Transforming Access to and Use of Climate Information Products Derived from Remote Sensing and In Situ Observations
, Tufa Dinku *, Remi Cousin, Igor Khomyakov, Audrey Vadillo, Rija Faniriantsoa and Amanda GrossiRound 1
Reviewer 1 Report
This work focuses on the issue of availability and accessibility of climate data in Africa. This issue is topical because in a context of climate variability and change, it is important to have good quality data with adequate resolution to analyze the major trends of climate change and to see its impact on the various sectors of activity. However, these analyses are limited by the problem of data availability. In this regard, improving data accessibility in a simple format for users has become a major issue (Trambley et al., 2021). However, the major research challenge in this area is not to present sites but rather to make data accessible in the simplest formats (Excell and txt as the computer literacy of some technical services in Africa is low) for users to use. Unfortunately, the authors of the paper did not go in this direction. Indeed, the first problem of the paper is that the authors use observed climate data without presenting the quality of the basic data (i.e. the number of stations per country, gaps in the series, the period covered by the data and the gaps according to the years). Thus, the reader cannot judge the quality of the observed data used to develop the new ENACTS product. Another major problem with this paper is that the site given on page 5 only presents a mapping of a number of indices. The raw ENACTS data is not presented. Finally, the paper does not improve the availability and accessibility of climate data as discussed. This compromises the objective of the paper.
The authors should specify the period covered by the observed data used for the different countries
In addition to these general comments, authors will find the following specific comments:
Line 52 to 63, the authors must give the reasons for the degradation of the climatic and hydrological observation network. Indeed, this degradation of the observation network is linked to the structural adjustment policies of international financial institutions
Line 82 to 89, the authors must give the link of the site but also specify on which period the data are available. 40 years over what period?
Line 98 to 143, the reviewer does not like the telegraphic writing style used
Line 112, it would be good to make an inventory of the observed data used, the number of stations per country, the density of the stations, the period covered by the data etc.
Line 157 to 163, it would be good to do a little exploratory work on the evaluation of the selected satellite products to assess their performance in relation to the ground data
Page 5, the reviewer visited the site. Agryhmet is not a country but rather a regional organization. Also, no downloadable data is available on the site. This is one of the reasons for the work. Finally, for the reviewer the accessibility of the data is not improved because we still do not have access to the data.
References
Tramblay et al: ADHI: The African Database of Hydrometric Indices (1950-2018). Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 13, 1547-1560, 2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-13-1547-2021
Author Response
We are very grateful to the reviewer for raising very important questions that would contribute to improving the manuscript. We have tried to address the issues raised by the reviewer point-by-point. We have also made some changes to the manuscript to address some of the issues.
However, the major research challenge in this area is not to present sites but rather to make data accessible in the simplest formats (Excell and txt as the computer literacy of some technical services in Africa is low) for users to use. Unfortunately, the authors of the paper did not go in this direction. Indeed, the first problem of the paper is that the authors use observed climate data without presenting the quality of the basic data (i.e. the number of stations per country, gaps in the series, the period covered by the data and the gaps according to the years). Thus, the reader cannot judge the quality of the observed data used to develop the new ENACTS product. Another major problem with this paper is that the site given on page 5 only presents a mapping of a number of indices. The raw ENACTS data is not presented. Finally, the paper does not improve the availability and accessibility of climate data as discussed. This compromises the objective of the paper.
The objective of the manuscript is not to present data or to make the data accessible. The generated data belongs to individual national meteorological services, and they are not willing to make the data publicly available. Thus, our agreement with the national meteorological services is for them to make derived climate information products on the past(climatology), present(monitoring), and future (forecast) available to the public in a user-friendly format (which are the maprooms). Having access to data would be good, but many users may not have the tool or the skill to analyze data. The maprooms help to overcome these challenges. The manuscript has been edited to clarify this point.
The reviewer’s point about the description of the data is valid, and we have included some descriptions and added some references.
The authors should specify the period covered by the observed data used for the different countries
This is now included in the data descriptions
In addition to these general comments, authors will find the following specific comments:
Line 52 to 63, the authors must give the reasons for the degradation of the climatic and hydrological observation network. Indeed, this degradation of the observation network is linked to the structural adjustment policies of international financial institutions
This is a great point, particularly the link to the structural adjustment policies of international financial institutions. We have included this point in the revised manuscript.
Line 82 to 89, the authors must give the link of the site but also specify on which period the data are available. 40 years over what period?
This is now included in the data description.
Line 98 to 143, the reviewer does not like the telegraphic writing style used
This has been modified.
Line 112, it would be good to make an inventory of the observed data used, the number of stations per country, the density of the stations, the period covered by the data etc.
