Open data for climate risk preparedness on severe weather risks in Africa is widely available, but National HydroMet Services often lack capacity or tools to access and utilize these data for their services. Also, data handling often requires internet bandwidth and computational power that is not always available.
In Madagascar, Kenya and Ivory Coast, workshops were held to use open data and tools for:
- the development of dashboards,
- development of early warning systems,
- analysis of risk insurance mechanisms.
The training was provided using python-notebooks, which can be downloaded and used on individual systems, but also within the GitHub Codespace. By using Codespace, no installation of Python is needed. An integration with Google Earth Engine (GEE) was setup, to conduct climate analysis based on freely available (satellite) data available in the Google Earth Engine platform. This also utilizes the computational power provided on the GEE platform instead of needing this on the user’s system.
All training materials are now openly accessible in French and English at: https://github.com/HKV-products-services/Tools-for-weather-and-climate-services-in-Africa. The materials were developed, and trainings were delivered by HKV, TAHMO, Deltares, and IRI, in assignment of the Global Center of Adaptation (GCA). Trained institutions were Kenya Meteorological Department (KMD), ICPAC, SODEXAM and Météo Madagascar.
