Teal: a visualisation tool for non-expert users to explore climate data

The Teal tool enables a non-expert user to visualise and explore climate variables and carbon emissions. A global map shows climate data by country and sub-country, for temporal resolutions from annual to daily. Currently Teal shows data produced from ERA5 reanalysis from 1950, it will shortly be expanded to include additional data sources such as observations and projections of future climate, with other developments planned.  Documentation and guidance are included for users, with functionality and data periodically revised.  

Teal was built on previous Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S) demonstration tools: the European Climatic Energy Mixes (ECEM, 2015-2018) demo and the C3S Climate & Energy Educational Demo (Edu Demo, 2019-2020). The Edu Demo won the 2021 C3S Gala award for 'Creating impactful visualization and communication material and promoting C3S to user communities’. Teal considerably evolved under the recently completed (October 2021) H2020 SECLI-FIRM project, and is being further developed under ongoing projects such as the H2020 FOCUS-Africa. 

Teal was originally designed to raise awareness and provide data and visualisation about climate change and related energy issues. A key objective was to provide a good user experience which allowed students and educators to easily navigate options on the interface. Based on users’ feedback, it was realised that Teal is attractive and functional for both business and educational users alike. As a result, Teal is available both for public dissemination (free access) and for commercial climate services. 

Teal has been developed by the World Energy and Meteorology Council (WEMC), WEMC was established in 2015 and is an organisation based at the University of East Anglia in Norwich, UK. WEMC works with stakeholders around the world to promote and enhance interaction between the energy industry and the weather, climate and wider environmental sciences communities.