R&D&I
We work to contribute our knowledge in climate research, as a pioneer in statistical regionalization, and we offer training for the support and strengthening of scientific capacities.
Project summary
RAIN4AFRICA is a Horizon Europe project aimed at improving precipitation prediction in West Africa, especially at local scales of 1-10 km, where current models struggle to represent convective systems and extreme events. The project will combine ground observation networks, community data, satellite information, reanalysis and artificial intelligence techniques to create a West Africa Hydro-Met Data Cube and develop hybrid AI-enhanced models. The results will be integrated into the Africa OpenWeather platform, providing climate services for agriculture, water management, disaster risk reduction and public planning.
Objectives
The overall objective is to strengthen African capacity to produce, validate and use reliable local-scale rainfall information.
– Increase the density of the meteorological observation network through professional stations, IoT sensors and community rain gauges.
– Recover and harmonise historical hydro-meteorological data.
– Integrate observations, satellite data and reanalysis into a regional Data Cube for West Africa.
– Develop hybrid physics-AI models for nowcasting, short-range forecasting and subseasonal prediction.
– Validate the products using metrics tailored to real users, farmers, NMHSs and public managers.
– Operationalise the results through Africa OpenWeather and regional ModelOps/MLOps capabilities.
– Strengthen training, technology transfer and African institutional sustainability.
Funded by
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