MoU

MEMORANDUM OF UNDERSTANDING for the implementation of a European Concerted Research Action designated as COST 725

"Establishing a European Phenological Data Platform for Climatological Applications"

The Signatories to this Memorandum of Understanding, declaring their common intention to participate in the concerted Action referred to above and described in the Technical Annex to the Memorandum, have reached the following understanding:

The Action will be carried out in accordance with the provisions of document COST 400/01 "Rules and Procedures for Implementing COST Actions", the contents of which the Signatories are fully aware of.
The main objective of the Action is to establish a European reference data set of phenological observations, that can be used for climatological purposes, especially climate monitoring, and detection of changes.
The economic dimension of the activities carried out under the Action has been estimated, on the basis of information available during the planning of the Action, at Euro 4 million in 2003 prices.
The Memorandum of Understanding will take effect by being signed by at least five Signatories.
The Memorandum of Understanding will remain in force for a period of five years, calculated from the date of first meeting of the Management Committee, unless the duration of the Action is modified according to the provisions of Chapter 6 of the document referred to in Point 1 above.

Technical Annex

COST 725 "Establishing a European Phenological Data Platform for Climatological Applications"

A. Background

In most European countries, phenological data are collected or have been collected in the past over several decades. Within these different phenological programmes, the vegetation cycle of plants is usually observed (native, agricultural plants and fruits) and in some countries also cyclical animal behaviour like bird migration, egg laying or insect appearance etc. This COST Action is restricted to vegetation-phenology.

The observed phases span the whole vegetation period starting in early spring (i.e. first flowers of hazelnut or snowdrop), proceeding to spring (i.e. leaf unfolding of native trees, first flowers of fruit trees, sowing of summer crops) coming to summer (ripening and harvesting of fruits or crops) and ending in fall with leaf-colouring and leaf fall. The plant development is driven mainly by weather and other environmental factors. The different phases can be used to define the start and end of vegetation cycles and to separate natural seasons.

Phenological phases reflect among other things the environmental characteristics of the climate in the region where they occur. Consequently, long series of phenological observations may be used for the detection of climate variability or climate change.

The actual timing of these events is also of importance for issues in our everyday life like education and public awareness, agriculture, human health, tourism and recreation, bio-diversity/ecology, and maybe more.

The following table gives some examples:

I. Education	Involving school children and the public in scientific research by very cheap and easily accessible means (plants can be observed everywhere without any tool apart keen interest, some knowledge on plant identification and some basic rules), would bring a closer connection with nature.
II. Human Health	Providing pollen information for sensitive groups
III. Agriculture	Providing pheno data as input for crop models, and for the timing of management activities
IV. Biodiversity / Ecology	Assessing the impacts of extreme events, species interaction, migration of plants to new zones (e.g. to higher altitude or latitude)
V. Gardening	Giving information to the public on planning activities like pest control
VI. Increasing environmental awareness	Informing the public on environmental issues like climate change and its effects on vegetation
VII. Tourism, Recreation & Sports	Giving information on phenomena or events that potentially can interest people (e.g., in Austria, bike-tours on cherry-flowering or apricot-flowering are organised)

The basic idea of the Action is as a starting point to build a reference data set of selected species and phases that have been observed in European countries over a common reference period of at least one decade but preferably longer, using the BBCH code which was applied on pheno-phases observed in different countries by the German Meteorological Service (DWD). This common database should be added to each year with observations from the member countries supplying an up to date status to various users. Here a close cooperation with the EU-funded project TIMING is envisaged.

Monitoring phenological phases is carried out in many European countries like Slovenia, Slovakia, Czech Republic, Switzerland, Germany, Austria, and others. Each country has its own database, in some cases still on paper, mostly on databank-systems, going back in many cases to the 1950s and a few very long time-series from single locations like bud burst of horse chestnut in Geneva since 1808 (Defila C., 2001). Besides the scientific research in phenology that is now focused on climate warming and its impact on vegetation (i.e. Menzel A., Fabian, P. 1999), pheno-data are used for crop modeling (Valter J., Kopecka, V., 2000), pollen forecast (Chuine I., 2002) and general information to the public via media (newspaper, TV, radio.., i.e. Menzel A., Fabian P.) and in schools (i.e. Koch E., 2000). The observations should have been made following the same, similar, or at least comparable, rules and quality checks.

The second idea is to assess and harmonise the different observation rules to arrive at a recommendation for a common reference manual for phenological observations similar to the guidelines for meteorological and climatological observations by the World Meteorological Organisation (WMO).

