Eco-climatic zones of sub-Saharan Africa

Eco-climatic zones were produced taking into account land-surface and atmospheric characteristics (the photosynthetic activity, the temperature of the earth?s surface, the atmospheric drying power, the rainfall, the potential evapotranspiration, the length of growing period for plants, the surface elevation). Most of these features could be accurately predicted using satellite data; some others needed a combination of remotely sensed and ground-based data. Remotely sensed data were acquired by NOAA-AVHRR sensor and by Meteosat satellite. The AVHRR satellite data were available in dekadal images for a 13 year series from 1982-1994. Meteosat imagery runs from 1988 to 1997. The information layer was produced for FAO in January 1999 by Environmental Research Group Oxford (ERGO Ltd) in collaboration with the Trypanosomosis and Land Use in Africa (TALA) research group at the Department of Zoology, University of Oxford.