aWere data

Are you a student or researcher involved in climate change or agriculture research? Would you like access to better weather and agronomic data to inform your research? If so, the resources provided by MUCCRI and aWhere, through the ERICCA project, may be of use to you.

The USAID/Uganda Education and Research to Improve Climate Change Adaptation (ERICCA) Activity, under the auspices of the Makerere University Centre for Climate Change Research and Innovations (MUCCRI), has partnered with aWhere Inc. to provide students and partners with actionable information and weather data for agricultural and climate research. The findings of this research would contribute to the strengthening of the adaptive capacity of smallholder farmers in Uganda to the adverse impacts of climate change. The aWhere platform is suitable for use in both agricultural and climate research, providing students and researchers at MUCCRI access to key weather and agronomic data for user-selected locations. Accessible weather data are important for in-season decision-making and instrumental for improved research. This makes aWhere a powerful research and decision-making tool in agricultural development and climate adaptation initiatives.

About the Data

aWhere has a weather platform that offers access to historical, daily-observed, and 8 days of daily forecasted weather data for locations around the world, including Uganda. aWhere collects weather data from meteorological stations, satellites, and other data sources and interpolates it into 9km2 grid cells, akin to having a complete meteorological station every 9km2 across the agricultural earth. In Uganda alone, aWhere has 2,836 points for which data is generated every day, covering every 9km2, compared to sparse publically available weather stations. Therefore, aWhere data gives more specificity and clarity about the local weather conditions impacting farmers. Within each grid cell, observed weather data is available for the following variables:

• Precipitation
• Minimum and maximum temperature
• Minimum and maximum relative humidity
• Solar radiation
• Mean and maximum wind speed
• Growing Degree Days
• Precipitation over Potential Evapotranspiration (P/PET)
• Potential Evapotranspiration

Accessing the Data

To access data, users should first visit http://developer.awhere.com/api/get-started and create a trial account. Within this account, create an “app” to get a consumer key and secret. These will be used to authorize your download of data. Once your trial has ended, contact MUCCRI to receive continued access. Once you have an account, you may access the data via:

aWhere’s API

If you are a programmer, you can access aWhere’s API by visiting developer.awhere.com and reviewing the documentation about how to access the data.

R

If you program in R, you can access aWhere’s data by downloading the aWhere API package. This can be accessed at https://github.com/aWhereAPI/aWhere-R-Library.

Excel

If you primarily use data in Excel, you can download limited amounts of data on our online app, at https://awhere-weather-data.herokuapp.com/.

Contacting MUCCRI directly

If you’re having trouble accessing the data through any of the above means, or simply have questions about the data, contact our representatives at email: muccri@caes.mak.ac.ug

About ERICCA and MUCCRI

The overall goal of the ERICCA is to help establish the MUCCRI as a recognized national and regional hub of academic, professional development, and research excellence in climate science, climate adaptation, and related disciplines.

About aWhere

aWhere is a US-based agricultural insights and information company dedicated to providing intelligence to farmers, commercial growers, commodity traders and policymakers everywhere. It provides the most complete weather data and agricultural information to enable real-time and evidence-based decision making.

For more information about aWhere, visit www.awhere.com