This is now included in the data description
Line 157 to 163, it would be good to do a little exploratory work on the evaluation of the selected satellite products to assess their performance in relation to the ground data
The main reason behind selecting these satellite products is not accuracy; it is because these products have long and relatively consistent (one sensor) time series. However, evaluations of these satellite products have also been done over different parts of Africa, and some references on the evaluation of these products have been added.
Page 5, the reviewer visited the site. Agryhmet is not a country but rather a regional organization. Also, no downloadable data is available on the site. This is one of the reasons for the work. Finally, for the reviewer, the accessibility of the data is not improved because we still do not have access to the data.
See earlier response about the ownership and availability of the data
Reviewer 2 Report
The paper reports about the ENACTS project which provides useful information and maps for those who are interested in using climatic data in Africa. The paper is well written and it gives indications on data access.
For more clarity I would suggest to add a table with the available data for each country and the corresponding granularity.
Author Response
The paper reports about the ENACTS project which provides useful information and maps for those who are interested in using climatic data in Africa. The paper is well written and it gives indications on data access.
For more clarity I would suggest to add a table with the available data for each country and the corresponding granularity
A table for 15 countries could be too much, but some information on the start and end of the time series has been added to the revised manuscript.
Reviewer 3 Report
October 21, 2021
Manuscript: ‘Transforming Access to and Use of Climate Information Products Derived from Remote Sensing and In Situ Observations’
This paper details the main functionalities of the Enhancing National Climate Services (ENACTS) initiative developed by Columbia University’s International Research Institute for Climate. Unlike other similar initiatives, ENACTS is obtained by merging rain/temperature gauge, satellite, and reanalysis data from different datasets. This is a relevant topic lies within the scope of the MDPI remote sensing journal. The article is very well organized and neatly written with the appropriate scientific content. Based on the above, I support the publication of this manuscript, but after a minor revision. I would classify this manuscript as ‘Technical Note’ rather than ‘Article’.
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Title: it fits perfectly the paper content.
Abstract: it is quite adjusted to the paper content.
Introduction: it provides sufficient background and includes relevant references on satellite-based or reanalysis-based products, highlighting their limitations and strengths and the need to develop interactive platforms to deliver climate information to decision makers at all levels. Objectives and the novelty are clearly presented.
Materials and Methods: the study area, datasets and processing have been clearly described.
Results and Discussion: these are clearly presented with an adequate narrative.
Line 223: fix ‘…Each of these maprooms are also further…’
Lines 232-233: for clarity, it briefly explains the calculation of the probability of seasonal rainfall/temperature conditioned on ENSO and the IOD.
Lines 273-280: for clarity, it briefly indicates the forecast models used in this maproom.
Summary: this is clearly presented and is supported by discussion from the previous section.
Comments for author File: 
Comments.pdf
Author Response
We appreciate the reviewer's feedbacks very much and have implemented the edits and recommendations. These are shown in bold below
Based on the above, I support the publication of this manuscript, but after a minor revision. I would classify this manuscript as ‘Technical Note’ rather than ‘Article’.
We have no problem with the recommendation of the reviewer.
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Title: it fits perfectly the paper content.
Abstract: it is quite adjusted to the paper content.
Introduction: it provides sufficient background and includes relevant references on satellite-based or reanalysis-based products, highlighting their limitations and strengths and the need to develop interactive platforms to deliver climate information to decision makers at all levels. Objectives and the novelty are clearly presented.
Materials and Methods: the study area, datasets and processing have been clearly described.
Results and Discussion: these are clearly presented with an adequate narrative.
Line 223: fix ‘…Each of these maprooms are also further…’
This has been fixed.
Lines 232-233: for clarity, it briefly explains the calculation of the probability of seasonal rainfall/temperature conditioned on ENSO and the IOD.
This has been added
Lines 273-280: for clarity, it briefly indicates the forecast models used in this maproom.
This would be challenging because different countries may use different approaches.
Reviewer 4 Report
Meaningful project and an adequate corresponding paper. I don't have much things to comment. Thanks!
Author Response
Meaningful project and an adequate corresponding paper. I don't have much things to comment.
We appreciate the feedback very much.
Thanks
Round 2
Reviewer 1 Report
Some remarks made are not taken into account by the authors. In particular, the presentation of the observed data used for the construction of the database whose results are presented in the site.
It is important that the authors give the location of the stations used, the inventory of the data used, etc.
In my opinion this is important to judge the quality of the new product by country
Author Response
It would be impractical to display station distribution for about 15 countries. However, we have added an example to show how the quality of ENACTS data is different from other similar global products.
