Advancing Integrated African Early Warning Science and Climate Services
Abstract
In this talk we summarize new research and strategies for enhancing climate services to support better climate adaptation, drought monitoring and drought prediction in food insecure East Africa. With support from USAID and NASA, scientists in the United States and Africa are developing new data sets, such as the gridded 1981-present Climate Hazards Group Infrared Precipitation with Stations (CHIRPS) and Climate Hazards Group Infrared Temperature with Stations (CHIRTS), and then using these data sets to drive 1981-present crop water balance and land surface models. We describe how these data and modeling systems provide unprecedented early warning capabilities. We then go on to describe new research focused on i) developing integrated downscaled weather and climate forecasts suitable for driving crop and land surface models, and ii) strategies for enhancing climate service distribution capacities at the Regional Centre for Mapping and Resource Development (RCMRD) and national meteorological agencies in Eastern and Southern Africa.
- Publication:
-
AGU Fall Meeting Abstracts
- Pub Date:
- December 2016
- Bibcode:
- 2016AGUFMGC43F..03F
- Keywords:
-
- 0426 Biosphere/atmosphere interactions;
- BIOGEOSCIENCESDE: 9305 Africa;
- GEOGRAPHIC LOCATIONDE: 1616 Climate variability;
- GLOBAL CHANGEDE: 1878 Water/energy interactions;
- HYDROLOGY