About ASMET

 

The ASMET project began in 1997 with the goal of reducing the impact of weather-related disasters in Africa. This was to be achieved by providing weather forecasters and students with self-paced computer-aided learning lessons that taught them how to improve their forecasts by making better use of satellite data. The lessons were to be developed by a team of meteorology instructors from the WMO's Regional Training Centers in Niger (EAMAC) and Kenya (Kenya Meteorological Service or KMS). The first phase of the project was funded by several organizations, notably EUMETSAT and GTZ (Germany). Since then, EUMETSAT has been the sole funder.

During the initial phase, four instructors from EAMAC and KMS attended a nine-month fellowship program on the instructional design and lesson production process at The COMET® Program, a division of the University Corporation for Atmospheric Research (UCAR, Boulder, CO, USA). During that time, the team also produced its first lesson: Integrating Satellite Imagery of the ITCZ into Analyses. Since then, the team has produced a number of lessons, which are described on the ASMET Lessons page of this site.

The four members of the original team worked on the project through the publication of ASMET 5, with new members from KMS and EAMAC added over the years. The South African Weather Service (SAWS) joined the group at the outset of ASMET 5. The project is funded by EUMETSAT and managed by EUMETSAT and COMET. As of 2013, the team consists:

  • Abdoulaye Ouédraogo, Ecole Africaine de la Météorologie et de l’Aviation Civile / L'Agence pour la Sécurité de la Navigation aérienne en Afrique et à Madagascar (EAMAC/ASECNA) , Niamey, Niger
  • Ignatius Gitonga, Institute for Meteorological Training and Research (IMTR), Nairobi, Kenya
  • Hamidou Hama, Instructor, EAMAC/ASECNA
  • Joseph N. Kagenyi, Instructor, IMTR
  • Vesa Nietosvaara, Project Manager, EUMETSAT, Darmstadt, Germany
  • Colleen Rae, Instructor, South African Weather Service (SAWS), Pretoria, South Africa
  • Lee-ann Simpson, Instructor, SAWS
  • Jannie Stander, Instructor, SAWS
  • Marianne Weingroff, Instructional Designer, COMET/UCAR