Open weather and climate science in the digital era

Abstract. The need for open science has been recognized by the communities of meteorology and climate science. However, while these domains are mature in terms of applying digital technologies, these are lagging behind where the implementation of open science methodologies is concerned. In a session on Weather and Climate Science in the Digital Era at the 14th IEEE International eScience conference domain specialists and data and computer scientists discussed the road towards open weather and climate science. The studies presented in the conference session showed the added value of shared data, software and platforms through, for instance, combining data sets from disparate sources, increased accuracy and skill of simulations and forecasts at local scales, and improved consistency of data products. We observed that sharing data and code is important, but not sufficient to achieve open weather and climate science and that here are important issues to address. At the level of technology, the implementation of the FAIR principles to many datasets used in weather and climate science remains a challenge due to their origin, scalability, or legal barriers. Furthermore, the complexity of current software platforms limits collaboration between researchers and optimal use of open science tools and methods. The main challenges we observed, however, were non-technical and impact the system of science as a whole. There is a need for new roles and responsibilities at the interface of science and digital technology, e.g., data stewards and research software engineers. This requires the personnel portfolio of academic institutions to be more diverse, and in addition, a broader consideration of the impact of academic work, beyond publishing and teaching. Besides, new policies regarding open weather and climate science should be developed in an inclusive way to engage all stakeholders, including non-academic parties such as meteorological institutions. We acknowledge that open weather and climate science requires effort to change, but the benefits are large. As can already be observed from the studies presented in the conference it leads to much faster progress in understanding the world.