ClimDatPh: an Online Platform for Philippine Climate Data Acquisition

Abstract

Climate-related information has a lot of potential applications; yet, they are often not easily accessible. This study addresses such an issue by providing a detailed description of climate data collection, quality control (QC) procedures, and steps in acquiring the datasets from an online platform called “ClimDatPh.” The platform allows easier access to the quality-controlled principal surface climate data provided by the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA). In the first few months of existence on the internet (from September–December 2019), the online platform has served hundreds of climate data users from different parts of the Philippines and in many other countries across the globe. Preliminary statistics indicate that the climate datasets were requested for use in several applications, including scientific inquiries related to water and hydrology (21%), weather and climate (16%), energy (14%), agriculture and fisheries (11%), environment and biodiversity (10%), infrastructure and construction projects (6%), disaster risk reduction and management (5%), health and safety (5%), soil and land use (4%), and many other useful applications (8%). The use of climate data, primarily in agriculture, is further demonstrated in this study. Derived climate indices indicated that rainfall shortages caused by El Niño events have led to historical rice production losses in the Philippines. With the availability of internet access, it is expected that many more basic and applied research utilizing the Philippine climate data will be pursued in the future, which in turn would be helpful to increase scientific understanding of how the country’s climate behaves and affects other sectors.