Abuja – The Nigerian Meteorological Agency, (NiMet) and National Space Research and Development Agency, (NASRDA) have agreed to collaborate on the application of Geographical Information System (GIS) to climate monitoring.
Mrs Tessy Ushie, the Assistant General Manager, NiMet’s Public Relations Unit said this on Thursday in Abuja.
The statement quoted the Director-General of NiMet, Prof. Sani Mashi as saying “the collaboration was to complement the existing surface weather stations in the country, thereby, improving the accuracy of NiMet’s forecasts and other climate services’’.
He said that the two agencies had also agreed to set up an eight-member inter-agency technical committee to draw up a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) that would identify critical areas of synergy and limitations.
“A Geographical Information System (GIS) is designed to capture, store, manipulate, analyse, manage and present spatial or geographical data.
“GIS and satellite images could also be used to extract surface temperature for an area instead of using only surface station data,’’ it said.
Mashi stated that there was the need to strategically partner with NASRDA because of the mutual benefits that was inherent in the synergy.
According to him, satellite imagery helps in effective forecasting, which is a tool NASRDA has that can be effectively utilised to enhance the services of NiMet.
He said with the present density of ground weather observation stations, NiMet could leverage on NASRDA’s expertise on satellite communication, juxtaposed with its ground information to churn out sophisticated weather forecasts.
The statement also quoted the Director-General of NASRDA, Prof. Seidu Mohammed as saying “it is importance for both agencies to work together for the greater good of Nigerians’’.
Mohammed said the synergy would help them to find common solution to problems with the aim of improving the livelihood of all Nigerians.
He added that NASRDA would assist NiMet in providing feedback on predicted flood areas, the accuracy of the flood predictions, as well as train its members of staff on GIS application to meteorology.
The NASRDA boss said the collaboration would also bridge the gap of low density of NiMet weather stations to conform to recommendations of the World Meteorological Organisation (WMO) on composition of weather stations. (NAN)