Introduction
Mukau Drought Observatory is a near-real time system that uses Earth Observation and Weather information to monitor drought conditions in the East Africa region. The Mukau pages contain drought-relevant information such as maps of indicators derived from different data sources (e.g., precipitation measurements, satellite measurements, modelled soil moisture content). Different tools, like Graphs and Compare Layers, allow for displaying and analysing the information and drought reports give an overview of the situation in case of imminent droughts.
The system is a service developed as part of the Intra-ACP Climate Services Project in collaboration with the Drought Unit at the Joint Research Centre of the European Commission. The system is an adaptation of the European Drought Observatory (EDO) adapted to the conditions in the East Africa region
The (JRC) currently operates two Drought Observatories (DO): European Drought Observatory (EDO) and the Global Drought Observatory (GDO). These platforms are based on a shared technical platform that implements the above components and other additional enhancements. Mukau incoporates necessary customizations inorder to be used as it is and perform as expected.
The diagram below illustrates the overall architecture of MUKAU system
On a high level, the system is made up of the following components:
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Database and Data Model – PostgreSQL/PostGIS database with tables that describe pixel location as vector data in Decimal degrees using five different resolutions
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Data ingestion tools – Automated scripts that ingest data into the database periodically
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Map Viewer – The application logic and presentation layers of the system. The application logic layer uses OSGEO Mapserver technologies to connect to database and process the layers for visualization by use of mapfiles. The presentation layer displays the map layers and also provides the graphical controls that receive the interaction from the user, and converts these interactions to requests for the application logic layer.
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Content management system – A content management system built using Wagtail Django CMS and PostgreSQL and JavaScript (jQuery). The CMS embeds both the mapviewer and other analytical compomnents within its pages.
Each component is explored furthur on its respective page: