Nocturnal Bird Migration Radar Data with Space Weather Effects

Eric R. Gulson‐Castillo from the University of Michigan provides data and code analyzing the impact of geomagnetic disturbances on nocturnal bird migration. The study found evidence for a ~10% decrease in migration intensity after controlling for weather variables and spatiotemporal autocorrelation. Data sources include the NOAA NEXRAD network for weather radar, North American Regional Reanalysis for weather, and the SuperMAG inventory for magnetometer data.

Use Cases

• Modeling the relationship between geomagnetic disturbances and migration intensity based on the described ~10% effect.
• Analyzing changes in bird flight effort against the wind under overcast conditions as mentioned in the fall migration results.
• Conducting spatiotemporal analysis of radar-detected migration patterns while controlling for weather variables.
• Integrating multi-source environmental data (radar, weather reanalysis, magnetometer) for ecological studies.

Strengths

• Data integrates three distinct sources: NOAA NEXRAD radar, regional weather reanalysis, and SuperMAG magnetometer data.
• Analysis controls for weather variables and spatiotemporal autocorrelation, suggesting methodological rigor.
• Repository includes the code used to arrive at the conclusions and plot the main results.

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Row count, file formats, and last update date are unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.
• Data may reflect geographic bias inherent to the NOAA NEXRAD network and North American Regional Reanalysis coverage.

Provenance

Source

University of Michigan, author Eric R. Gulson‐Castillo.

Collection Method

Weather radar data processed from NOAA NEXRAD, weather data from North American Regional Reanalysis, magnetometer data from SuperMAG inventory.

Geography

Likely North America, based on data sources (NOAA NEXRAD, North American Regional Reanalysis).