FANFAR in Central Africa - Seamless approach to forecasting and warning for meteorological, hydrological and climate extremes
The aim of the project is to support the Central Africa region with a regionally adapted system for operational hydrological forecasting and warning production, with the goal of becoming operational before the end of 2027.
This project is a part of World Bank funded CREWS which is supported by the World Meteorological Organisation (WMO). Within the project, SMHI collaborates with AGRHYMET, a specialized institute of the Permanent Interstate Committee for Drought Control in the Sahel.
The project mainly focuses on the extension and adaptation of the existing FANFAR flood forecasting system to the Central African region. FANFAR was developed for West Africa by SMHI in cooperation with AGRHYMET under an EU funded project in 2018-2021.
The project activities for FANFAR Central Africa can be summarised in four interlinked activities:
Activity 1: User needs and institutional anchoring, inclusive hydrometeorological data collection
Activity 2: Hydrological modelling (Central Africa-HYPE set-up, refinement and calibration)
Activity 3: Operationalization of a prototype of the FANFAR Central Africa production system and outputs visualization
Activity 4: End user engagement and capacity building
The project is implemented using an agile and co-development approach to enhance ownership and sustainability. One of the fundamental prerequisites for operationalizing FANFAR lies in the availability and quality of data from national hydrological and meteorological networks (discharge, water levels, precipitation, temperature, station metadata, etc).
Participants in a data workshop in Yaoundé, Cameroon.
FANFAR in Central Africa
Country: 11 countries in Central Africa (Angola, Burundi, Cameroon, Republic of Congo, Gabon, Equatorial Guinea, the Central African Republic, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Rwanda, São Tomé and Príncipe, and Chad).
Subject areas: Hydrology
Duration: 3 years: 2025-2027
Partners: AGRHYMET CCR-AOS, and River basin authorities as well as National key partners in the sectors of Meteorology, hydrology and disaster management agencies.
Funder: World Meteorological Organisation (WMO)
