Vanuatu Subnational Rainfall: Dekadal Indicators and Anomalies

Dekadal rainfall indicators for Vanuatu at subnational administrative levels, produced by the World Food Programme using CHIRPS v2 and CHIRPS-GEFS satellite imagery. It tracks 10-day, 1-month, and 3-month rainfall totals, averages, and anomalies updated on a recurring cycle six times per month. The data includes both historical observations and short-term forecasts aggregated by WFP administrative units.

Use Cases

• Monitoring agricultural drought conditions using the 3-month rainfall anomaly (r3q) column
• Assessing short-term water availability for crops using 10-day rainfall totals (rfh)
• Climate trend analysis by comparing current dekadal rainfall to long-term averages (rfh_avg)

Strengths

• Includes 9 distinct rainfall indicators including rolling 1-month and 3-month aggregations
• Uses standardized WFP Pcode references for administrative unit joins
• Provides n_pixels column to quantify the spatial input density for each aggregate

Limitations

• Satellite-derived CHIRPS data may deviate from local ground-based rain gauge measurements
• Temporal lag exists as final observations are only published mid-month for the prior month's dekads

Provenance

Source

World Food Programme (WFP) via CHIRPS v2 and CHIRPS-GEFS

Collection Method

Satellite imagery (Climate Hazards Group InfraRed Precipitation) integrated with in-situ station data and GEFS forecasts

Freshness

Updated six times per month on a fixed schedule (1st, 6th, 11th, 16th, 21st, and 26th).

Geography

Vanuatu