Datasets/Regional Climatologies/Southern Africa

This region is defined by 0° to 35°S and by 5°W to 55°E (see below). These climatologies were constructed by Henry Mulenga (assisted by Declan Conway) from the Zambian Meteorological Department during his four month secondment to the Climatic Research Unit funded by WWF International during the period January to May 1995. At present fields exist for TMP,TMX,TMN,PRE,WND,RD0,SUN,CLD and VAP for the mean elevation (MN). The raw station data which was used in the interpolation was a combination of 1961-90 data already held by CRU and station normals obtained by Mulenga from some of the SADC National Met. Services in the region. A total of 3471 0.5° latitude/longitude cells exist for the region. The mean elevation climatologies for TMP,TMX,TMN,VAP,WND,CLD and PRE are presently loaded in SCENGEN. Some sample fields for the annual mean are shown below for mean temperature, diurnal range, vapour pressure and cloud cover.

A paper which describes this climatology has been published (Hulme et al., 1996). The work has been funded by WWF International (see the Southern African climate change report).

References:

Hulme,M., Joyce,A., Conway,D. and Mulenga,H. (1996): A 1961-90 baseline climatology for southern Africa and an intercomparison for the region of PE calculation methods South African J. Science, 92, 334-343.