Enhancing National Climate Services (ENACTS) for development in Africa

Dinku, Tufa; Thomson, Madeleine C.; Cousin, Rémi; Corral, John del; Ceccato, Pietro; Hansen, James; Connor, Stephen J.

doi:10.1080/17565529.2017.1405784

Cited by 75 publications

(72 citation statements)

References 9 publications

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“…Through the Enhancing National Climate Services (ENACTS) initiative, personnel at NMHSs in Senegal and Kenya have been trained on how to develop highresolution, spatially and temporally complete gridded historical meteorological datasets and disseminate them through web-based platforms. This initiative is helping the NMHSs in these countries to provide enhanced WCS by overcoming the challenges of data quality, availability and access (Dinku et al 2018).…”

Section: Addressing Barriersmentioning

confidence: 99%

Identifying user needs for weather and climate services to enhance resilience to climate shocks in sub-Saharan Africa

Nkiaka

Taylor

Dougill

et al. 2019

Environ. Res. Lett.

104

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The vulnerability of social-ecological systems in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) to climate variability and change means that there is an urgent need to better integrate weather and climate information into societal decision-making processes. Long-term climate adaptation in these regions has received increasing attention, with recent initiatives aiming to increase resilience to climate change at timescales of years to decades. Less focus has been given to weather and short-term climate information. However, users are principally interested in shorter timescales (hours to seasons) where actions can immediately reduce the impacts of severe weather events. Focusing on the priority sectors of agriculture and food security, water and disaster management, this paper uses a systematic literature review approach to analyse 61 empirical case studies drawn from academic literature and projects across SSA. We identify the main users of climate services and outline current practices and reported benefits. Barriers that impede the delivery and uptake of climate services are identified and potential strategies for overcoming them outlined based on the reporting of successful practices. Our findings show that greater capacity building of personnel working for National Meteorological and Hydrological Services and Agricultural Extension staff and reinforcing and sustaining collaboration between different stakeholders (climate scientists, hydrologists, extension workers, farmers and other user groups), are essential factors for improving the uptake and utility of weather and climate services to enhance resilience to climate shocks in SSA.

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Section: Addressing Barriersmentioning

confidence: 99%

Identifying user needs for weather and climate services to enhance resilience to climate shocks in sub-Saharan Africa

Nkiaka

Taylor

Dougill

et al. 2019

Environ. Res. Lett.

104

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“…This is done via regression kriging. Combine output from the last merging with station (also via regression kriging), this time at shorter radius of influence. This is done to accommodate the different station densities over the different parts of the country and the complex topography (Dinku et al ., ; ).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The following steps were used to reconstruct the temperature time series: Downscale reanalysis data from 50 to 5 km. This was accomplished by calculating the atmospheric lapse rate in the reanalysis data at the coarse resolution and using high‐resolution elevation data to refine the temperature estimation at that higher resolution (Dinku et al ., ; ). Use the data from 1981 to 1990 and 2010 to 2016 to calculate bias adjustments factors for each Julian day/dekad. Interpolate the adjustment factors via inverse distance weighting. Apply the adjustment factors to all downscaled reanalysis data from 1981 to 2016. Combine the bias‐adjusted satellite rainfall estimates with station data for each day/dekad of every year (via regression kriging) (Dinku et al ., ; ). …”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The data used in this study are from the Enhancing National Climate Services (ENACTS) initiative, which strives to improve availability of climate data in areas with sparse or no observation network (Dinku et al ., ; ; ). This is accomplished by blending quality‐controlled station observations with satellite rainfall estimates (for rainfall) or climate model reanalysis proxies (for temperature) (Dinku et al ., ; ).…”

Section: Datamentioning

confidence: 99%

“…While other high‐resolution blended station‐satellite rainfall data sets exist (e.g., Climate Hazards Group InfraRed Precipitation with Station data [CHIRPS]) (Funk et al ., ) and are often used for forecasting activities in Africa (Kipkogei et al ., ), the ENACTS approach also specifically engages the National Meteorology Agencies of participating countries and uses considerably more stations than does CHIRPS or any other blended product (Dinku et al ., ). ENACTS rainfall data for Rwanda exist from 1981 to present and ENACTS temperature data exist from the 1960s to the present (Dinku et al ., ). The ENACTS data are produced at two temporal resolutions: daily and dekad.…”

