The Microclimate Database (MDB)

The Microclimate Database (MDB) is the central data source for the Microclimate Ecology & Biogeography (MEB) community. It currently contains around 120,000 time series from over 100 countries, contributed by more than 1,000 researchers worldwide.

The MDB is still under development, and while it is not yet open access, we plan to make it publicly available soon!

Interested in using the MDB?

Although the data isn’t open access yet, we welcome research proposals from scientists interested in using the MDB.

We are developing a web interface to help users search, select, and request specific datasets by submitting a short project proposal. Until then, you can request access by following the steps below:

 

How to request data access

 

 

    • Submit a brief proposal (½–1 page) to meb-network@outlook.com.
      Your proposal should clearly explain:
      – What you want to study
      – How you plan to study it
      – What type of data you need (e.g. spatial and temporal range, sensor height, specific microclimate variables, logger types, vegetation survey data, etc.)

    • Proposal review:
      The MDB management committee—composed of database managers and global representatives of data owners and users—will review your proposal. The committee ensures that proposed projects do not conflict with existing research and meet basic scientific standards.

    • Data owner approval:
      If your proposal is approved, we will reach out to the relevant data owners to ask for permission to share their data. Once approval is granted, the data will be sent to you.

    • Authorship and publication:
      If you use MDB data in a publication, data owners whose data you use should be invited as co-authors, provided they make an intellectual contribution (e.g. reviewing and commenting on the manuscript).

Future access

Once the MDB is fully published:

  • Most datasets will be available open access under a CC-BY license (requiring citation of the database paper and dataset DOI).

  • Some datasets may be shared under a more restrictive CC license, in which case the committee may ask for additional approval from the data owners.

 

For use of specific datasets, you can also directly contact the respective regional contact persons as found on the map. 

For submission of your own data to the MDB, see ‘How to submit data‘