climatewatch

ClimateWatch Workshop held at International Phenology Conference

The 18th International Congress of Biometeorology was held in Tokyo, Japan from the 22nd to 26th September. During this Congress, the ClimateWatch Management Committee held a workshop to obtain input from leaders of international phenology networks on the ClimateWatch program. Eleven participants from around the globe attended the workshop, including representatives from Austria, China, Germany, Italy, Slovakia, Switzerland, the United States of America, and Australia.

The Committee received some great feedback and suggestions from everyone that attended the workshop, including:

• The UK Network is a good model to use (http://www.naturescalendar.org.uk/)
• Establish regional networks of observers to meet regional needs
• Establish 2 networks of data collection: one for community education, the other for scientific research
• Issue of sparsely populated areas and absence of data collected there
• Need to ensure accurate species identification when recording observations
• Volunteers and existing groups have long time records/observations already
• Establish simple thresholds within the database for when events can occur
• Suggestion to monitor allergen plant species too e.g. relating to asthma and hayfever
• There is value in making observations every day so ‘absence’ records are noted
• Using a standardised code when making observations is useful (e.g. BBCH)
• The need to engage data providers for example through online forums and data analysis
• Ensure acknowledgment of ClimateWatch data when used by scientists, researchers etc

The workshop also highlighted phenology networks around the globe and suggestions from these programs that ClimateWatch could adopt. The ClimateWatch Management Committee would like to thank the workshop attendees for their input and interest in ClimateWatch, and for contributing to the success of the workshop.

Two posters highlighting the ClimateWatch program were also presented at the Congress, they are:
PhenoARC: Extending Australia’s phenological record
Phenology and Climate Change in Australia
Please click on the title of the poster to access the article on the ClimateWatch website.