Context

The Arctic Hub is the central access point for more than 110 datasets related to arctic observation data (see all data the Arctic Hub is providing). These datasets are available from the Arctic Data Viewer, a tool designed to facilitate easy exploration, visualization, and download of arctic datasets. You can access the Data Viewer by clicking on Data & Viewer in the header of the website.

In this article, we will introduce the main functionalities of the Arctic Data Viewer where you can open the Arctic catalogue from, search for a specific dataset, add a dataset's variable to the map and customize the map settings.

You can also download data directly from the Viewer, defining the download parameters via the proposed Graphical User Interface. To learn more on how to download data from the Viewer, we invite you to check our dedicated article.

Main functionalities

Open the Arctic catalogue

The Data Viewer is the single place where you will find the Arctic catalogue. To open the catalogue, simply click on the "+" icon in the Layers tab:

Advanced data search

Since there are more than 110 datasets in the Arctic catalogue, filters on the left are really convenient to search your data of interest. Indeed, you can narrow down the number of products by selecting a specific area, variable, sensor, etc.

Select your filters by section and/or enter a keyword in the free-text search bar
Check any criterion you want to refine your search ; the list of products answering the criteria is updated on the right
Reset all filters by clicking on the cross button right to the title Filters

💡 Arctic Pro Tip: the filtering feature follows an “AND” operator between sections, but only one filter per section can be selected.

Access details of a dataset

You will find a description and all informations of a dataset in the Details page:

💡 Arctic Pro Tip: you can open the details page of a dataset by clicking on the (i) icon from the Layers panel.

In this page, the following informations are available:

Dataset's long name (e.g. Global Ocean 1/2° Physic Analysis Forecast updated Daily)
Temporal and geographic extents (on the left)
An abstract introducing the dataset
A classification, providing general information, such as the datasetID, the Originating Service, the time and variables
Metadata resources
Contacts in case of necessity

Add several layers

All listed products of the catalogue can be added to the Layers panel on the left, one variable of a dataset being a layer. You can add as many layers as you want.

Once you have found your dataset of interest, you can either click on (1) Use dataset or (2) Select layers depending on the dataset:

Use dataset: the dataset cannot be viewed on the map but can be downloaded
Select layers: the dataset can be viewed on the map and downloaded

💡Arctic Pro Tip: you can hide/show layers by clicking on the 👁️‍🗨️ icon.

Map Settings

General settings are also available to user at the bottom right for personal customization of the viewer. You can:

hide the Basemap and/or coastline features, which can be useful to observe vegetation data
change the horizontal units (in km and km² by default)

Change map projection

You can switch between equatorial, north and south pole projection using the projection button at bottom right with the other buttons. The name of the button depends on the projection currently in use.

Zoom Up

One of the main functionalities of the Arctic Hub viewer is its zooming power on the map, which allows to reach and visualize even the highest spatial resolutions.

Timeline crossover

The Arctic Hub viewer provides the capability to zoom anywhere on the timeline and elevation bar, to select the perfect area and moment:

Define objects of interest

Finally, the Arctic Hub viewer also allows to display the coordinates of a point (a), to measures some distances (b), and to define an Area Of Interest (AOI) (c), that you can download afterwards (cf. Data Download section):

Retrieve time series

It is now possible to retrieve time series by clicking on locations in the map. This feature is available for ARCO-based datasets, which include:

All the CMEMS datasets
ERA5 hourly data on single levels from C3S
European air quality reanalyses and Global atmospheric composition forecasts from CAMS

To display a time series, activate the Points tool located in the lower-right corner of the viewer. Once the tool is active, clicking on the map will generate a map object containing all the time series of the selected ARCO-based layers.

💡Arctic Pro Tip: you can adjust the depth of what the time series displays using the depth scale at bottom right.

Data download

Once you have chosen your dataset(s) of interest and visualized the data on the map, you have the possibility to download data directly from the Viewer! Downloading data is free for all users, you only need to sign in to your account (sign up!).

🔍 We have a dedicated section showing how to download data from the Viewer in the following article: