Trans-African Hydro-Meteorological Observatory

The Trans-African Hydro-Meteorological Observatory (TAHMO) seeks to develop a network of weather stations across Africa. It is important to catalog and make accessible all current and historic climate data so that interested people can start their data analysis efforts, to avoid redundancy in TAHMO installations, and to prioritize the coming years of effort.

A Network of 20,000 Hydro-meteorological Stations  

The idea behind this project is to develop a dense network of hydro-meteorological monitoring stations in Sub-Saharan Africa: one every 30 km. This entails the installation of 20,000 such stations. By applying innovative sensor technology and ICT, TAHMO stations are both inexpensive and robust. Stations will be placed at schools and integrated in the educational program, adding richness to the curriculum and helping foster a new generation of scientists. Local weather data will be combined with models and satellite observations to obtain insight into the distribution of water and energy stocks and fluxes.  Within this project, we have built a prototype of an acoustic disdrometer (rain gauge) that can be produced for €10, less than one percent of the cost of a commercial equivalent with the same specifications. The disdrometer was developed in The Netherlands and tested in Tanzania for a total project cost of €5000.