Data Sources

Weather data

The platform's weather data comes from ERA5-Land, a global reanalysis dataset produced by the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF). At approximately 9 km spatial resolution with daily values, it provides the temperature (daily minimum and maximum), precipitation, and soil moisture data used across all hazard calculations - serving both as the 30-year historical baseline for risk normalisation and as the source of current season weather conditions.

ERA5-Land is a reanalysis product - meaning it combines weather models with historical observations to produce a consistent, quality-controlled global dataset. It is widely used in climate science and agricultural research.

Soil moisture

Drought monitoring uses root-zone soil moisture (RZSM), a depth-weighted average of soil moisture across the layers relevant to each crop's root system. ERA5-Land is the primary source for soil moisture. The platform is also integrating the ESA CCI GAPFILLED Root Zone Soil Moisture product as an additional source - a satellite-based dataset covering four depth layers with records from 1991 onwards, which will extend the historical baseline and add an independent soil moisture signal alongside ERA5-Land.

The root-zone depth used varies by crop. Shallow-rooted crops such as bilberries and strawberries use the top 28 cm; deep-rooted crops such as wheat, coffee, cocoa, and tea use the top 100 cm.

Data lag

ERA5-Land final quality-controlled data is available with approximately a 5 to 7 day lag, meaning risk scores reflect conditions from the past week rather than today. See the Limitations article for more detail.

Update frequency

Risk scores are recalculated daily as new weather data becomes available.