.pacificmet.net/project/climate-and-oceans-support-programme-pacificphase-2). (Source CliDE Manual v6)
Additional historical information on the project can be obtained from: Martin, D. J., Howard, A., Hutchinson, R., McGree, S. and Jones, D. A. 2015. Development and implementation of a climate data management system for western Pacific small island developing states. Met. Apps, 22: 273–287. http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/met.1461/abstract