SAFARI 2000: Southern Africa Mean Climatology, 1931-1960

Long-term monthly averages for the period 1931-1960, including mean temperature, temperature range, precipitation, rain days, and sunshine hours. This dataset is a 0.5-degree gridded subset of the global Cramer and Leemans climatology, covering southern Africa from 5°N to 35°S and 5°E to 60°E. It is version 2.1, widely used in global NPP model intercomparisons.

Use Cases

• Calibrating Net Primary Productivity (NPP) models based on long-term climate averages.
• Analyzing historical climate patterns for mean temperature and precipitation across southern Africa.
• Comparing modern climate data against a 1931-1960 baseline for climate change studies.
• Mapping spatial distributions of sunshine hours and rain days for agricultural planning.

Strengths

• Provides a 30-year (1931-1960) stable climatological baseline for model comparison.
• Uses a standardized, widely-adopted global climatology (version 2.1) cited in IGBP NPP intercomparisons.
• Covers a specific, ecologically significant region (southern Africa) with 0.5-degree spatial resolution.

Limitations

• Key metadata conflicts: one source lists a last updated date in 2026, while another lists 1960, creating uncertainty about data currency.
• Column names are not provided by any source, limiting precise understanding of data structure.
• Data is historical and does not represent recent climate conditions.

Provenance

Source

National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA); derived from the global Cramer and Leemans climatology.

Collection Method

Generated from a larger database using the partial thin-plate splining algorithm developed by Michael F. Hutchinson.

Time Range

1931-1960

Freshness

Conflicting: datagov lists 2026-04-09, nasa_earthdata lists 1960-12-31.

Geography

Southern Africa (5°N to 35°S, 5°E to 60°E)