COST725 – establishing a European phenological data platform for climatological applications: major results

E Koch,A Menzel,W Lipa,T H Sparks,A J H Van Vliet,E Dittmann,J Nekovar

doi:10.5194/asr-3-119-2009

Abstract

Abstract. COST – European COoperation in the field of Scientific and Technical Research – is the oldest and widest intergovernmental European network for cooperation in research. COST Action 725 (running from 2004 to 2009) aimed at and succeeded in establishing a European data base of phenological observations, classifying the data according to one common system and using the data in scientific peer reviewed papers. COST725 organized many workshops and conferences that helped to bring together not only the European, but also the global, phenological community. One of the highlights of COST725 was the boxed entry "Phenological responses to climate in Europe: the COST725 project" in the AR4 of IPCC in 2007. And last, but not least, although the action ended in April 2009 a follow up will be launched in 2010 under EUMETNET/ECSN.

Highlights

In the 19th century phenological recording was a traditional activity, but interest in observation declined in the early 20th century
In recent decades, phenology has rapidly become an important tool for climate change impact studies and COST725 contributed significantly to this renewed interest
The phenological responses of plants to climate warming are very strong in temperate and cool climate zones (Menzel et al, 2006)

Summary

Introduction

In the 19th century phenological recording was a traditional activity, but interest in observation declined in the early 20th century. The phenological responses of plants to climate warming are very strong in temperate and cool climate zones (Menzel et al, 2006). In Europe, where the strongest and most widespread tradition of phenological monitoring is found, widespread phenological observations, especially in plants, existed, but were collected and archived by many different organisations with different data policies, data formats etc. Observation rules were only partly comparable and differing lengths of time-series made work on the data at a European wide level quite difficult. This was the starting point for COST725 (Koch et al, 2005)

Results

The common database

Conclusions