This dataset is part of the 2018 Belgian submission for the Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD) linked to descriptor 1, criterion 1. Stranded porpoises often show traces of incidental catch in fishing nets (bycatch), a major cause of death for this cetacean in the North Sea. Based on the number of stranded animals showing traces of bycatch, it can be estimated that up to a few dozen porpoises are caught per year. For extrapolation of bycatch data to effects at population level, reference is made to (future) initiatives at regional level.

UV Index derived from spectral measurements with a Brewer UV spectrophotometer. This product is not publically available yet.

Annual, summer and winter mean temperature given in °C. The temperature fields are available for the future target year 2085, which corresponds to the middle of the 30-year period 2071-2100, and for mean and high impact scenarios corresponding respectively to the 50th and 95th percentiles of the change factors.

Top10Vector – Constructions is the vector dataset of constructions in Belgium. It includes seven classes. First class: brunnels. Second class: buildings. Third class: particular line constructions. Fourth class: particular polygonal constructions. Fifth class: particular point constructions. Sixth class: towers on buildings. Seventh class: additional polygon geometries. This dataset can be downloaded via the link in 'Access'.

A climate normal is an average over a 30-years period. The period 1981-2010 is the current reference period recommended by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO). Recent climate normals are available for any locations in Belgium and several parameters including air temperature, precipitations and solar radiation. Climate normals for the reference period 1981-2010 are available for air temperature, precipitation and derived parameters (e.g., annual number of summer days, annual number of precipitation days, etc.). For solar radiation, the reference period had to be adjusted to 1984-2013 because of data availability. These climate normals are available as maps and as table for each Belgian municipality.

Hail products are derived from the observed vertical profiles of radar reflectivity and the NWP vertical profiles of temperature. Three types of products are generated. poh : probability of hail of any size (larger than 0.5 cm diameter)expressed in %. posh : probability of severe hail(larger than 2cm)expressed in %. mesh : maximum expected size of hailexpressed in mm of hailstone diameter. All products are generated every 5 minutes. This product is not publically available yet.

Since August 2019, users of the RMI smartphone app are able to send an observation of the meteorological conditions at a certain place and a certain time. The observations provide information about the weather conditions and potentially severe weather to the other users and to RMI. The collection of citizen weather reports is a valuable complement to the information obtained with the classical instruments like stations, radar and satellite. The data can be exploited for nowcasting, warnings and model verification, and eventually in assimilation. A general introduction of the data and their characteristics can be found in Reyniers et al. (2023). A basic quality control is implemented on the received observations via a plausibility check. This plausibility check determines whether an observation is plausible, suspicious or false, by comparing it to the INCA-BE nowcasting system using a simple thresholding scheme. INCA-BE is RMI's operational nowcasting system described in Reyniers et al. (2021). There is no strict spatial extent since there is no restriction at the input side: users can send observations from all over the globe. The bulk of the observations are received from within Belgium. Note that the plausibility check is not available for reports from outside Belgium.

The Scientific Service Management Unit of the Mathematical Model of the North Sea of the Royal Belgian Institute for Natural Sciences has been operating monitoring stations on the Belgian Part of the North Sea since the 1970s. These stations are located in the Scheldt estuary, at open sea and in coastal waters. In 2007, 10 new stations were designated and were placed in the monitoring network needed for the OSPAR convention, the Water Framework Directive and the Marine Strategic Framework Directive. These replaced a series of 54 previous monitoring stations whose data was gathered throughout the years for the Belgian Monitoring Programme and reported according to the recommendations of the OSPAR Convention. This dataset contains information on all monitoring stations ever used by the Scientific Service Management Unit of the Mathematical Model of the North Sea. The dataset provides location, name, operational history and for which reporting obligations they are used.

Hourly forecasts for each belgian commune, from current hour up to the next 5 days. This product is not publically available.

This dataset is part of the 2018 Belgian submission for the Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD) linked to descriptor 8, criterion 4. This dataset contains measurements on the 7-Ethoxyresorufin-O-deethylase (EROD) activity in Limanda limanda, Imposex (OTIN in Mytilus edulis), fish diseases and counts of oiled common guillemots in the Belgian part of the North Sea.