Capacity Building

TAMSAT’s long history of capacity building in Africa

Since its inception in the 1970s, TAMSAT’s primary aim has been to build capacity in Africa to utilise satellite data. In the past, we worked directly with National Meteorological and Hydrological Services (NMHS) to develop and implement local versions of TAMSAT. Today, our efforts are focused on supporting not only NMHS, but also other sectors where TAMSAT data can add value. In recent years, TAMSAT have held both in-person and virtual training workshops to support a wide range of stakeh, such as the agrometeorological, finance and humanitarian disaster response sectors.

To see what we’ve been up to, follow our social media account (see @TAMSAT_Reading on X)!

Training events

The overall aim of TAMSAT capacity building events is to improve capacity in Africa to use satellite-derived data for climate services. Key to our central aim is the development of a community of practitioners, who are confident in the robust application of such data. As well as focusing on technical skills and knowledge, our training events therefore aim to foster a growing community of meteorologists in Africa, enthusiastic about developing new technological solutions for climate services.

Currently no training events are scheduled.

Training materials (🇬🇧 and 🇫🇷)

🇬🇧 To support’s TAMSAT’s objective to improve capacity in Africa to use satellite-derived data for climate services, we have provided some of our key materials in English and French.

🇫🇷 Pour soutenir l’objectif de TAMSAT d’améliorer la capacité en Afrique à utiliser les données dérivées des satellites pour les services climatiques, nous avons mis à disposition certains de nos principaux documents en anglais et en français.

  • An overview of TAMSAT (chapter in Satellite Precipitation Measurement) ENG FR
  • Manuscript on the TAMSAT rainfall dataset ENG FR
  • Manuscript on the evaluation of the TAMSAT-ALERT platform ENG FR

Python code

As part of TAMSAT’s support for users to exploit TAMSAT rainfall estimates, we have developed a range of Python scripts (accessible from TAMSAT’s Github page) which can allows user to accomplish the following:

  • Produce plots that could be used in a seasonal climate monitoring bulletin
  • Validate TAMSAT rainfall estimates using the GPCC gridded rain gauge based dataset

We will be adding to this list over time. If there is a particular task you’d like us to provide code for, please get in touch with us (tamsat@reading.ac.uk)!

We have also created a Python-based API to allow users to download and extract TAMSAT rainfall estimates. This can be accessed from TAMSAT’s Github page. Please note this API is still in development, so please check the Github page to ensure you have the latest version. If you have any questions about the API, please contact Ross Maidment (r.i.maidment@reading.ac.uk).