Section: Datamentioning

confidence: 99%

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Evaluation of ENACTS‐Rwanda: A new multi‐decade, high‐resolution rainfall and temperature data set—Climatology

Siebert

Dinku

Vuguziga³

et al. 2019

Intl Journal of Climatology

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There were a large number of active meteorological stations in Rwanda prior to the mid‐1990s and since around 2010. However, from around the time of the Rwandan genocide in 1994 throughout the late 2000s, the number of active stations was greatly reduced. To address temporal and spatial gaps in meteorological observation in several African nations (including Rwanda), the ENACTS (Enhancing National Climate Services) initiative reconstructs rainfall and temperature data by combining station data with satellite rainfall estimates, and with reanalysis products for temperature. Bias correction factors are applied to the satellite and reanalysis data and the merged final product is spatiotemporally complete from the early 1980s to the present at a high spatial resolution (4–5 km). This paper offers the first analysis of Rwanda's climatology using this new ENACTS data set for 1981–2016. The temperature and rainfall climatology of Rwanda are analysed at both annual and seasonal timescales as are the climatological influences of topography and regional winds. Climatology maps of mean rainfall intensity, rainy day, 5‐day dry spell and extreme rain day (20+mm) frequency are shown, and spatial pattern correlations are analysed. The rainfall climatology of Rwanda exhibits a clear seasonal bimodality typical of the East Africa region. Topography has a significant effect with the more mountainous, higher‐elevation western part of the country being consistently cooler and wetter than the lower, flatter eastern region. Southeasterly winds tend to prevail over Rwanda, but in some seasons, the climatological winds weaken and shift direction. While spatial patterns of rainy day and dry spell frequency are consistent with the spatial patterns of the seasonal rainfall total, climatologically drier regions have a higher mean rainfall intensity on rainy days. This analysis demonstrates the value of the ENACTS product and illustrates climatological patterns in Rwanda over the last 30 years.

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Spatial‐temporal evaluation of different reference evapotranspiration methods based on the climate forecast system reanalysis data

Woldesenbet

Elagib

2021

Hydrological Processes

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Evapotranspiration is a major component of the interaction between land‐surface processes and the atmosphere. Climate Forecast System Reanalysis (CFSR) data offer a promising database for overcoming the limitations in availability and reliability of climatological data and, hence, for understanding the evapotranspiration process. Using these data on grid‐by‐grid daily, seasonal and yearly scales, the present study attempts to advance the spatio‐temporal evaluation of two radiation‐based and three temperature‐based methods for estimating potential evapotranspiration (PET) against estimates of grass reference evapotranspiration (ETo) by FAO Penman–Monteith method (FAO‐PM). The analysis was performed for the period 1979–2013, considering the second largest (79 000 km2) river system in Ethiopia, that is, Omo‐Gibe basin, which accommodates national parks and vast hydropower, cultivation and afforestation developments and discharges its flow to Lake Turkana in Kenya. Despite the large regional variations in climate and elevation, the results in overall emphasize the outperformance of the simple temperature method, viz. Hargreaves–Samani method, in capturing both the annual and seasonal FAO‐PM estimates. Calibration of the Hargreaves–Samani equation is, however, a requisite for spectacular improvement of its performance. Accordingly, new coefficients of the equation are proposed. The annual trends in the basin's ETo increased with rising temperature and decreasing relative humidity, wind speed, and solar radiation, but with decreasing (increasing) rainfall in the upper region (the middle and lower regions). It is deduced that trends in simple methods do not necessarily reflect the true trends in ETo. Annual ETo decreases with increasing elevation and annual rainfall. The present findings are discussed in the context of a worldwide literature, thereby improving the understanding of the best performing PET methods in similar data‐scarce national or transboundary rivers basin in Ethiopia, the region or worldwide. The wider implications regarding water loss from reservoirs and the rain‐fed food and sugar production in the basin under study are also highlighted.

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Enhancing National Climate Services (ENACTS) for development in Africa

Cited by 75 publications

References 9 publications

Identifying user needs for weather and climate services to enhance resilience to climate shocks in sub-Saharan Africa

Identifying user needs for weather and climate services to enhance resilience to climate shocks in sub-Saharan Africa

Evaluation of ENACTS‐Rwanda: A new multi‐decade, high‐resolution rainfall and temperature data set—Climatology

Spatial‐temporal evaluation of different reference evapotranspiration methods based on the climate forecast system reanalysis data

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