MeteoGate – A one-stop shop for sharing, discovering and accessing meteorological data

MeteoGate supports and builds collaboration throughout the meteorological community by making data easy to share, find, access, and then use to deliver value.

Whether an academic researcher, NMS operational forecaster, private weather service developer, or a member of the public who simply enjoys weather data, MeteoGate makes it easy to find what data is available. MeteoGate can give a preview of the data for users to check it is what they need before downloading it. Once found, data access using APIs or bulk download is through the secure MeteoGate API Gateway. Users can sign up for notifications so they don’t miss new or updated datasets becoming available.

MeteoGate was developed at part of the RODEO project, presented at EMS2023 (ES1.5 RODEO Project – bringing more European meteorological data open for all users). The design was based on the EU’s Data Space Support Centre’s blueprint with the development work to create this meteorological data space co-funded by EUMETNET and EU. The RODEO project also responded to the requirements of the EU Directive (2019/1024) on Open Data and the Reuse of Public-sector Information and its Implementing Regulation. A key aim of this legislation and project was to boost the re-use and combination of open public data across the EU, particularly the High Value Datasets: Weather observation data, climate data, warnings, weather radar data and Numerical Weather Prediction (NWP) data.

MeteoGate is also aligned with the objectives of the global meteorological community, notably the World Meteorological Organisation’s (WMO) Unified Data Policy which commits WMO Member Nations to supporting free and open exchange of meteorological data. MeteoGate builds on the WMO Information System 2.0 (WIS 2.0), utilising the capabilities of their Global Discovery Catalogue and Global Message Broker.  Owned by EUMETNET, the MeteoGate system is operated and maintained by the Finnish Meteorological Institute, providing reassurance that the underpinning infrastructure is effectively, sustainably, and securely run for our community.

As well as MeteoGate vastly increasing the amount of meteorological data available for all, an active discussion forum has been established. With engagement from data providers, the user community, and MeteoGate support team, this providing a key platform to assist increased collaboration between all actors within the Weather Enterprise.

MeteoGate is already up and running, supporting better services and information to decision makers. However, the development journey is far from over.  Although initially created with a focus on sharing High Value Datasets, MeteoGate has been designed to share any hydro-meteorological data which uses WMO data standards and formats. Through showcasing the benefits of the investment in innovative development of a federated, cloud-based infrastructure, opportunities can be explored for increasing and widening the available data for the benefit of all, and the services to support effective use of that data.