Using Teal tool to understand climate patterns
The WEMC-developed free global climate data tool Teal was released in 2020 to help raise awareness of our changing climate.
Four years on, it continues to attract a growing number of users across education and business. So why is it proving so popular? It’s user-friendly, visually appealing, and designed to be a useful climate data visualisation tool for a wide audience.
With an easy-to-navigate interface, the data is presented visually as clickable maps and downloadable graphs and data, enabling experts and non-experts alike to easily explore climate variables from 1950 onwards.
Teal: where did it all start?
WEMC’s Teal tool roots can be traced back to 2015 as a proof-of-concept demonstrator – European Climate Energy Mixes – that visualised climate and energy data for industry and policymakers to assess how well the energy supply in Europe met demand. Its success saw further developments as part of the Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S), one of six services that make up the Copernicus Programme, the European Union’s Earth observation programme.
To help high school students visualise the climate and energy data generated, C3S supported the creation of the C3S Climate & Energy Educational Demonstrator (C3S Edu Demo) through development led by WEMC in 2019, after 12 months of intensive development. The hard work and dedication of the development team was recognised in 2021 as the Edu Demo won an award at the C3S Gala for ’Creating impactful visualization and communication material and promoting C3S to user communities’.
The United Nations Sustainability Goals highlight the need to raise awareness of climate change through improved education, and the C3S Edu Demo has proved itself to be a useful aid to school curricula as it adds another dimension to learning by enabling a student of any age to see how climate variables have changed through time.
Designed to be modifiable and extensible for future requirements
As climate data specialists, WEMC could see how a data visualisation platform could further facilitate understanding in the research and education of our changing global climate, and in November 2020 Teal was launched. Whereas the C3S Edu Demo was designed for Europe, Teal was developed to be global.
Teal has been designed with a user interface that is visually clear in comparison to many other climate data visualisation platforms. Developed based on students’ feedback, and with the general public in mind, WEMC’s designers and developers have replaced technical data selection panels with simple icons and a cleaner and more straightforward user experience. Once opened, the initial page features a rotatable, spherical global map where the user can look at the data they are interested in – air temperature, wind speed, precipitation, solar radiation, and carbon emissions – by country and sub-country using the intuitive menus and icons. WEMC has created informative short videos as an introduction to Teal and its possibilities.
From its launch, Teal has undergone updates and, working with feedback, the addition of the Tealbot feature: a personal assistant able to guide users in visualising what data and results the tool can provide.
The Teal software has been designed to be easily modifiable and extensible to be adaptable for future requirements, unlike many other available scientific data visualisation toolkits and platforms. This approach means WEMC can customize Teal for a user’s individual needs, an example being for the World Meteorological Organization.
WEMC’s developers are currently working to accommodate an independent copy of the software so partners can manage development and have greater control over their version of Teal. This approach marks a significant advancement for Teal.
Although Teal is not open source, WEMC is happy to engage in bilateral agreements to provide its source code, allowing partners to benefit from its full potential. We have already started this process and look forward to partnering with others to harness Teal’s capabilities.
WEMC working with partners to create bespoke Teal tools
Currently, the team is working on several projects to develop climate applications and data for its user’s and partners’ individual needs.
This is the case for the EU Horizon 2020 FOCUS-AFRICA project, which aims to deliver tailored climate services in the Southern Africa region in four key sectors of agriculture and food security, water, energy and infrastructure. Teal is being used as part of WEMC’s involvement in two case studies for Tanzania and Malawi to illustrate how climate data and seasonal forecasts can aid planning and resilience and therefore will have socio-economic benefits. The Tanzania Meteorological Authority (TMA) and the Department of Climate Change and Meteorological Services (DCCMS) in Malawi will be using a bespoke version of Teal with the new functionalities, and developing its capabilities further for the specific needs of the region.
Teal is for anyone interested in the science of climate change
Its potential use is extensive given the invaluable way data is presented, and can assist private and public sector decision making whether that’s a farmer wanting insights into climate forecasts for enhancing productivity of crops and welfare of livestock, a city planner looking at emissions and environmental risks associated with climate change and infrastructure, educators visually exploring climate information to students, or private sector analysts advising clients on risks, opportunities, and supply chain resilience.
The WEMC development team, together with partner company Inside Climate Service srl, continue to explore further opportunities for its development and its uses, and are working closely with selected project partners and clients to ensure Teal remains an invaluable resource for anyone interested in the science of climate change.
“I think the Teal tool is very accessible, it is easy and clear to use, and the introduction video is also very informative. It is very user-friendly and communicates the climate variables in a clear manner which is easy to understand.”
Gabby Waterman: The Skills for Energy Manager at the East of England Energy Group (EEEGR)
