Cooperative Projects

The CIMH is involved in a number of cooperative projects with various training and research institutions. The goals of these cooperative efforts are to enhance the training and research capability of the Institute and to upgrade the knowledge and skills of its staff through the use of new technologies. The CIMH is also involved in a number of development projects in the region, working with various funding agencies. These projects utilise the expertise of the staff in a wide range of fields.

Below is a summary of some of the projects in which the CIMH is currently involved.

CARIBBEAN AGROMETEOROLOGICAL INITIATIVE (CAMI)

Funded by the European Union under the African, Caribbean and Pacific Group of States (ACP) Science and Technology Programme

The Caribbean Institute for Meteorology and Hydrology (CIMH) in partnership with the Caribbean Agricultural Research and Development Institute (CARDI) World Meteorological Organization (WMO) and National Meteorological and Hydrological Services (NMHSs) of ten Caribbean member States have received a grant from the European Union through the African Caribbean and Pacific Group of States (ACP) Science and Technology (S&T) Programme for the Caribbean Agrometeorological Initiative (CAMI).

Objective

The objective of the programme is to increase and sustain agricultural productivity at the farm level in the Caribbean region through improved dissemination and application of weather and climate information using an integrated and coordinated approach. The results are expected to benefit the farming community in the Caribbean Region.

The programme which was launched in February 2010, will run for a three-year period. It was launched at a Stakeholders Meeting, held in Barbados and included all of the partner organisations along with stakeholder Ministries and agencies. A Steering Committee meeting preceded the stakeholder meeting, where detailed plans for the execution of the programme were discussed and finalised. These plans include training of personnel of Meteorological and Agricultural Services, CARDI and CIMH in relevant aspects of agrometeorology.

The project is expected to assist the farming community in the Caribbean region through provision of information through the regional network of Meteorological and Agricultural Services and research institutes on predictors of the rainy season potential and development of effective pest and disease forecasting systems for improved on-farm management decisions; preparation and wide diffusion of a user-friendly weather and climate information newsletter and organization of forums with the farming community and agricultural extension agencies to promote a better understanding of the applications of weather and climate information and to obtain feedback to provide better products from the meteorological services for use by the farming community.

An important aspect of the programme is the organization of regular forums with the farming community and agricultural extension agencies to promote a better understanding of the applications of weather and climate information and to obtain feedback to provide better products from the meteorological services for use by the farming community.

For more information, visit the project website at http://cimh.edu.bb/cami or contact Mr Adrian Trotman, Agrometeorologist and Chief of Applied Meteorology and Climatology (Ag.), Caribbean Institute for Meteorology and Hydrology (atrotman@cimh.edu.bb).

Real-Time Flood Forecasting Project

The Member States of the Caribbean Community are island states or continental countries with highly populated coastal plains lying below sea level. The Member States are subject to repeated flooding, some on an annual basis, with massive resultant loss in life and significant economic losses.

This project proposes to develop a robust, reproducible, and transparent approach to flood forecasting that couples a physically based hydrological model capable of capturing changes in watershed characteristics to a numerical weather prediction model. The approach overcomes many of the deficiencies encountered in more traditional approaches to flood forecasting in small watershed where there is a short time lag between precipitation events and the onset of flood.

Flood forecasting techniques currently implemented in some Caribbean territories often rely on (i) a series of precipitation measurements in the upland portions of watersheds to infer potential flooding downstream, and/or (ii) coarse precipitation forecasts from national meteorological services. In the former case, the time between the measured precipitation and the onset of flooding is often very short as most watersheds on Caribbean islands are small (10s of km2). In the latter case, coarse precipitation forecasts provide limited spatial and quantitative information to support a quantitative assessment of the potential for flooding. It is important to note that in the approaches mentioned little consideration is given to physical state of the watershed, which is a critical factor controlling flood development.

This project being proposed couples the physically based numerical hydrological model HydroGeoSphere (developed at the University of Waterloo) which is capable of capturing changes in some watershed characteristics to the numerical weather prediction model Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model. The coupled modelling framework will be applied to selected catchments in Barbados ,Guyana and Jamaica. This project is being funded through the CARICOM/Japan Friendship Fund and is being executed by the Caribbean Institute for Meteorology and Hydrology.

Project details and reporting are available below. Please contact Shawn Boyce at sboyce@cimh.edu.bb should you have any questions or queries.

Project Details Files

[Project Summary] [Project Concepts] [Project Schedule]   [Pilot Countries]  [Press Release]

CARIWIN

The Caribbean Water Initiative (CARIWIN) is a collaborative project led by McGill University's Brace Center for Water Resources Management, the Caribbean Institute for Meteorology & Hydrology (CIMH), and Caribbean partner Governments, to address the complex challenges of water management in the Caribbean and promote sustainable and equitable Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM) in the region. Launched in 2007, the 6-year project aims to achieve this by (i) strengthening the capacity of CIMH, as a regional institution, to provide training and capacity development in water resources management to CARICOM member states, and (ii) propagating capacity building initiatives in IWRM through CIMH at the national, local and community levels in the three partner countries - Jamaica, Grenada and Guyana. The CARIWIN project will increase the relevance and reach of CIMH while testing, developing and disseminating new tools and information products directed at decision-makers and policy-makers for application of IWRM in the Caribbean.

Main achievements of CARIWIN to-date include:

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