The Temperatures KPI visualizes the annual mean temperature at a monitored site from 1940 to the present, alongside future climate projections up to 2050. Each year is displayed as a bar whose color reflects how much that year's average temperature deviated from the 1961–1990 WMO climatological baseline — the international standard reference period for thermal anomalies.
The KPI scalar value is a delta in °C: the difference between the mean temperature of the last three years and the 1961–1990 baseline. Positive values indicate local warming above the historical average.
For future projections, four SSP scenarios (Shared Socioeconomic Pathways) from CMIP6 climate models are available:
This KPI has no A–E quality classification — it is a visualization of historical series and future projections, not a performance grade.
The calculation distinguishes two data pipelines depending on the time horizon:
| Horizon | Source | Detail |
|---|---|---|
| Historical (1940 – present) | Open-Meteo Historical Weather | ERA5-Land reanalysis, ~10 km grid |
| Future projections (to 2050) | Copernicus Climate Data Store — CMIP6 | Multi-model ensemble, SSP scenarios |
Historical data: Daily 2 m air temperature values are retrieved from the Open-Meteo API for the site coordinates. These are aggregated to monthly and annual means. The baseline for anomaly computation is the 1961–1990 WMO standard climatological period.
KPI scalar:
where T = annual mean temperature (°C)
Bar chart display: Each bar in the chart represents one year. Its color encodes the warming delta relative to the 1961–1990 average.
Unit: degrees Celsius (°C).
Bar Chart. A scrollable horizontal bar chart showing annual mean temperatures for the site from 1940 to the present (historical mode) or up to 2050 (future mode).
Purpose: Answers the question "How is the temperature at this site trending over time, and how does the future look under different climate scenarios?"
Description: The chart occupies the right half of the Microclimate section card. The header shows the title "The temperature of recent years", a data source badge ("Open-Meteo"), an optional chart download button, and a tooltip icon with the full legend. Below the header, a Past / Future toggle switches between historical and future data. When "Future" is selected, a dropdown appears to choose the SSP scenario (SSP1-2.6, SSP2-4.5, SSP3-7.0, SSP5-8.5). The chart area displays one vertical bar per year. Each bar is color-coded by its warming delta relative to the 1961–1990 average, following a 5-color gradient from green (near baseline) to red (strong warming). The first bar label shows the baseline average value (e.g., "13.2 °C"); subsequent bars show the delta (e.g., "+1.3", "+0.8"). Hovering a bar shows: the year, the absolute temperature (°C), and the delta vs. the 1961–1990 average.
How it's calculated: Each bar value is the annual mean temperature for that year. Bar color is determined by computing the difference between that year's temperature and the 1961–1990 mean, and mapping the result to the 5-color scale. For future bars, the SSP scenario median is used, and the tooltip also shows the model uncertainty (± standard deviation).
Legend: Bar colors encode warming delta relative to the 1961–1990 WMO baseline:
| Delta | Color | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| < 0.5 °C | ■ #00A67A | Near baseline — minimal anomaly |
| 0.5 – 1.0 °C | ■ #00DF80 | Mild warming |
| 1.0 – 1.5 °C | ■ #FFD21E | Significant warming |
| 1.5 – 2.0 °C | ■ #FF8B16 | Strong warming — Paris 1.5 °C target at risk |
| ≥ 2.0 °C | ■ #FF367F | Extreme warming — beyond Paris 2.0 °C target |
Interpretation example:
If bars from 1940 to 1990 are mostly green and bars from 2010 onward are shifting to yellow and orange, the site has been warming steadily. If the SSP5-8.5 future scenario shows red bars by 2040, the site is projected to exceed +2.0 °C of warming under high-emissions conditions — a threshold associated with significant biodiversity and ecosystem disruption.
Sites Progress Column. A column in the multi-site comparison table showing the temperature warming delta for each site, labeled "Local heating".
Purpose: Enables quick comparison of the warming signal across multiple sites within the same portfolio, surfacing which sites are experiencing the most pronounced temperature increase.
Description: This column appears in the Risks & Opportunities table. Each row corresponds to one site. The cell displays the warming delta in degrees Celsius — the same scalar that the Climate Change KPI uses as its main indicator. The column header tooltip reads: "Measures the increase in mean temperatures in the specified area compared to historical or reference values, highlighting possible microclimatic alterations that influence local biodiversity."
How it's calculated: The value displayed is the warming delta, computed as the difference between the mean temperature of the last 3 years and the 1961–1990 climatological average for the site. It is the same formula used by the Climate Change KPI gauge.
Interpretation example:
If a site shows "+1.8" in this column, it means the site's average temperature over the last 3 years is 1.8 °C above the 1961–1990 climatological average — a significant warming anomaly that falls in the orange zone.
| Source | Provider | Coverage | Resolution | Period |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Open-Meteo Historical Weather (ERA5-Land) | Open-Meteo | Global | ~10 km | 1940-01-01 — present |
| Climate Data Store CMIP6 | Copernicus / ECMWF | Global | Model-dependent | Projections to 2100 |
Daily 2 m air temperature values are retrieved from the Open-Meteo API for the site coordinates and aggregated to monthly and annual means. The 1961–1990 WMO standard climatological period serves as the anomaly baseline.
For future projections, CMIP6 model outputs from the Copernicus Climate Data Store (CDS) are pre-processed and stored as Parquet files. For each SSP scenario, the annual mean temperature is computed and bias-corrected using a weighted recent-mean shift (last 5 years weighted 1.5, 1.4, 1.3, 1.2, 1.1). Projections extend to 2050.
Each bar in the chart is color-coded by mapping the warming delta (year temperature minus 1961–1990 mean) to a 5-color scale: < 0.5 °C green, 0.5–1.0 light green, 1.0–1.5 yellow, 1.5–2.0 orange, ≥ 2.0 red.