Engineer

Abstract

Climate modeling in Africa plays an essential role when it comes to assessing future climate scenarios as well as their potential impacts, especially in view of limited data for empirical analysis. Such modeling provides insights for engineers, and policymakers, thereby, aiding in informed decision-making for water resources utilization, agricultural production, as well as disaster preparedness. Furthermore, they support long-term climate adaptation strategies by assessing the impact of climate change on ecosystems, infrastructure, and water resources, facilitating evidence-based policy formulation for sustainable development and resilience building in Africa. There exist different climate models in the world, for example, CORDEX, GCM- CCSM4, HadGEM2-Es, RegCM4, WRF, CCLM, and CESM just to mention a few. The paper focused on climate models employed in Africa more so in Kenya. Some of the identified models include the Climate Atlas Climate Model, Rossby Centre Regional Climate Model, CMIP5 Climate Model, CORDEX, and WRF. The CORDEX climate model is a regional climate model (RCM) and could be directly compared to CMIP6. Similarly, the climate atlas model comprises expert tools that are used in the evaluation of crop varieties, and a tailored solution is provided. On the other hand, WRF uses a software architecture tool as well as a data assimilation system, which is then used in forecasting climate conditions.  In summary, all these models help in temperature projections, precipitation patterns, sea-level rise estimates, and more, providing invaluable information for climate research, policy-making, and adaptation strategies in the complex Kenyan region.