Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-rcrh6 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-27T21:25:04.763Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Weather and climate monitoring for food risk management

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 March 2007

Giampiero Maracchi ,
Valerio Capecchi ,
Anna Dalla Marta  and
Simone Orlandini
Giampiero Maracchi
Affiliation:
Institute of Biometeorology, National Research Council, Via Giovanni Caproni 8, 50145 Firenze
Valerio Capecchi
Affiliation:
Institute of Biometeorology, National Research Council, Via Giovanni Caproni 8, 50145 Firenze
Anna Dalla Marta
Affiliation:
Department of Agronomy and Land Management - University of Florence - Piazzale delle Cascine 18, 50144 Firenze Email: [email protected]
Simone Orlandini
Affiliation:
Department of Agronomy and Land Management - University of Florence - Piazzale delle Cascine 18, 50144 Firenze Email: [email protected]
Get access

Abstract

Food insecurity represents one of the main indicators of the poverty level of a country and can breed a strong dependence on foreign aid with a strong slowdown of the national economy. African arid and semi-arid areas are characterised by food precariousness and their agricultural activity is strongly dependent on the extreme climatic conditions that affect the available water supply. This situation has led to the need to develop new tools for the prediction and the management of crisis. The characterisation of climate and the identification of anomalies, the monitoring of weather conditions and their influence on crops, short and medium range weather forecasts and long-term climate predictions are among the most powerful tools to predict, in as short a time as possible, crises due to the absence or delay of rainfall season. Meteorological information can also be used as an input to agrometeorological models applied for crisis prevention or for its management during the growing season when the crops are already present. In this paper, a review of these tools is made and some operational products presented.

Keywords

rainfall estimatefood securityWest African Monsoonseasonal forecastingSahelagrometeorology
Type
Research Article
Information
Meteorological Applications , Volume 13 , Issue S1 , December 2006 , pp. 55 - 59
Copyright
Royal Meteorological Society

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Bacci, M., De Filippis, T., Di Vecchia, A., Djaby, B., Incerti, F., Labo, M., Rocchi, L., Straccali, F. & Vignaioli, P. 2005 The vulnerability assessment for food crisis management in the Sahel region. In: Proc.1st International Symposium on Geo-Information for Disaster Management, Delft, The Netherlands, 21–23 March 2005. Springer Verlag, pp. 819–826.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Baldoni, R. & Giardini, L. 2002 Coltivazioni erbacee. Bologna, Italy: Pàtron Editore.Google Scholar
Cour, J. M. 2001 The Sahel in West Africa: countries in transition to a full market economy. Global Environ. Change 11: 31–47.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dalu, G. A., Gaetani, M., Meneguzzo, F., Crisci, A., Maracchi, G., Guarnirei, F. & Capecchi, V. 2005 The Hydrological onset and withdrawal index (HOWI) for the West Africa Monsoon. In: Proc. 85th AMS Annual Meeting San Diego, USA.Google Scholar
Egg, J & Gabas, J. J. 1997 Preventing Food Crisis in the Sahel: Ten Years of Network Experience in Action: 1985–1995, Paris, France: OECD.Google Scholar
Fensholt, R., Sandholt, I., Stisen, S. & Tucker, C. 2006 Analysing NDVI for the African continent using the geostationary meteosat second generation SEVIRI sensor. Remote Sensing Environ. 101 (2): 212–229.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Funk, C. C. & Brown, M. E. 2006 Intra-seasonal NDVI change projections in semi-arid Africa. Remote Sensing Environ. 101 (2): 249–256.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kalnay, E., Kanamitsu, M., Kistler, R., Collins, W., Deaven, D., Gandin, L., Iredell, M., Saha, S., White, G., Woollen, J., Zhu, Y., Chelliah, M., Ebisuzaki, W., Higgins, W., Janowiak, J., Mo, K.C., Ropelewski, C., Wang, J., Leetmaa, A., Reynolds, R., Jenne, R. & Joseph, D. 1996 The NCEP/NCAR 40-year reanalysis project. Bull. Am. Meteor. Soc. 77 (3): 437–471.2.0.CO;2>CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Laurent, H., Jobard, I. & Toma, A. 1998 Validation of satellite and ground-based estimates of precipitation over the Sahel. Atmos. Res. 47: 651–670.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
McCann, J. C. 1999 Climate and causation in African History. Int. J. Afr. Historical Stud. 32: 261–279.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Maracchi, G. & Orlandini, S. 2002 Applications of Meteorological Information to Agriculture in West Africa. In Sivakumar, M. V. K. (ed.) Improving Agrometeorological Bulletins, Proceedings of an Inter-Regional Workshop held in Bridgetown, Barbados, 15–19 October 2001. Geneva, Switzerland: World Meteorological Organization, 147–154.Google Scholar
Maracchi, G., Dunkel, Z. & Orlandini, S. 2002 European Agrometeorological Applications. In: Sivakumar, M. V. K. (ed): Improving Agrometeorological Bulletins, Proceedings of an Inter-Regional Workshop held in Bridgetown, Barbados, 15–19 October 2001. Geneva, Switzerland: World Meteorological Organization, 261–274.Google Scholar
Monteith, J. L. 1965 Evaporation and the environment. Symp. Social Exp. Biol. 19, pp. 205–234.Google Scholar
Morland, J. C, Grimes, D. I. F. & Hewison, T. J. 2001 Satellite observations of the microwave emissivity of a semi-arid land surface. Remote Sensing of Environ. 77 (2): 149–164.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pielke, R. A., Cotton, W. R., Walko, R. L., Tremback, C. J., Lyons, W. A., Grasso, L. D., Nicholls, M. E., Moran, M. D., Wesley, D. A., Lee, T. J. & Copeland, J. H. 1992 A comprehensive meteorological modeling system RAMS. Meteor. Atmos. Phys. 49: 69–91.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sultan, B. & Janicot, S. 2000 Abrupt shift of the ITCZ over West Africa and intraseasonal variability. Geophys. Res. Lett. 27, 3353–3356.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sultan, B. & Janicot, S. 2003 The West African Monsoon Dynamics. Part II: The “Preonset” and “Onset” of the Summer Monsoon. J. Climate 16: 3407–3427.2.0.CO;2>CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Turk, F. J., Hawkins, J., Smith, E. A., Marzano, F. S., Mugnai, A. & Levizzani, V. 2000 Combining SSM/I, TRMM and infrared geostationary satellite data in a near-real time fashion for rapid precipitation updates: advantages and limitations. In: Proc. 2000 EUMETSAT Meteorological Satellite Data Users’ Conf., Vol. 2, Bologna, Italy, EUMETSAT, 705–707.Google Scholar