GMet Staff Gain Advanced Training in Climate Data Tools for Enhanced Analysis

The Ghana Meteorological Agency (GMet) has begun a specialized training program to enhance its staff's proficiency in climate data analysis.

The initiative, spearheaded by the International Research Institute for Water and Climate (IRI) as part of the AICCRA project, aims to improve the agency's capabilities using the Climate Data Tools (CDT). The training is part of the Enhancing National Climate Services (ENACTS) program and seeks to equip GMet staff with the skills necessary to handle and analyze climate data more effectively.

The training which started on Tuesday, August 6, 2024, is expected to continue through to Friday, August 9, 2024, at the National Banking College in Accra.

The initial sessions focused on managing data files, where participants learned about the capabilities of the tool and its application for the agency's climate-related work. It covered essential skills such as downloading data, converting station metadata to CDT format, assessing data availability, and downloading datasets.

Participants of the training were drawn from various units within the agency, including the Hydrometeorological Unit, Climatological Unit, Agrometeorological Unit, Data Processing, and Numerical Weather Prediction Unit.

This training is expected to significantly enhance GMet's capacity to provide more accurate and timely climate information, contributing to better-informed decision-making in various sectors reliant on climate data and also introduce the Automatic Weather Station Data Tool, designed for convenient data extraction from automatic weather observation systems.