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LANDSURF (LANDSURF)

Project LANDSURF completed ·

The overall objective of the LANDSURF project is to develop a high-resolution regional Earth system model for West Africa (WESM), coupled to an ocean model and with a new, fully interactive land surface scheme. To create the model, various sub-goals must be achieved. The results and information from the research work will be made available to end users in sub-Saharan West Africa via a web portal so that they can benefit from the knowledge gained. Various workshops and capacity development measures will ensure the transfer of knowledge and the involvement of local end users.

In its sub-project, the Geoecology working group is responsible for creating an interactive, multilingual and freely available web portal. This serves as the main tool for disseminating information and data from the research work and is planned as a decision support system for stakeholders and smallholder farmers who are in the process of adapting to climate change in West Africa.

Background and objectives

The African continent is facing various challenges and numerous risks due to climate change. In order to strengthen the resilience of West African societies in the areas of agriculture, food security, water management and risk management, adaptation measures must be planned and implemented in good time. This requires reliable and easily accessible regional climate information that is tailored to the needs of the various end users. Extensive modelling is required to generate such information on future climate change.

  • The overarching goal is to develop a high-resolution regional Earth system model for West Africa (WESM), coupled to an ocean model and with a new, fully interactive land surface scheme.

Sub-goals

  • Investigate high-resolution, spatiotemporal data sets of land use changes and develop scenarios
  • Coupling a regional climate model to an ocean model and supplementing it with a land surface model and soil hydrology model
  • Analysing and illustrating important indicators of climate change in sub-Saharan West Africa
  • Validate the model data with observational data
  • Incorporating the needs of West African end users
    • Creation of an interactive, multilingual web portal
    • Implementation of the novel WESM at the WASCAL Competence Centre in Ouagadougou
    • Provision of a user-friendly version of the atmospheric component of the WESM
  • Transfer of knowledge and methods with practical relevance through capacity development measures and workshops

Methodological approach

To achieve the sub-project of the geoecology working group, the creation of the web portal, a participatory approach is being pursued. In order to ensure the involvement of end users and respond to their needs, various end users and end user groups are first identified and contacted. These will be involved in the design and creation of the web portal. There will be the opportunity to accompany the process and to test and improve preliminary versions of the portal. This will ensure that the final web portal is highly useful.

Expected results

The final, high-resolution Earth system model should provide important insights into the climatic development in West Africa. This will provide insights that will help the West African population to adapt to the numerous risks and challenges of climate change and strengthen their resilience. The web portal will ensure that a broad range of interested parties have access to the results of the research work.