Archive of Spotlight Feature Articles

Via Satellite:
RANET Climate Information Pages

(Radio and Internet for the Communication of Hydro-Meteorological and Climate Related Information)

Climate and weather play a vital role in many human activities such as agriculture, energy production, wildlife management, disaster mitigation, health, and a host of other areas. Technological and scientific advances in recent decades have not only provided us with a substantial understanding of our climate and weather but produced a variety of products that can help humans  manage systems sensitive to meteorological events and seasonal variability.

Although such information cannot be considered a panacea, it can often be of great value. Unfortunately, rural and technologically disadvantaged populations, often those most in need of hydro-meteorological and environmental information, do not always possess the means or training with which to access meteorological products already produced by national, regional, and various international organizations and government agencies.

The RANET Project was designed specifically to address information access and support of rural communities. Originally conceived and started in the later part of 1997 by ACMAD (the African Center of Meteorological Applications for Development) as a way to improve the technical capacities and networks of national hydro-meteorological services and extension agencies in Africa, the RANET project is now a cooperative effort of many national and international organizations with founding support and technical advice from the University of Oklahoma, NOAA National Weather Service, NOAA Office of Global Programs and its Climate Information Project, and the USAID Office of Foreign Disaster Assistance.

Activities of the RANET project have included training on issues of climate and weather, working to improve the Internet connectivity of African meteorological services, distribution and creation of radio networks, and working through government-corporate partnerships to broadcast data and information via digital satellites to government hydro-meteorological and extension agencies throughout Africa.

The later activity is part of the RANET effort to make climate and weather related information more accessible.  To do so RANET works with various partners to create the RANET Multi-Media Climate Information Pages made available via the WorldSpace Foundation's Africa Learning Channel (ALC) digital radio satellite broadcast. In a format analogous to surfing the Internet, but viewed from a local disk-drive after downloading content from a satellite, the broadcast allows the user to view graphic and bandwidth intensive material. The information carried on the broadcast includes bulletins, reports, observations, satellite imagery, and other products of national hydro- meteorological services, which are considered part of the public domain.

Sending up to 4mb nearly every hour, the RANET multi-media pages are delivered via the satellite and a special digital receiver that places content directly on the hard drive of a user's computer. The information can then be examined at the recipient’s leisure and without the wait or barrier often associated with downloading bandwidth intensive material over the Internet. The system is capable of carrying text and image based material as well as video and audio material. Since it is based on Internet technologies, there is also the potential for developing highly interactive content, which might be used to further the training efforts of RANET.

In addition, because the Africa Learning Channel (the host of RANET's multi-media broadcast) carries other information, such as that provided by health groups, the RANET content is part of a truly distributed network.This means that other information providers and their user group help to expand the distribution area by increasing the number of receivers in each country.

The content for the RANET pages is contributed by numerous groups, however format and technical management of the multi-media satellite broadcast was developed and maintained by the NOAA Office of Global Programs Climate Information Project -- a project created during the 1997-98 El Nino to examine various issues surrounding access to seasonal and climate- related information.  The broadcast first became operational in May of 2000, and in the beginning of 2001, operation and management of the system will be transferred to ACMAD and soon other regional and country-specific meteorological organizations.

For updates on RANET activities, visit the CIP website:  http://www.cip.ogp.noaa.gov.

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