SOME POSSIBLE USES OF CLIMATE INFORMATION BY S

SOME POSSIBLE USES OF CLIMATE INFORMATION BY S. N. MARIGI KENYA METEOROLOGICAL DEPARTMENT P. O. BOX 3029 NAIROBI

INTRODUCTION • Climate: Average conditions of weather elements ( Rainfall, Temperature, pressure, humidity, wind speed and direction) of a given place taken over a long time, usually over 30 years or more. • Climate anomaly: Departure from average • As many socio-economic activities depend on climate, anomalies in climate provide the difference between wealth and poverty, feast and famine, health and disease and even life and death. • Highlights on how climate information relates to some individual socio-economic sectors are given next

Agriculture • It is important that agriculturists and the farming community in general understand the behaviour of the climatic parameters that affect crops and other plants. • Knowledge of climate variability is vital in order to minimise losses and maximise production in agriculture • Medium to long-term weather predictions are useful in planning and operation of agricultural activities while the daily weather forecasts help the farmer to organise his day

Water resources • Over the globe, a wide spectrum of water resources exist which consists of both surface water resources (natural and man-made water storage systems including reservoirs, rivers, lakes, wetlands and oceans) and ground water resources (rechargeable) • The terrestrial-surface water resource systems are strongly influenced by climatic factors such as rainfall and evaporation • we are aware that water is becoming a limited resource each year with many different users acting in conflict

Cont’d In order to manage the water needs for agriculture, domestic uses or industry, it is essential to have a good knowledge of the water supply and demand through good use of climate information • The design of dams for hydro-electric power generation, irrigation and fishing calls for a deep understanding of the climate regime of the catchment area of the dam

Cont’d * If the dam bursts due to inadequate climate information at the planning stage, the consequences to the economy of the country concerned could be severe because of the enormous construction costs of the dam and the possible loss of human and animal life and property caused by flooding downstream * Without adequate climate planning data, engineers could build larger than necessary dams resulting in waste of public funds

Health • It is now obvious that there is a direct link between climate information and health monitoring and protection. • It is known and has been demonstrated that diseases like malaria are always located in areas with a significant degree of humidity. • There are other diseases that spread or reduce due to changes in air temperature

Aviation • Aircrafts flying from or to an airport must be provided with weather forecasts for takeoff, along the entire flight route and at the destination. • Weather information is used by airline operators in determining the optimum load and fuel reserves for each flight sector in addition to ensuring the safety of the aircraft and its contents. Such weather includes flight level wind speed and direction, temperatures, cloud heights and types and any other significant weather phenomena that would affect the performance of the aircraft.

Marine environment and services • The relevancy of climate information to the development and management of aquatic resources is well understood • Knowledge of the water temperatures of different parts of water masses helps to map out breeding areas of fish and other water borne living species and their movement(helps to efficiently and effectively carry out marine activities over the oceans, seas and inland waters) • Information on wind speed and direction and, hence, the state of the water masses is vital for the efficient operation of the shipping industry • The shipping industry also requires routine and timely warnings of accurately forecast severe weather systems like cyclones to enable ships avoid dangerous routes

Tourism Industry This is an important industry to many countries. v. There is no doubt that accurate climatological information and daily weather forecasts are required to enable tour operators to plan the movement of tourists within the countries on both longterm and daily basis v. Climatological information is required also for siting tourist hotels and other recreational facilities.

Manufacturing and processing industries • In these industries, the ambient temperature is of extreme importance • Factory planners and builders require extreme minimum and maximum temperatures for purposes of designing and building a factory in a given location • Relative humidity is also of considerable importance as it affects the level of human comfort

Environmental Management • Information on rainfall, evaporation, wind and temperature is vital for research and general ecological studies aimed at preventing erosion and environmental degradation and forest fires • The protection of the environment in general requires knowledge and monitoring of climate parameters and it is essential for governments to understand such phenomena as climate change and its possible impacts on the economies for appropriate decisions.

Energy • Due to escalating costs and finite nature of conventional energy sources such as oil and gas, the development of alternative sources of energy such as wind and solar has become crucial to many countries. • The meteorological community provides the relevant institutions/organisations with measurements of wind strength, solar radiation, sunshine duration and cloud cover in an effort to develop inexpensive methods of harnessing wind and solar energy

Others • There are many operational services where intensive use of climate information is made. In this respect, one may mention: § Fire monitoring § Airborne pollutant transport follow-up § Desert locust surveillance § Etc

Concluding remarks It is apparent that climate information has a role to play in the socio-economic development of countries. To achieve this effectively and efficiently, National Meteorological and Hydrological Services (NMHSs): • have to establish and maintain adequate weather observation networks • have to establish and maintain both national and international communication networks to enable observation sites to move data to National Meteorological Centres (NMCs) and bring in data and products from other parts of the globe. • must have the capability to process data and make forecasts through an improvement of human resource skills at the NMHSs.

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