As part of the United Nations Development Programme's (UNDP) Crisis Prevention and Resilience Building component, the international agency has funded the acquisition and commissioning of a network of four automated weather stations (AWS) by the end of December 2021 to improve climate knowledge in the area. An additional full mobile station is also available to meet specific needs.
It should be noted that the Union of the Comoros is exposed to the seasonal cyclones of the southern summer. During the 2018–2019 season, cyclone KENNETH, at the stage of an intense tropical cyclone (wind speed greater than 166 km/h), came very close to the coasts of the archipelago, in particular the island of La Grande Comore, causing both human casualty and infrastructure damage.
This is why a territory-wide approach was deployed from the outset. The Union of the Comoros, is composed of four islands (Anjouan, Grande Comore, Mayotte, and Mohéli). There are two stations on the island of Grande Comore (Moroni and Oichili), a station on the island of Anjouan (Domoni), and a station on the island of Moheli (Miringoni).
Data are measured every minute and transmitted by GPRS every hour to the National Agency for Civil Aviation and Meteorology (ANACM) FTP server. A team of specialists then aggregates all this valuable data for analysis and forecasting.
This classic meteorological project was successfully completed, despite the health crisis, thanks to the combined long-term efforts of contributors and the seamless technical and logistical support of Campbell Scientific.