| 3 | Different sector-specific impact activities to be undertaken in [http://www.specs-fp7.eu SPECS] and [http://www.euporias.eu EUPORIAS] projects require a reduced number of variables (typically at surface) from different data sources (mainly seasonal forecasts, reanalysis, and observations). The [http://www.meteo.unican.es/tds5/catalogs/system4/System4Datasets.html SPECS-EUPORIAS Data Portal] has been established by the Santander Meteorology Group (UC-CSIC) as part of the data management activities in these projects to provide a unique access for these impact-relevant variables, gathered from existing datasets. The data portal is based on a THREDDS data server providing metadata and data access using OPeNDAP and other remote data access protocols. Moreover, a user-friendly [http://www.r-project.org R] package has also been developed for exploring and remotely accessing subsets of data, thus reducing the burden of data access in these activities. This package will be also a key component for other tasks of the projects based on R, including the validation and downscaling packages to be developed within SPECS and sector-specific calibration and downscaling tools to be developed in EUPORIAS. |