The EDU integrates external environmental data such as air pollution, noise, climate, land use, and regional deprivation with NAKO’s participant data. By geocoding each participant’s residence, the EDU enables individualized exposure assessments, helping researchers examine the long-term health impacts of environmental conditions.
Questions? Please feel free to contact nako-edu@helmholtz-munich.de
Available environmental data
The environmental data are available on the NAKO TransferHub (see ‘Spatio-temporal environmental data’ and ‘Spatio-temporal indicator’) and are described in the data handbook. The environmental data are continuously being expanded. Enquiries regarding further variables or the linking of additional environmental data can be made via nako-edu@helmholtz-munich.de.
Further spatiotemporal data can be linked via the EDU if the necessary maps can be made available to the EDU. If this is not possible, the district of the place of residence is available via the NAKO TransferHub. For higher-resolution data (e.g. municipalities, postcodes), a two-stage application is possible after consultation with the EDU.
Currently, the environmental data is limited to the residential information of the baseline examination and the 5-year follow-up. An extension to the retrospective residential history is planned.
Selection of maps
Daily near-surface air temperature in Germany, 2000–2021
Daily near-surface air temperature in Germany for the period 2000–2021. The mean, minimum and maximum air temperature was generated using a three-stage regression model. Meteorological measurements, remote sensing data and multiple land cover predictors were included. The data is available on a 1 × 1 km INSPIRE grid.
Daily relative humidity in Germany, 2000–2021
Daily estimates of relative humidity for the period 2000-2021. Remote sensing data, meteorological measurements and modelled data were combined using a random forest modelling approach to determine the relative humidity for entire Germany. The data has a spatial resolution of 1 × 1 km.
Annual air pollution in Germany, 2010
Air pollution data from the ELAPSE (Effects of Low-Level Air Pollution: A Study in Europe, http://www.elapseproject.eu/) project. The mean annual concentrations of particulate matter with a diameter < 2.5 μm (PM2.5), nitrogen dioxide (NO2), ozone (O3) and black carbon (PM2.5 abs) were centrally modelled for the year 2010 using land use regression models for Western Europe. The data has a spatial resolution of 100 m × 100 m.
https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envint.2018.07.036
Vegetation: Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) in Germany, 2014–2021
Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) across Germany over the period 2014-2021. The NDVI values are based on monthly data from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s (NASA) Terra Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS), averaged between March and October. The data was masked with the MOD44W mask layer to exclude water pixels and has a spatial resolution of 1 × 1 km.
Data application
The variable selection is now possible via the NAKO TransferHub. It is advisable to consult the EDU (nako-edu@helmholtz-munich.de) in advance.
Data transfer
The data transfer of environmental data is currently carried out directly via email and download link provided by the EDU. An upload of the environmental data into the TransferHub is envisaged, but not yet implemented. For linkage to the health data, the environmental dataset contains the pseudonymised ID in addition to the environmental variables, which can be used to combine the two datasets.
Information on the application and transfer of environmental data: NAKO-Environmental-Data.pdf
