The Intersucho project monitors and predicts the occurrence of drought in the Czech Republic, Slovakia, and Central Europe utilising its map database on the Intersucho.cz website. It provides up-to-date information on the state of agricultural drought, its forecast, and the quantification of its impact. Direct measurements, methods of mathematical modelling, and remote sensing are used for monitoring. An important section of the site is the assessment of the impact of drought, working with the active involvement of hundreds of volunteers from agriculture, forestry, and other fields.

How can I get involved?

The Intersucho project provides a comprehensive overview of information to both the professional public (especially those working in the field of agricultural primary production) and government authorities. Apart from this focus, the information on the website is easily accessible to the general public and media representatives, consisting of freely available, regularly updated map outputs as well as detailed texts and additional graphic outputs. A significant part of the content is produced in regular cooperation with reporters. Anyone interested in contributing can get involved by filling out a simple questionnaire directly on the Intersucho website. The project also uses the information gathered from observers for fire risk prediction –  Firerisk.

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The Intersucho project is closely linked to the (Czech-only) projects of phenological phase monitoring Fenofáze and Crop Yield (predictions of expected crop yields). The Intersucho project is a collaboration between experts from CzechGlobe – the Global Change Research Institute of the CAS and Mendel University in Brno, who use a combination of their own data processing and data provided by the Czech Hydrometeorological Institute, TU Wien, the US Geological Survey, and NASA.

The Phenophase project monitors the phenological phases of wild plant species and field crops. These comprise milestones in the development of plants during the growing season, such as the onset of flowering, the development of tree foliage, or the emergence of field crops seedlings. Monitoring is provided by students, professional observers, and volunteers from the general public. The website reflects the current status of phenological phases: the sites of the monitoring, which species are observed, and when the phenological phases were recorded. For selected species and sites, a comparison of the current growing season with previous years and temperature trends is provided.

How can you get involved?

The Phenophase project provides phenological information to the professional community, farmers, fruit growers or winegrowers, but also to the general public. The website is updated weekly with new information on temperature trends. The dates of phenological phases are published continuously as they are recorded by observers and undergo expert review. Weather forecasts are also prepared weekly. The website is updated with long-term, up to 60-year phenological series. It is possible to register as a volunteer to observe phenological phases directly on the website.

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The www.fenofaze.cz website was created in 2013 by teams from the Global Change Research Institute of the CAS – CzechGlobe and Mendel University in Brno, whose students have been providing monitoring since the beginning. The students were joined by volunteer observers from the general public and in 2019 the monitoring was expanded to include a network of professional observers, thanks to the cooperation with the Czech Hydrometeorological Institute. Since 2020, the site has been closely linked to the Intersucho project, its drought impact observers also monitoring the phenophases of key field crops. Results are displayed through interactive maps, visual documentation, graphs, and charts. The data serves not only as a snapshot of plant response to weather conditions, but also provides long-term information about the response of plant communities to changing climatic conditions. They are also used to calibrate satellite data and are used to model and study the impacts of climate change.

The Crop Yields project focuses on forecasting expected yields of key agricultural crops in the Czech Republic. It provides up-to-date yield estimates at the county and district level every week during the growing season. The forecast is supplemented with maps of reliability and yield deviations compared to the previous year and three-year period. Information on actual yield and percentage of harvested area is added as the season progresses. The data is linked to the Intersucho project, with added reports from regular correspondents on expected yield.

How can you get involved?

This is an experimental project designed primarily for agricultural and public administration professionals and Intersucho project reporters who provide feedback by evaluating the data of the Crop Yields project. The aim is to estimate yield levels for key crops in a timely manner, improve decision-making processes in the agricultural sector, and increase economic and environmental efficiency. It is expected that with the introduction of an early warning system, it will be possible to increase the overall stability of agricultural production, improve the economics of crop cultivation, and contribute with the correct agronomic decisions to the long-term sustainability of farming. It is possible to get involved as a reporter for the Intersucho project.

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The portal was launched in 2017 and provides information in the form of interactive maps and graphs at the level of individual districts. The content of the portal is regularly updated and refined based on the latest available data. Forecasts are prepared for spring barley, winter wheat, rapeseed, maize, oats, rye, and sugar beet.

The authors of the project are the research teams from the Global Change Research Institute of the CAS – CzechGlobe and Mendel University in Brno with the network of Intersucho correspondents. The Crop Yields project website were created with the support of the Strategy AV21 programme of the Czech Academy of Sciences, the National Agency for Agricultural Research, the State Land Office, the Agrarian Chamber of the Czech Republic, and the State Agricultural Intervention Fund.

The Agrorisk project monitors and predicts abiotic risks (e.g., spring frosts, high winds) and biotic risks (diseases and pests) that threaten agricultural production. The web portal, which is updated daily, was launched in 2021 and offers the possibility to monitor the occurrence and evolution of dozens of weather-dependent negative phenomena that our primary agricultural production has to cope with. On the website, the intensity of each phenomenon is indicated by a coloured traffic light. The user of the website is given information at the level of the land registry regarding which risks are imminent, their progression, and what measures are recommended for mitigation. 

How can you get involved?

In general, the Agrorisk project is aimed at primary agricultural production subjects – practicing farmers, including fruit growers and wine growers. However, the information is freely accessible to the general public and media representatives as well. The project also focuses on landscape protection – information on the timely, targeted, and effective use of essential chemical products will lead to their reduced use. Students of agricultural high schools and universities can also study the correlations between weather, crops, and the occurrence of risk factors.

