Tutorial: Environmental Monitoring

Science

Data source: Open-Meteo, NOAA NWS, USGS, Climate TRACE

Overview

Environmental Monitoring searches across 4 data sources (Open-Meteo, NOAA NWS, USGS, Climate TRACE) in a single query. It deduplicates and normalizes results, saving you from building 4 separate integrations. This tutorial walks through all 3 tools with working code examples.

Prerequisites

Sign up at https://context.gnist.ai/signup for a free API key (100 calls/day).
Choose your integration method: MCP protocol or REST API.

Connect via MCP

Add to your MCP client config (Claude Desktop, Cursor, etc.):

MCP Config

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "gnist-environmental-monitoring": {
      "url": "https://context.gnist.ai/mcp/environmental-monitoring/",
      "headers": {
        "Gnist-API-Key": "YOUR_API_KEY"
      }
    }
  }
}

Tools (3)

`search_environmental_data`

Search environmental data for a location across weather, alerts, earthquakes, and emissions. Geocodes the location, then queries four sources in parallel: - Open-Meteo — current weather conditions and air quality - NOAA NWS — active weather alerts (US locations) - USGS — recent earthquakes within 500km - Climate TRACE — country-level greenhouse gas emissions Examples: search_environmental_data(location="Oslo") search_environmental_data(location="San Francisco", limit=5) search_environmental_data(location="Tokyo")

Parameter	Type	Required	Description
`location`	string	required	Location name — city, region, or country (e.g. 'Oslo', 'Tokyo', 'California').
`limit`	integer	optional	Max results per source. (default: `10`)

curl -X POST "https://context.gnist.ai/mcp/environmental-monitoring/" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -H "Gnist-API-Key: YOUR_API_KEY" \
  -d '{"jsonrpc": "2.0", "method": "tools/call", "id": 1, "params": {"name": "search_environmental_data", "arguments": {"location": "'Oslo'"}}}'

import httpx

resp = httpx.post(
    "https://context.gnist.ai/mcp/environmental-monitoring/",
    headers={"Gnist-API-Key": "YOUR_API_KEY"},
    json={'id': 1,
 'jsonrpc': '2.0',
 'method': 'tools/call',
 'params': {'arguments': {'location': "'Oslo'"},
            'name': 'search_environmental_data'}},
)
print(resp.json())

`list_environmental_sources`

List all environmental monitoring data sources, their coverage, and data types. Shows which weather services, alert systems, seismic networks, and emissions databases are queried during an environmental monitoring search. Examples: list_environmental_sources()

curl -X POST "https://context.gnist.ai/mcp/environmental-monitoring/" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -H "Gnist-API-Key: YOUR_API_KEY" \
  -d '{"jsonrpc": "2.0", "method": "tools/call", "id": 1, "params": {"name": "list_environmental_sources", "arguments": {}}}'

import httpx

resp = httpx.post(
    "https://context.gnist.ai/mcp/environmental-monitoring/",
    headers={"Gnist-API-Key": "YOUR_API_KEY"},
    json={'id': 1,
 'jsonrpc': '2.0',
 'method': 'tools/call',
 'params': {'arguments': {}, 'name': 'list_environmental_sources'}},
)
print(resp.json())

`report_feedback`

Report a bug, feature request, or general feedback for this data source. Use this when something doesn't work as expected, when you'd like a new feature, or when you have suggestions for improvement. Args: feedback: Describe the issue or suggestion. feedback_type: One of 'bug', 'feature_request', or 'general'.

Parameter	Type	Required	Description
`feedback`	string	required
`feedback_type`	string	optional	(default: `general`)

curl -X POST "https://context.gnist.ai/mcp/environmental-monitoring/" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -H "Gnist-API-Key: YOUR_API_KEY" \
  -d '{"jsonrpc": "2.0", "method": "tools/call", "id": 1, "params": {"name": "report_feedback", "arguments": {"feedback": "example"}}}'

import httpx

resp = httpx.post(
    "https://context.gnist.ai/mcp/environmental-monitoring/",
    headers={"Gnist-API-Key": "YOUR_API_KEY"},
    json={'id': 1,
 'jsonrpc': '2.0',
 'method': 'tools/call',
 'params': {'arguments': {'feedback': 'example'}, 'name': 'report_feedback'}},
)
print(resp.json())

Common Patterns

Pagination
Several tools support limit, offset, or page parameters. Start with small limits during development, then increase for production queries.

FAQ

What data does Environmental Monitoring provide?

Unified environmental monitoring across Open-Meteo weather, NOAA alerts, USGS earthquakes, and Climate TRACE emissions — location-based parallel queries. It exposes 3 tools: search_environmental_data, list_environmental_sources, report_feedback.

What do I need to get started?

A Gnist API key (free tier: 100 calls/day). Sign up at https://context.gnist.ai/signup.

What format does the Environmental Monitoring API return?

JSON, via either MCP protocol (JSON-RPC 2.0) or REST API.

Which data sources does Environmental Monitoring aggregate?

Open-Meteo, NOAA NWS, USGS, Climate TRACE. Results are deduplicated and normalized into a consistent format.