New aeroecological monitoring website launched by the Finnish Meteorological Institute
The new ILMU website shows real-time information of bird and insect movements and a bird migration forecast for the Finnish airspace.
The Finnish Meteorological Institute (FMI) launched its new website prototype ILMU (Ilmatieteen Laitoksen eläinMUuttosivusto) for real-time monitoring of birds and insects and bird migration forecasts. FMI researcher and HiRAD WP3 leader Nadja Weisshaupt and colleague Jarmo Koistinen have developed the methodology and data products behind the website since 2019. The website consists of two parts: real-time observations by weather radars and two-day forecasts of bird migration. Content is available in Finnish, Swedish and English. The aim of the website is to spark interest and curiosity for aeroecological phenomena and open the fascinating world of migrations to the public.
Insect flights observed by the Finnish weather radar network on 21 July 2025.
The weather-radar based monitoring products use the polarimetric echo classification developed by FMI to extract insect and bird signals from the radar data pool. Data products include densities and flight directions of insects and birds, as well as bird migration traffic rates and migration calendars for 114 bird species derived from citizen science observations.
An example of the bird migration forecast on 3 July 2025 on the ILMU website.
The bird migration model is directly linked with operational numerical weather forecasts and predicts bird migration of 114 species two day ahead in a 10-km grid. Migration phenology is derived from bird observations from the Finnish bird portal Tiira maintained by BirdLife Finland. Bird migration dynamics are shaped by a number of meteorological and behavioural factors.
The website implements work from the Biodiversa projects GloBAM and HiRAD and it received further support by the Nessling foundation and the Finnish Ecosystem Observatory.