This Reanalysis product displays different meteorological variables over Africa. Each plays an important role as a predictive indicator for forecasting potential meningitis outbreaks.
Specific Humidity (default): Used as a measurement of dryness. Historically, epidemics are environmentally extinguished when the threshold of 40% specific humidity is met (Pandya et.al.).
Temperature: Meningitis outbreaks generally peak during periods of warm temperature, but more studies must conducted to affirm this correlation (Sawa and Buhari).
Wind: A strong northeasterly (dry) wind from the Sahara has been observed to occur during meningitis outbreaks (Pandya et. al).
The goal of reanalysis is to produce new atmospheric analyses using historical data (1957 onwards) in order to compare it to analyses of the current atmospheric state (Climate Data Assimilation System, CDAS).
The NCEP/NCAR Reanalysis Project is a joint project between the National Centers for Environmental Prediction (NCEP, formerly "NMC") and the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR).
Reference: Kalnay, E., M. Kanamitsu, R. Kistler, W. Collins, D. Deaven, L. Gandin, M. Iredell, S. Saha, G. White, J. Woollen, Y. Zhu, A. Leetmaa, B. Reynolds, M. Chelliah, W. Ebisuzaki, W. Higgins, J. Janowiak, K. C. Mo, C. Ropelewski, J. Wang, R. Jenne, and D. Joseph. The NCEP/NCAR 40-Year Reanalysis Project. Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society, March, 1996
Contact help@iri.columbia.edu with any technical questions or problems with this Map Room, for example, the forecasts not displaying or updating properly.
The Reanalysis interface provides users with the ability to make graphs at a selected location across different resolutions of spatial averaging. The interface consists of a clickable map that allows users to generate customized time series graphs.
When a desired African location is clicked, 2 time series graphs will provide contextual analysis in the following perspectives:
a. Seasonal perspective - A single time series from Jan 2010 until most recent available data.
b. Historical perspective - A dekadal average with the addition of a 30 average from Jan 2007 until most recent available data.