Previous research using phenological data was mainly scattered into various national activities. Most of these activities were initiated by National Hydro-Meteorological Services (NHMSs) and dedicated to support the national agronomy. Stimulated by a recommendation of WMO, a network of International Phenological Gardens (IPG) was established in 1957 by NHMSs. The basic idea behind the establishment of this network was the observation of cloned plants under different climates in the whole of Europe (from Finland to Greece and from Ireland to Russia) excluding genetic differences.

In the meantime, the IPG network was assigned to the supervision of the Humboldt University Berlin, Germany. The IPG data are used for scientific purposes but the IPG network is rather coarse compared to the complete phenological networks of most NHMSs in Europe.

After a period of reduction of the density of phenological networks, and even the cancellation of all national observations in some countries in the 1980ies, new interest in phenology grew in the following decade due to the new interest in climate change issues. The public became more sensitive to the problems of climate variability and climate change. Climate change can be easily monitored by phenological data, provided that the data has been collected through a dense network over a significant period of time. Regional maps of the NDVI (Normalised Difference Vegetation Index, derived from satellite measurements) started to provide an impressive display of the progression of the 'green wave' in springtime.

The University of Wageningen, The Netherlands, initiated an EU-funded project 'European Phenological Network - a network for increasing efficiency, added value and use of phenological monitoring, research and data in Europe' (EPN). This project is ending in 2003 and a follow-up Project is planned under FP6, called 'Timing of Life Cycle Events - a European monitoring, assessment and forecasting infrastructure' (TIMING).

This COST Action 725 is an original effort to set up a comprehensive European reference data set, including metadata, that can be used for scientific, particularly climatological purposes, including climate monitoring. Various applications, like mapping and interpolation, trend analyses and investigations on possible correlations with other climate elements will be developed, validated and disseminated . Thus, the COST Action would support other projects like EPN and TIMING and equally benefits from them by exchange of experiences and the cross check of results.

Phenology was already partly included in a few previous COST Actions. The NDVI, extracted from NOAA/AVHRR channels, was an issue on crop and forest monitoring in COST Action 77 'Application of Remote Sensing in Agrometeorology'. COST Action 79 'Integration of Data and Methods in Agroclimatology' investigated existing phenological databases on how to use them for the calibration of crop models. In COST Action 711 'Operational Applications of Meteorology to Agriculture, including Horticulture', much work was done on the identification of the best models for crop phenology. COST Action 725 will benefit from the experiences of these COST activities within the 'Meteorology' domain.

B. Objectives and benefits

The main objective of the Action is to establish a European reference data set of phenological observations, that can be used for climatological purposes, especially climate monitoring, and detection of changes.

Secondary objectives lie in the harmonisation of techniques for :

the definition of species and phases, that shall be observed in a harmonised way
developing recommendations for monitoring and collection procedures (methodologies, sampling density and frequency, etc.)
selection criteria of data for further consideration
the quality control of observations
commonly used formats of archiving and distribution of data
mapping techniques of phenological information and other application methods
increasing the knowledge concerning relations between climate and phenological phases.

The above mentioned steps will strongly support the achievement of the main goal of the Action. One practical result of the Action will be the production of a storing device (CD-ROM, DVD or equivalent) containing the European reference data set of phenological observations with meta-information. This product will be distributed to all participants in the Action as well as to interested scientists and any other interested parties.

C. Scientific Programme

The Action will start with an inventory of all available phenological data including metadata in the participating countries and, as much as possible, in other countries. Scientific activities will be divided into 3 main levels:

Ensuring comprehensive, dedicated and integrated collection of data and information to generate a quality controlled and transparent database,
Developing best practices for further harmonisation of the database and for its future enlargement and extension, and
Developing various applications and techniques (e.g., mapping) to extract added-value information from the database.

The following aspects will be developed to fulfil these levels of activities:

C.1 Definition of period(s) of time to be taken as reference period(s)

Phenological data sets in different countries differ very much in the time period, when they have been raised. Some examples include historical data collected during the 18th century that has not been added to since. In other cases, series of observations that were started decades ago have been interrupted and later stopped, and others are continuing even now.

Different reference periods corresponding to a graded priority scale should therefore be defined. The top-level would reflect the latest climatological periods (either 1961-1990, which is the WMO recommended reference period for climatological evaluations, or 1951-2000, which is obviously much longer and more actual). The second priority level would cover the main meteorological instrumented period (1870-2000), whereas the third level would start with the earliest measurements (about 1750). So, historical data would be collected in a separate archive, and criteria for comparison with modern observations will be investigated.

