COMING UP IN JANUARY
2027:
a facilitated live run with two additional modules
Online, self-paced, 18-20
hours with flexible learning within the facilitated course schedule.
Registration will open soon. Further
details, including the course schedule and registration link, will be announced
on this page on 1st of November.
Whether you are joining for the first
time, returning to complete the course, or have already completed the six
modules and want to expand your skills, we look forward to welcoming you.
Overview
Do you want to learn to use climate data and information in
your work with confidence, even though you don't have a background in climate
data science? Then this course is for you!
Climate change is no longer a distant concern — it is shaping the
decisions we make today. Rising temperatures, shifting rainfall, sea
level rise, and more frequent extreme events affect water management,
infrastructure, health, food systems, and economies worldwide.
So whether you are a researcher, advisor, policymaker, extension worker
or educator - whether you work in finance, insurance, urban planning,
renewable energy, or any other sector, it is likely that climate change
is a factor you have to take into account.
The Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S) provides reliable,
consistent and authoritative information about climate change that is
freely accessible - and with its user-friendly tools and services, C3S
has made quality climate data easy to use.
Using climate data starts with understanding what climate data are, how
they are produced, what different types of climate data are available to
you, what these can and cannot be used for, and where you can find the
data you need.
Understanding climate data doesn’t mean having to become a climate
scientist, but you do need to understand the basics to make the right
choices for your needs.
Join our first online short course to understand the basics of climate
data and gain the confidence to find, interpret, and use the right
information in your own work.
To help professionals around the world find, interpret and
confidently use C3S climate data and information in their work, C3S launched an
open online course in 2026 that provided learners with the necessary knowledge
and skills to use climate data.
An expanded version of this course with a new facilitated
live run is coming up in January 2027. It will consist of eight modules on
climate data offered by C3S. The modules are designed to build progressively
upon each other. The foundational knowledge gained in the first six modules
provides the basis for developing more advanced knowledge and skills in the two
new modules, which focus on sectoral applications and climate data and climate
information handling.
Objectives of the training
This course introduces the foundations of climate data:
what it is, how it is collected, processed, and made available by C3S. It
enables you to make sense of the climate data types provided by C3S, understand
their scope of use and limitations, and explore how climate data can be transformed
into actionable information through climate services to support decision-making. It provides an overview of the C3S Climate Data Store
(CDS) and other tools and services offered by C3S. Climate data types covered
in this course include observations, reanalysis, seasonal predictions, and
climate projections, with derived indicators.
After this course you will be able to:
By the end of this course, you will be able to navigate the
world of climate data and apply it confidently in your field.
Target audience
This course is for anyone who needs or wants to (better) understand
climate data but does not have necessary knowledge yet to make sense of
different climate data types: what they can and cannot be used for, who
uses these data types, and where you may find the climate data that fits
your needs.
Example learners for whom this course was created:
No expertise in the domain of climate data is needed to follow this course.
Course structure and content
The course is fully online, you will be able to work
through the learning activities at your own pace within the course schedule.
The expanded course will consist of eight modules. The
first six introduce the foundations of climate data: including observations,
models, reanalysis, predictions, seasonal predictions and climate projections.
Two additional modules build on these
foundations, focusing on sectoral applications and climate data handling.
Each module has a variety of learning activities and real-life examples
that allow you to get a solid understanding of the basics of climate
data and enable you to explore the C3S data sets. In each module
you will meet a professional with a climate data need for a particular
purpose. These cases illustrate the use of climate data in practice.
Other learning content includes videos, images, text, podcasts, quizzes, and discussion questions.
Course contributors
This course was created by ECMWF through C3S and contracted to
Wageningen University & Research (WUR). Input to the course was also
provided by experts from academia, national meteorological services and
private industry.
