WSC1

Standardized, FAIR and CF-compliant publication of urban climate model data

Atmospheric Models are a relevant element of Climate Research. Access to this data is not only of interest to a wide scientific community but also to public services, companies, politicians and citizens. The state-of-the-art approach to make the data available is to publish them via a data repository that adheres to the FAIR (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, and Reusable) principles. A FAIR publication of research data implies that the data are described with rich metadata and that the data and metadata meet relevant discipline-specific standards. Data and metadata standardization for global and regional climate models (e.g. CMIP) is well established through the Climate and Forecast (CF) Metadata Conventions, but standards are lacking for e.g. obstacle resolving urban climate modelling.
This workshop will focus on publishing urban climate data following FAIR principles. The CF conventions will be introduced, including a suggestion on how to extend them to urban climate model data. Experience shows that preparing FAIR metadata is time-consuming; thus an open-source python tool is introduced that facilitates the preparation of standardized metadata and that also checks metadata agreement with the CF conventions. The usage of the tool will be shown in a live demo; in parallel, participants can test an online version of this tool.  
The second half of the workshop will comprise an open discussion among all participants. The aim is to identify key variables that are specific to urban climate modelling and whose data publication would be an added value to various communities. The workshop closes with a polling to identify the variables that shall be incorporated into the CF conventions to foster the standardization of urban climate model data.