Climate Data Tool

• National Meteorological and Hydrological Services (NMHS)
• Climate scientists and researchers
• Universities and academic institutions
• Government planners (agriculture, water, health)
• NGOs and development practitioners
• Regional climate centers
• International organizations and climate initiatives

They use the Climate Data Tool (CDT) to organize and quality-control station data, merge it with satellite observations, analyze climate patterns, and generate reliable datasets and visualizations that support research, climate services, and evidence-based planning.

The Climate Data Tool (CDT) was developed under the ENACTS initiative to address one of the most critical challenges facing climate services in many developing countries: the limited availability, poor accessibility, and inconsistent quality of climate data. In many countries, observational networks are sparse, historical station records are incomplete, and climate data are often stored in fragmented or non-standardized formats that are difficult to analyze and use operationally. At the same time, there is increasing demand for reliable climate information to support agriculture, water management, disaster risk reduction, public health, infrastructure planning, and climate change adaptation. CDT was designed to help National Meteorological and Hydrological Services (NMHSs) and partner institutions efficiently manage and quality-control station data, while also generating spatially and temporally complete climate datasets by combining station observations with satellite rainfall estimates and climate reanalysis products.

CDT works by bringing together different types of climate data, mainly weather station observations and satellite or climate model data, and combining them into more complete and reliable datasets. It first checks and cleans station data, then fills gaps using statistical methods and merges it with gridded climate datasets. The result is a set of continuous climate maps and time series that can be visualized, analyzed, and used to generate climate indicators and summaries for practical use.

The main outputs and findings generated using CDT are not stored in a single global repository but are instead produced and used within countries. These outputs typically include national climate datasets, rainfall and temperature maps, drought and rainfall indicators, climate trends, and monitoring products that feed directly into decision-making systems. They are widely used in sectors such as agriculture, water resource management, disaster risk reduction, and climate adaptation planning.

In simple terms, CDT takes scattered and incomplete climate records and turns them into usable national climate information products that governments and institutions can rely on for planning and early warning systems.

Copyright and intellectual property

The tool is an open-source scientific software package, meaning it is freely available for use in research, operational climate services, and capacity-building. While CDT was initially developed at IRI, its ongoing development and maintenance are now led by scientists at the Stockholm Environment Institute, reflecting a transition in responsibility while maintaining its open-access nature.

Quality assurance

CDT is developed and improved through continuous collaboration between SEI scientists and National Meteorological and Hydrological Services (NMHSs) that use the tool operationally. Its methods for data processing, including quality control, interpolation, bias correction, and data merging, are based on established statistical and geospatial techniques commonly used in peer-reviewed climate science. The tool is regularly updated based on user feedback and advances in climate data science to improve accuracy, usability, and performance in real-world applications.

How to cite the tool

Dinku T, Faniriantsoa R, Islam S, Nsengiyumva G and Grossi A (2022) The Climate Data Tool: Enhancing Climate Services Across Africa. Frontiers in Climate. doi: 10.3389/fclim.2021.787519

Links

• CDT User Guide (official documentation): https://iri.columbia.edu/~rijaf/CDTUserGuide/
  

The Climate Data Tool: Enhancing Climate Services Across Africa. Dinku Tufa, Faniriantsoa Rija, Islam Shammunul, Nsengiyumva Gloriose, Grossi Amanda. Frontiers in Climate, 2022.

We are working on a web-based version of CDT, which will provide greater flexibility, easier access, and improved usability, while maintaining the core functionality that NMHSs and partners rely on for data analysis, quality control, and validation.