If a data set does not cover the whole series of the chosen reference period, it should be set to belong to a sub-period. Such a sub-period may have a minimum number of about 10 years of continuously observed phenological phases.

C.2 Selection of species and phases

Experts will make a selection of species and their phases that will be allocated in the common European reference data set of phenological observations. It is evident that wild plants are better indicators of climate characteristics than cultured and genetically altered plants. There are a lot of varieties of many species that are to be carefully assessed as possible candidates for a reference data set. Species common in the whole of Europe will be important because their phases are often used as seasonal criteria.

Examples of phenological phases or growth stages of plants under observation include: sprouting, leaf unfolding, first flowers open, colouring of leaves, falling of leaves or first ripe fruits. Plants that are widely spread throughout Europe include Robinia pseudoacacia, Betula, Fagus, Quercus, Sambucus nigra, Corylus, plus others that have yet to be defined.

C.3 Comparison of observational procedures and application of quality control

Phenological data of different origin (e.g. from different national networks and/or different institutions) will be checked to see whether they were observed under similar or comparable observational procedures. A catalogue of acknowledged observational procedures and quality assurance and control will be set up.

Guidelines for quantifying the intercomparison will be developed, using and comparing the existing observational rules by the different networks (e.g. Brügger, R., Vassella A., 2003 or BAPH of DWD, 1991, Anleitung zur Phänologischen Beobachtung in Österreich, 2000) and the BBCH code (1991).

Quality checks are crucial for each dataset. After the first logical checks (e.g. month<=12; day of month<28,29,30,31; Julian date JD 1<=JD<=365), further checks based on spatial and temporal bases have to be developed and applied. Here a close cooperation with COST Action 719 'The Use of GIS in Climatology and Meteorology' is aimed for.

C.4 Definition of data formats for archiving and exchanging data

The definition of data formats for archiving and exchanging the data is a more of a technological problem, but nonetheless very important for communication between the partners in the Action. The result will be a unique and homogeneous phenological database for Europe.

One of the first steps in the Action will be to agree on the compilation of the master database: its structure, format, architecture, updating, upgrading, data-mining etc. One of the participants to the action will run the core database of the European reference data set. The MC will arrange the management and updating of the database after the Action ends.

C.5 Selection, test, and development of applications

One of the most evident application activities of phenological data is the mapping of selected phases as an actual (1 year) or climatological (at least the mean of 10 years) presentation. This has been done very often before on a national data base in different countries, but not so often with cross-border data, which is one goal of the Action. The combination of data of national origin in a regional map often reveals systematic differences between the single national data sets at the borderlines. This may lead to an iterative feedback of observing rules and application methods.

Other applications will be trend analyses on long series of selected phenological phases and investigations on possible correlations with climate parameters such as the monthly mean temperature (see figure below), precipitation, or others to be identified.

Regional aspects and climate factors like geographical latitude and elevation above sea level have to be taken into account when comparing results from different stations.

D. Organisation

As already outlined in the previous section, scientific activities will fall into 3 levels that, most practically, will be handled in three Working Groups (WGs):

WG 1: Inventory of data and metadata
WG 2: Guidelines for data selection, observations and archiving
WG 3: Applications with phenological data

WG 1 will identify, search and collect information about phenological data that are stored in national archives. This search includes meta-data on the location and procedures, under which phenological observations have been performed. An essential part of the meta-information is the observational rules and the performed quality checks prescribed by the agency responsible for the data.

A catalogue will be set up on the available data including metadata from the participating countries. The catalogue is open for extension to other countries. An approach will be adopted for actively searching for data from non-participating countries through various networks of NMHSs and relevant organisations.

WG 2 will set guidelines for the selection of phenological data from national data sets. It will perform assessments on which parts of national data sets may be combined with those from other countries and become part of the common final data set that will be recommended for climatological purposes in Europe. It will collect the selected data physically from the participating countries, define data formats and prepare the information to be stored and distributed on appropriate media (e.g. CD-ROM, DVD).

WG 3 will test and develop further several application activities on how to use phenological data and especially the reference data set, resulting from the Action. The methods under consideration are primarily

mapping of phenological phases (including interpolation)
trend analyses (including uncertainty tests)
correlations between phenological phases and other climate elements.

