IRI’s ENACTS initiative has been working with National Meteorological Services (NMS) in Africa and in other developing countries to improve the availability of quality climate data and climate information products. This requires access to an easy-to-use and freely available tool for performing the tasks required to generate the data information products. Most NMS in developing countries do not have access to such a tool.

To meet this significant need, the IRI has developed the Climate Data Tool (CDT), which is an open-source, R-based software with an easy-to-use graphical user interface. CDT is being used by over 20 countries primarily in Africa, but also in some countries in Asia and South America.

CDT’s main functionalities include:

• Organization and processing of station data;
• Downloading and processing of various satellite rainfall estimates and reanalysis products;
• Downloading of ancillary data (digital elevation models and administrative boundaries);
• Assessment of data availability in the NMS climate database; 
• Assessment and correction of station data quality;
• Merging station observation with proxies (satellite rainfall estimates and reanalysis temperature products) 
• Extraction of data from gridded products, including satellite, reanalysis, and combined data products, at any point, for a selected box, and for any administrative boundary; and
• Various analysis and visualization of station and gridded datasets.

Komalchand Dhiram from Guyana’s Hydrometeorological Service discusses the benefits of using CDT for his work:

ENACTS Publications

• The Climate Data Tool: Enhancing Climate Services Across Africa. Dinku Tufa, Faniriantsoa Rija, Islam Shammunul, Nsengiyumva Gloriose, Grossi Amanda. Frontiers in Climate, 2022.
• Enhancing national climate services: How systems thinking can accelerate locally led adaptation. Grossi, Amanda, Dinku, Tufa. One Earth, 2022.
• Enhancing National Climate Services: How Systems Thinking Can Accelerate Locally-Led Adaptation. Grossi, A., Dinku, T.. One Earth, 2022.
• ENACTS: Advancing Climate Services Across Africa. Dinku, T., Faniriantsoa, R., Cousin, R., Khomyakov, I., Vadillo, A., Hansen, J., Grossi, A.. Frontiers in Climate, 2022.
• Transforming Access to and Use of Climate Information Products Derived from Remote Sensing and In Situ Observations. Nsengiyumva, G., Dinku, T., Cousin, R., Khomyakov, I., Vadillo, A., Faniriantsoa, R., Grossi, A.. remote sensing, 2021.
• Chapter 7: Challenges with Availability and Quality of Climate Data in Africa. Dinku, T.. ScienceDirect, 2019.
• Enhancing National Climate Services (ENACTS) for Development in Africa. Dinku, T., Thomson, C. M., Cousin, R., del Corral, J., Ceccato, P., Hansen, J, Connor, J. S.. Climate and Development, 2017.
• CSRD Technical Exchange: ICPAC and National Climate Maprooms – Existing and New Tools for Drought Monitoring and Forecasting in Eastern Africa. Owusu, A., Tesfamariam-Tekeste, Y., Ambani, M., Zebiak, S., Thomson, M.. , 2017.
• Bridging Critical Gaps in Climate Services and Applications in Africa. Tufa Dinku, Paul J. Block, Jessica Sharoff, Kinfe Hailemariam, Dan Osgood, John del Corral, Remi Cousin, Madeleine C. Thomson, . Earth Perspective - Transdisciplinarity Enabled, 2014.
• Leveraging the Climate for Improved Malaria Control in Tanzania. T. Dinku, A. Kanemba, B. Platzer, M. Thomson. Earthzine, 2014.