High resolution climate data at the Yangambi research station

Hundreds of meteorological stations were scattered across DR Congo within the context of climatological research of INEAC, but one station stands out.

The Yangambi research station served as the main hub of this observation network, collecting and relaying all measured data. More so, the research station itself, more than anywhere else, was outfitted with the most comprehensive suite of measurement equipment. One particular post became known as Yangambi km5. Not only did they measure various climate parameters at this location, they also did so at a high frequency, far exceeding any efforts elsewhere in the Congo Basin.

Master student Innocent Banzi Ngulu-kulu has taken on the task of making sense of this dense dataset. His thesis will focus on transcribing these vast amounts of high density data, at times recorded at hourly intervals (Figure 1), for various environmental variables including temperature, rainfall, relative humidity and barometric pressure. With this data Innocent will try to unravel changes in climatology between the first decades of the last century and current conditions, taking cues from previous research by Aguilar et al. 2000.

Fig 1. - Dense temperature data at the Yangambi research station. [showing small outtake of data between 6-15h]