FutureLakes News & Events item

Building the eLakes Data Portal: Powering FutureLakes Research and Upscaling

The FutureLakes team has been busy developing the eLakes Data Portal — a central platform that will host the project’s key datasets, tools, and interactive applications. Designed to support research, analysis, and decision-making, eLakes is becoming a cornerstone for work across the FutureLakes project and beyond.

At the heart of the portal is the FutureLakes Metadatabase, which currently describes more than 100 datasets relevant to lake research in Europe. Each dataset is documented in detail, including what the data represent, the methodology behind them, spatial coverage and resolution, temporal range, and essential information on licensing and referencing. All datasets are aligned with the themes of the FutureLakes Upscaling Framework, ensuring consistency and usability across project outputs.

From data discovery to project-wide analysis

While the metadatabase is a valuable standalone resource for the wider lake research community, it has also formed the backbone of FutureLakes’ analytical work and upscaling case studies.

To date, efforts have focused on a climate regulation case study, exploring how lake restoration and ecological status influence greenhouse gas emissions. This work includes modelling emissions at two complementary scales:

  • A European-scale case study, examining lakes under the Water Framework Directive (WFD) and how greenhouse gas emissions may change when moving from moderate to good ecological status, using intercalibrated chlorophyll‑a values.
  • A national-scale Danish case study, modelling greenhouse gas emissions based on monitored chlorophyll‑a concentrations.

Case studies focusing on biodiversity and socioeconomic factors are now poised to enter active development, further expanding the scope and relevance of the framework.

Towards interactive data exploration

The outputs from the climate regulation modelling are currently being transformed into an interactive data and mapping application within the eLakes portal. This app will allow users to explore results at both European and national scales, with detailed, lake-specific information available throughout.

The application will be published on eLakes in the near future, marking an important step toward making FutureLakes data and insights more accessible, transparent, and usable for researchers, policymakers, and practitioners alike.

Revised 05.05.2026
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