The use of geographical information systems in climatology and meteorology

The proliferation of ‘commercial off-the-shelf’ geographical information systems into the scientific community has resulted in the widespread use of spatial climate data in a variety of applications. This paper presents a review of the role of geographical information systems in climatology and meteorology by (i) discussing methods used to derive and refine spatial climate data and (ii) reviewing the bespoke application of GIS and spatial climate datasets in agriculture, ecology, forestry, health and disease, weather forecasting, hydrology, transport, urban environments, energy and climate change.