Santander (EFE).- The Interdisciplinary Thematic Platform for Climate (PTI+Clima), which aims to coordinate scientists from the main Spanish climate research institutions from Cantabria, points to the 2026 horizon for the development of services and Technological products that help in policies against Climate Change and mitigate its effects in the economic and business sphere.
Santander has been the scene of the launch of this platform that materializes years of collaboration between the Higher Council for Scientific Research (CSIC) and the State Meteorological Agency (AEMET) in climate research, with the support of the Institute of Physics of Cantabria (IFCA) , thanks to a collaboration agreement signed between the first two institutions and financed with just over 6 million euros from European recovery funds.
The starting signal, in an act at the Government Delegation in Cantabria, was attended by the rector of the University of Cantabria (UC), Ángel Pazos, who was accompanied by scientists from different specialties who carry out their work in other leading institutions in the region such as the Institutes of Environmental Hydraulics and Biotechnology and Biomedicine, while the closure has been carried out by the Government delegate, Ainoa Quiñones.
A large repository of weather data
The president of the CSIC, Eloísa del Pino, and the territorial delegate of the AEMET, José Luis Arteche, have been in charge of pointing out the objectives of a platform that seeks to “monitor” weather phenomena in Spain within a data “warehouse”. of high capacity coming from different sources, to look for technological solutions that alleviate the adverse effects of Climate Change or make it possible to take advantage of its benefits.
The IFCA director and coordinator of this platform, José Luis Gutiérrez, has detailed the schedule for its implementation, which has as its objective that this data warehouse is available this year and the first “prototypes” are developed.
Once these objectives are achieved, the period 2024-2026 will serve, as Gutiérrez added, for the development of the first technological products, which he trusts can be implemented with the help of users, to serve different sectors.
Eloísa del Pino has claimed that this project fits “perfectly” into the CSIC’s objectives, by deploying both basic and applied research for technological developments and reflects its spirit of scientific collaboration, which she has hoped will also reach companies through an “increasingly intense” contact.
And he has praised its local implementation, like other platforms already launched by the CSIC, which will allow decision-making not only at a national level, but also at a regional and international level, in addition to fulfilling a citizen training function. on the effects of climate change.
“A new adventure is opening up that we don’t know where it will lead us to, but it will surely be a beautiful climatic adventure”, the CSIC president has assessed.
Services and developments adapted to each sector
The AEMET delegate stressed that this platform will allow Spain to position itself at a European level in the study of climatic phenomena, at the level of countries such as Germany or Switzerland that have had a similar tool for years.
And he stressed that the Meteorology Agency and the Higher Council for Scientific Research have accumulated years of shared experience in this field, which has allowed, among other products, to launch the drought map that can be consulted on the AEMET website. . “I am convinced that it will be a great success for our country”, concluded José Luis Arteche.
The project coordinator has underlined the “complexity” involved in managing the “huge” amount of data that is generated on the effects of climate and has defended that the objective must be to make a selection, in collaboration with potential users, make it “useful”. “If that is not the case, it is a wasted attempt,” warned José Luis Gutiérrez.
He has also pointed out that climate research is produced in “layers”, from an international level, because Climate Change is “global”, to the national or regional strata, and has explained that this platform is designed to work in the ” layers below, but integrating everything”. “We have to accommodate a large amount of heterogeneous data for users to digest,” she concluded.
