ClimAfrica’s main objective was to better understand and predict climate change in Sub-Saharan Africa for the next 10-20 years, analysing the expected impacts on ecosystems and population and developing 16- IGAD Centre for Climate Prediction and adaptation strategies tailored to the African context.

The role of CSAG in this project was to provide downscaled seasonal and decadal forecast data for three sub-Saharan regions, namely West Africa (including 2 sub-regions), Eastern and Southern Africa. Seasonal forecasts will be downscaled using two methods, dynamical and statistical, at CSAG. The former uses a numerical model (WRF) that simulates the processes of the atmosphere in the selected region based on the large scale information provided to it by the large scale, global model. The latter develops statistical relationships between the stations on the ground and the large scale atmospheric circulation to produce station scale downscaled results which may be interpolated to a grid if required. The objective is to downscale these regions to 25km.

Time frames: 4 year project, 2011 to 2015

Funder: The European Union 7th Framework Programme for Research and Technological Development (EU-FP7)

Partners: Coordinated by the Euro-Mediterranean Centre for Climate Change (CMCC), Italy, with 18 contributing institutions: 9 from Europe, 8 from Africa, and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO)

For further details: See the official project website or contact Dr Chris Lennard