Phenology is probably the simplest process by which to track changes in the ecology of species in response to climate change (Walther, G-R et al, 2002). Many studies in Europe and North America have already revealed phenological trends that very likely reflect responses to recent climate change. The timing of spring activities of plants in particular show an advance to earlier dates (mostly depending on temperature increase). The effect of a future climate with possibly even higher temperatures and changed precipitation patterns on the biosphere constitutes one of the greatest concerns of the climate impact community. In this regard, a worthwhile task will be the development of methods connecting large scale atmospheric variables - the output of GCM scenarios for the future climate - with local scale biosphere phenomena without the detour via models between local biosphere and local atmosphere. Many phenological spring phases reveal a strong link with the North Atlantic Oscillation phenomenon (e.g. Chmielewski and Rötzer, 2002 with data of the IPG, Scheifinger et al, 2002 for central Europe). These biospheric variables should be particularly suited for downscaling procedures (e.g. Maak, K. H.v.Storch, 1997, Matulla C., 2003).

WG 3 will have close contact with COST Action 719 'The Use of Geographical Information Systems in Climatology and Meteorology'. Typical application results in the European area will be included in the final reference data set.

E. Timetable

The whole action will last 5 years. The main elements of vegetation-phenological information consist of monitoring the flora within the biological environment, both the cultural and wild plants. Examples of the types of measurement required include subjective rather than instrumental methods of observation. The methods of observation and also the style of interpretation are based on guidelines being produced on national levels. The main objective of the Action is to establish a European reference data set of phenological observations, which will be derived from the national databases. The inventory of all available vegetation-phenological data, including metadata, and the search to select a harmonised common database out of the national sources will require a lot of comparative and manual work. This indicates a relatively long duration of the initial phase of the Action. To secure the further scientific programme of the Action 725, which will deal with the formats and technical aspects of the intended database as well as with the methods of interpretation and application, a duration of 5 years is envisaged.

All WGs will start their work after their establishment during the first Management Committee (MC) meeting. After the first separate meeting of the WGs, they will also meet together with the MC due to the close interdependence of all WGs. Workshops with invited experts are highly desirable after the first and the second year of the Action, in order to get inputs as to the existence and quality of data as well as for developing methodology for quantifying the uncertainties embedded within and between the various data obtained in different countries or with different procedures. The aim of the final Workshop will essentially be to develop final conclusions and disseminate the results of the Action to a wide audience. The Action will seek to organise its final workshop in conjunction with a relevant larger conference (e.g. on climatology and/or climate changes).

F. Economic dimension

The following COST countries have actively participated in the preparation of the Action or otherwise indicated their interest: Austria, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Switzerland, U.K.

On the basis of national estimates provided by the representatives of these countries, the economic dimension of the activities to be carried out under the Action has been estimated, in 2003 prices, at roughly Euro 4 million.

This estimate is valid under the assumption that all the countries mentioned above but no other countries will participate in the Action. Any departure from this will change the total cost accordingly.

G. Dissemination Plan

The results of the Action will be relevant for scientists in various domains of Earth sciences, especially to climatologists. The results are of specific interest for climate monitoring and research on climate change. The results and their implications are also of interest for government policy makers and for the general public, which have become more sensitive to the problems of climate change since more than a decade ago. Agricultural research institutes, as well as managers of agricultural associations, will also benefit from the outcomes of the Action. The results of the Action will also serve environmental agencies and authorities as a planning device.

A web page will be established by one of the partners of the Action which will be updated regularly. The web page will be used for the dissemination of the results, informing about the activities and as a liaison between participants. The participants will also aim at establishing links between their organisation and other web pages on related topics to the web page of Action 725.

A close co-operation with the EU FP6 funded project TIMING is envisaged, especially mutual information on activities and exchange of data and results for the sake of avoiding duplication. The activities of this COST Action do not depend on the implementation of the TIMING-project. There will also be co-operation with the WMO working group on a 'Guide for Practises in Phenology'.

Methods of distribution of the results will be:

general information via internet with selected examples and comments
distribution of a storage device (CD-ROM, DVD, ...)
publications in scientific journals
publications in other public magazines, especially destined for the general public
presentations on scientific and other public conferences
final report of the Action

Additional Information

History of the proposal:

In 2000, a bilateral co-operation between the Slovak Hydro-Meteorological Institute (SHMI) and the German Meteorological Service (DWD) was established concerning the use of phenological data for climatological purposes. When first results became public, questions came up from other countries for such a co-operation. So, the idea was born to co-operate in a wider European framework. Therefore, the idea for the Action was presented at the COST Technical Committee meeting in Lisbon, November 2002. The positive feedback there yielded the present MoU for a COST Action.