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The Agrorisk project was initiated by a research team from the Global Change Research Institute of the CAS – CzechGlobe, partnered with experts from Mendel University in Brno, the Crop Research Institute, and the Czech Hydrometeorological Institute, which provides up-to-date data from its entire network. The IFS (Integrated Forecast System) forecast model of the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts, which is one of the most successful in terms of accuracy, is used to forecast the weather and the associated risk trends. The project is supported by the Strategy AV21 programme of the Czech Academy of Sciences and the Czech Ministry of Agriculture. An additional feature comprises the cooperation with the Central Institute for Supervising and Testing in Agriculture, which allows occurrences of diseases and pest to be seen in real-time.

How can you get involved?

The Archaeological Map of the Czech Republic (AMČR) is an information system for collecting, managing, and presenting data on archaeological excavations in the Czech Republic and used to better understand the past of the Czech lands. The data describes tens of thousands of archaeological excavations and specific findings pertaining to them, including information about the research leaders, when the research took place, its location, as well as what finds from what period were uncovered. A particular type of record is that of archaeological sites identified by surface and remote sensing. Most records are uploaded to a digital document repository and bibliographic catalogue.

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The Archaeological Map of the Czech Republic is intended for professional archaeologists, specialists in related fields, students, and interested members of the general public who can work effectively with the knowledge acquired by generations of archaeologists in our country. It is operated by the Institute of Archaeology of the CAS in Prague and the Institute of Archaeology of the CAS in Brno. The AMČR is fully accessible to users and is gradually being updated. It includes information on excavations carried out after 2000 in Bohemia and after 2009 in Moravia and Silesia.

The primary societal goal of studying the issue of landslides is to reduce the damage they cause. The basic prerequisite for achieving this goal is being on the radar of the public and local governments. But interest in the issue is very low in the Czech Republic. The aim of the project is thus to raise public awareness about landslides through involvement in a leisure activity (geocaching), providing information about the damage landslides can cause and how they can be prevented. Players receive feedback on the tasks they have to perform, giving them an in-depth understanding of landslides.

How can you get involved?   

In one variant of geocaching, called earthcaching, specialised sites (earthcache) are used to explain to players the origins and dangers of landslides. Players get to visit interesting, often not very well-known locations and learn about the local rocks as well as the specific dangerous landslides and the processes responsible for their formation. Anyone can join the game through Geocaching.com, where they can search for caches created by user “sesuvar”. It is necessary to follow the rules of the geocaching game, which requires knowledge of the use of a GPS receiver or smartphone app.

West Bohemia is where the most intense seismic activity in the Czech Republic occurs. Thanks to the SeisLok smartphone app, it is now possible to view real-time earthquake activity in this particular region. Help researchers in communicating the latest information about earthquakes and their effects to the public. Observations of locals are the only way to describe the effects of an earthquake in the given affected area and to determine so-called macroseismic intensity.

Besides its practical application, i.e., mapping damage for insurance companies, SeisLok data is also important for seismic hazard estimations. Indeed, local geological structures can greatly amplify the effects of earthquakes, and each local observation contributes to a better description of the aftermath of earthquakes in the affected area.

How can you get involved?

The SeisLok app is intended for smartphone users with Android and iOS operating systems who want to keep track of the most seismically active areas in our country, and especially for residents of and visitors to western Bohemia (Cheb, Aš, Sokolov) willing to share their observations via the questionnaire in the app.

The SeisLok application contains a map with two display options (standard and satellite) and epicentre locations with the possibility of displaying detailed information (magnitude, time of occurrence, depth), a list of earthquakes (with the option of filtering and sorting), daily seismograms on the Epicentre List tab, a macroseismic questionnaire for reporting earthquakes, and news directly from the Institute of Geophysics of the CAS.

You can download the SeisLok app for free from the AppStore and GooglePlay. 

Get involved in landslide research! With the Landslide Tracker mobile app, you can help researchers monitor landslides and slope deformation across the Czech Republic. Passing on early recordings of the location and especially the time of their occurrence to experts is essential not only for their research, but more importantly, for improving the protection of residents from the negative aftermath.

How can you get involved?

Landslides in the Czech Republic are mostly caused by increased rainfall during different times of the year. Informing experts early on is essential not only for their research, but mainly for improving the protection of the population. The Landslide Tracker app not only makes this process much simpler and faster, but also gives the public the opportunity to actively participate in researching these dangerous processes.

The application was developed as part of the international project LandSlip thanks to the activity of researchers from the Institute of Rock Structure and Mechanics of the CAS. The Landslide Tracker app is available in the Czech language and allows anyone who installs it on their phone to collect and transmit information about newly occurring landslides in the Czech Republic. The information obtained directly from the public helps in creating databases of landslides and the damage caused by them. At the same time, it raises awareness of the issue, which is a fundamental prerequisite for the effective protection of the population.

The data provided through the app is also used to supplement the database of landslides created by the Institute of Rock Structure and Mechanics of the CAS in 2011. This information, together with ongoing field mapping and thorough research of archival documents, will also be used to update the data in the national database of slope deformations maintained by the Czech Geological Survey. 

The Landslide Tracker app can be downloaded for free on GooglePlay.