Data Sharing Tool (DST)

Intended Users

DST was developed in response to a long-standing need expressed by many NMHSs for a practical solution for secure and controlled climate data sharing. While many NMHS recognize the value of making their data more accessible, concerns regarding data ownership, licensing, security, and unauthorized redistribution have often limited their ability to do so. DST directly addresses these concerns by allowing NMHSs to share data selectively while maintaining complete control over access permissions.

The tool is designed primarily for:

• National Meteorological and Hydrological Services (NMHSs);
• Regional Climate Centres (RCCs);
• Hydrological and environmental agencies;
• Government ministries and sectoral institutions;
• Universities and research organizations;
• Development partners and NGOs;
• Operational decision-support platforms and early warning systems.

Beyond meteorological agencies, DST is equally valuable for any institution that manages high-quality environmental datasets and wishes to provide controlled access to specific users without relinquishing ownership or compromising data security.

Its modular architecture and scalable design allows DST to be deployed rapidly in new countries with minimal customization, making it suitable for both national and regional climate information systems.

The Data Sharing Tool (DST) modernizes how NMHSs distribute climate data by replacing manual file transfers, email requests, and ad hoc data exchanges with a secure, automated, and policy-driven data-sharing platform.

At the heart of DST is a comprehensive authorization framework that allows NMHSs to define exactly who can access which data and under what conditions. Each authorized user is assigned unique login credentials linked to permissions established by the NMHS. These permissions can specify:

• which datasets are accessible;
• which variables can be viewed or downloaded;
• the geographic areas covered;
• the temporal period available;
• the level of spatial or temporal resolution;
• the duration of access;
• preprocessing required (e.g. temporal or spatial aggregation), and
• the preferred method of data delivery.

This policy-driven access control enables NMHSs to digitally implement their national data-sharing policies. For example, one institution may be authorized to access only daily rainfall observations for a specific region, while another may receive nationwide ENACTS rainfall and temperature datasets through automated APIs. Research institutions may be granted temporary access for a specific project, while government agencies may receive continuous operational access. All of these permissions can be managed without duplicating datasets or requiring manual intervention by NMHS staff.

This capability fundamentally changes how climate data are managed. Instead of making data either completely open or completely restricted, DST allows NMHSs to provide the right data to the right users under the right conditions. This significantly reduces administrative workload while ensuring that national policies governing data ownership, confidentiality, licensing, and cost recovery are consistently enforced.

DST supports two complementary modes of data access:

Interactive Access:
Authorized users can browse, search, visualize, aggregate, and download approved datasets through an intuitive web interface.

Automated Access:
Applications and external information systems can retrieve approved datasets directly through secure APIs, enabling seamless integration into operational workflows such as early warning systems, agricultural advisory services, hydrological forecasting systems, public health platforms, and climate-risk management tools.

Because DST relies on standardized APIs, climate data can be consumed directly by software applications without manual intervention, greatly improving efficiency while reducing duplication of effort and ensuring that users always access the latest approved datasets.

A key strength of DST is that it enables NMHSs to expand access to climate information without relinquishing ownership or governance of their national datasets. Rather than distributing unrestricted copies of climate data, NMHSs retain complete authority over authentication, authorization, auditing, and the datasets made available to each user. This not only strengthens institutional data governance but also builds confidence among data providers that broader dissemination does not compromise their authority over national climate data.

DST is particularly valuable within the ENACTS ecosystem, where it complements CDT, ADT, and the ENACTS Maproom. While CDT generates high-quality climate datasets, ADT manages observational data, and the ENACTS Maproom provides public access to climate information products, DST fills the critical gap of enabling secure, machine-to-machine, and user-specific access to datasets for institutional partners, operational systems, and research applications. Together, these four tools provide a complete ecosystem for climate data management—from data acquisition and quality control to analysis, dissemination, and operational use.