List of Experts, who have contributed during the drafting of this MOU:

Proposers:

Ernst Dittmann
Germany Deutscher Wetterdienst
GB FE/FE 24
Frankfurterstrasse 135
D-63067 OFFENBACH
ernst.dittmann@dwd.de

Elisabeth Koch
Austria Zentralanstalt für Meteorologie und Geodynamik
Hohe Warte 38
A-1190 VIENNA
elisabeth.koch@zamg.ac.at

Slovakia

Ms. Olga BRASLAVSKÁ
Slovak Hydrometeorological Institute
Zelená 5
SK-97590 BANSKÁ BYSTRICA
olga.braslavska@shmu.sk

Czech Republic

Jiri Nekovar
Czech Hydrometeorological Institute
Na Sabatce 17
14306 PRAHA 4
jiri.nekovar@chmi.cz

Switzerland

Claudio Defila
MeteoSwiss
Krähbühlstrasse 58
CH-8044 ZURICH
claudio.defila@meteoswiss.ch

Poland

Tadeusz Niedzwiedz
Faculty of Earth Sciences University of Silesia
Bedzinska 60
PL-41200 SOSNOWIEC
niedzwie@ultra.cto.us.edu.pl

Germany
Annette Menzel
Technicale University Muenchen
Department of Ecology
Am Hochanger 13
85 354 Freising
menzel@met.forst.tu-muenchen.de

Finland
Sylvain Joffre
Finnish Meteorological Institute
POB 503
FIN-00101 HELSINKI
sylvain.joffre@fmi.fi

Recent publications

A list of some recent scientific publications relating to the topic of the Action:

Defila C, Clot B (2001) B Phytophenolgical trends in Switzerland. Int J Biometeorol 45: 203-207
Koch, E., Scheifinger H. (2002) on Phenology in: Klimahandbuch der Österreichischen Bodenschätzung, Klimatographie Teil 2, Universitätsverlag Wagner, Innsbruck, Austria. ISBN 3-7030-0376-6
Menzel A, Estrella N (2001) Plant Phenological Changes, 'Fingerprints' of Climate Change: 123-137; edited by Walther et al., Kluwer Academic/Plenum Publishers, New York
Menzel,A (2000) Trends in phenological phases in Europe between 1951 and 1996, Int J Biometeorol 44: 76-81
Menzel, A (2002) Phenology: its importance to the global change community. Climatic Change, 54
Chmielewski F-M, Rötzer T (2001) Response of tree phenology to climate change across Europe. Agric Forest Meteorol 109; 101-112
Chmielewski, F.M. Rötzer, T. (2002) Annual and spatial variability of the beginning of growing season in Europe in relation to air temperature changes. Climate Research 19, 257-264

Scheifinger H, Menzel A, Koch E, Peter C (2003) Trends of spring frost events and phenological dates in Central Europe. Theor Appl Climatol 74, 41-51 Scheifinger H, Menzel A, Koch E, Peter C (2002) Atmospheric mechanisms governing the spatial an temporal variability of phenological phases in central Europe. International Journal of Climatology, 22, 1739-1755
Schaber J (2002) Phenology in Germany in the 20th Century: Methods, Analyses and models. Potsdam Institut für Klimafolgenforschung, PIK Report No 7
Sparks T H et al (2000) An examination of the relationship between flowering times and temperature at the national scale using long-term phenological records from the U.K. Int J Biometeorol 44, 82-87
Sparks T H, Menzel A (2002) Observed changes in seasons: An overview. Int J Climatol 22, 1715-1725 Ahas R et al (2002) Changes in European spring phenology. Int j Climatol 22, 1727-1738
Walther G-R et al (2002) Ecological responses to recent climate change. Nature 416, 389-395
Menzel A (2002) Phenology: Ist importance to the global Change community; editorial Comment. Climatic Cange 54, 379-385
Sparks T H, Braslavska O (2001) The effect of temperature, altitude and latitude on the arrival and departure dates of the swallow Hirundo rustica in the Slovak Republic. Int J Biometeorol 45, 212-216
Braslavska O, Nekovar J (2002) Course and tendencies of winter wheat and spring barley phenological phases in the Slovak and Czech Republics. Meteorologický casopis 5, 13-20
Matulla C, Scheifinger H, Menzel A, Koch E (2003) Direct Downscaling of Central European phenological time series using two empirical techniques. Bericht des GKSS Forschungszentrum Geesthacht GmbH
Walther,G-R, E Post, Convey P, Menzel A, Parmesan C, Beebee T J C, Fromentin J-M, Huegh-Guldenberg O, Bairlein F (2002) Ecological responses to recent climate change. Nature,Vol 416, 389-395