On Friday, 1st March 2024, the RIFT Jet study partners in Kenya officially launched the first weather balloon to start the 'Masika' observational campaign within the KMD's headquarters.
UON's Prof. Daniel Olago (l) and KMD's Deputy Director Charles Mugah (r) launch the weather balloon. Photo by REACH Kenya
The Turkana Jet is an equatorial low-level jet forming in East Africa carrying moisture from the Indian Ocean. Kenya Meteorological Department (KMD) officers working out of Marsabit, North West Kenya, were the first to identify these winds. The winds form in the Turkana Channel, between the Ethiopian Highlands to the northeast and Kenya Highlands to the southwest.
The RIFT Jet research is one of the deliverables of the 'REACH: Improving Water Security for the Poor' Programme, a collaboration between the University of Oxford, United Kingdom and the University of Nairobi, Kenya. In Kenya, the programme has established the Kitui and Turkana Observatories. The REACH Programme has developed a global research and impact strategy, recognising its progress and providing a roadmap for improving water security for 10 million people by 2024. REACH Programme has established science practitioner partnerships with government, private sector and civil society stakeholders in long-term, instrumented, and interdisciplinary observatories to understand and influence the most significant but uncertain risks. The Foreign Commonwealth Development Office (FCDO) funds the REACH programme that brings together a consortium of global water science, policy and practice leaders. Please visit [www.reachwater.org.uk] for additional details.
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