The South African Environmental Observation Network (SAEON) is pleased to announce the launch of the SAEON Terrestrial Observations Monitor, a platform designed to improve access to environmental data.

Developed by SAEON’s uLwazi Node in collaboration with technicians from SAEON and the Expanded Freshwater and Terrestrial Environmental Observations Network (EFTEON), this tool provides free, easy access to near-real-time data. It lets users download citable datasets from terrestrial monitoring sites across South Africa, operated by SAEON’s terrestrial nodes and the EFTEON research infrastructure.

What is the Terrestrial Observations Monitor?

The Terrestrial Observations Monitor is a central hub for raw data collected from a network of SAEON’s automated environmental monitoring sites. The platform gathers and stores datasets from sensors installed across diverse ecosystems in South Africa, allowing users to view data availability and download data in near real-time.

At the time of writing, it presents data from 19 active weather stations and weather data from five flux towers. It should be noted that this is only a subset of the SAEON network. Stations that do not transmit data remotely cannot publish data in near-real time. Data from some of these and many other stations is available via the SAEON Data Portal, while others still need to be published.

Featuring a user-friendly web interface, the platform simplifies access to raw datasets, vital for understanding the country’s environmental conditions. Researchers, decision-makers and the public can explore these datasets for free, potentially contributing to more informed research, policy development and decision-making. A secondary benefit of this tool is that it provides an easy, immediate access point to unfiltered data for SAEON’s technicians, which assists with timely response planning to breakdowns at these stations.

What the Terrestrial Observations Monitor is not:

The data available on this platform is in its rawest form, directly from stations in the field, ensuring transparency and allowing data users to apply quality checks and adjustments based on their own needs. This means that while, for the vast majority of time, the records can be trusted, instrument errors, technician operations, fire, theft/vandalism and other damage can have an impact on the data, and it will be published as is, without technicians having had a chance to intervene. It is, therefore, not yet a source of quality-controlled data. Options for this are under development.

Features and highlights 

• Near real-time data availability: Access the most up-to-date data collected by sensors at SAEON’s monitoring sites. The network relies on cellular signal, which is sometimes patchy in remote locations. Data sets do however update when cellular signal becomes available.

• Citable, raw datasets: Easily download raw data directly collected from field sensors, stored in a format suitable for research and analysis and cite the digital object identifier which comes with the download.

• Operated by SAEON nodes and SAEON-hosted research infrastructure programmes: Monitoring sites are managed by SAEON’s network of nodes, ensuring consistency and reliability. SAEON has made significant strides in standardisation and verification of its meteorological monitoring over the last year and continues to work on improving our data offerings.

• Visual appeal and interactivity: The platform includes interactive visualisations that help users understand what data is available. These features are designed to enhance the accessibility and understanding of the data, ensuring that users can quickly make sense of the complexities of the datasets and decide what is relevant for them.

• Development: The platform was developed by Dr Marc Pienaar, a data scientist in SAEON’s uLwazi Node, which specialises in data management and technological innovation to support environmental research. Various teams within uLwazi played key roles in supporting the platform’s development, from infrastructure and testing to curation and metadata management. Special thanks go to Abri de Buys, Dr Paul Gordijn, Kent Lawrence, Rion Lerm and other technicians who provided invaluable support in the platform’s design, data mapping and technical aspects. This project shows what can be achieved by data scientists and data producers working in close collaboration.

Why this matters

The main achievement of the Terrestrial Observations Monitor is the short turnaround time between recording environmental phenomena in the field and free public access online. We view this as a significant step forward over traditional monthly publication of dataset updates, which will continue via the SAEON Data Portal.

This platform puts near-real-time data at the fingertips of researchers, students, environmental professionals and the public with the aim of enabling evidence-based decision-making. The ability to download and cite these datasets adds further value for research and publication.

The Terrestrial Observations Monitor advances SAEON’s mission to support long-term environmental observation and data accessibility. The platform also aligns with SAEON’s commitment to data transparency and mobilisation, making environmental datasets accessible to a broad audience.

How to access the monitor

The Terrestrial Observations Monitor is publicly accessible at https://observationsmonitor.saeon.ac.za/home. Users are encouraged to explore the site, view data availability, and download datasets to support their research and analyses. We also encourage users to provide feedback via datascience@saeon.ac.za. We will accommodate common requests for improvements and fine-tune the dashboard in line with user needs where possible.

Looking ahead

SAEON is dedicated to enhancing the platform’s features and expanding data coverage as the Terrestrial Observations Monitor evolves. With the increasing importance of environmental data for research and policy, platforms like these are vital for understanding and addressing South Africa’s environmental challenges. We are exploring the potential to include data from the Shallow Marine and Coastal Research Infrastructure (SMCRI) and South African Polar Research Infrastructure (SAPRI) hosted by SAEON. While discussions are still in the early stages, this could expand the platform’s reach, making data available from Limpopo to Marion Island and beyond.

Live weather websites

For users interested in easy access to “live” weather data (updated every five minutes, depending on signal quality), SAEON has the websites listed below. These show current weather conditions, summaries of yesterday’s weather and graphic displays of the last 2-4 weeks. They are also accessible via the data tab on the SAEON official website. Check back to see when new stations are added as the SAEON and hosted Research Infrastructure networks continue to grow.