"CHIRPS: Rainfall Estimates from Rain Gauge and Satellite Observations. Estimating rainfall variations in space and time is a key aspect of drought early warning and environmental monitoring. An evolving drier-than-normal season must be placed in a historical context so that the severity of rainfall deficits can be quickly evaluated. However, estimates derived from satellite data provide areal averages that suffer from biases due to complex terrain, which often underestimate the intensity of extreme precipitation events. Conversely, precipitation grids produced from station data suffer in more rural regions where there are less rain-gauge stations. CHIRPS was created in collaboration with scientists at the USGS Earth Resources Observation and Science (EROS) Centre in order to deliver complete, reliable, up-to-date data sets for a number of early warning objectives, like trend analysis and seasonal drought monitoring." (Climate Hazards Centre and USAID 2021)
Climate Hazards Centre, and USAID. 2021. “CHIRPS: Rainfall Estimates from Rain Gauge and Satellite Observations.” 2021. https://www.chc.ucsb.edu/data/chirps.
Rainwater harvesting is a crucial solution for water scarcity in semi-arid countries like Kenya. Kenya’s arid and semi-arid lands (ASALs) cover 80% of its territory, making rainwater harvesting essential. There are various reasons why this approach can be beneficial in Samburu County.
