Working Together to Bring Weather Equipment Back to the Field
For the past three weeks, Joshua Brewster from Oregon State University has been working with the TAHMO Kenya team in Nairobi to assess, repair and test faulty equipment recovered from the field.
Working alongside Victor Omoit, Jacob Ogongo, Rachel Marende and Victor Mbuvi, Joshua has helped identify equipment that can be recovered and returned to service rather than being permanently retired. Several repaired units are already operating at the IMTR/TAHMO testbed, where they are being monitored and validated before potential redeployment as field spares.
This work has been made possible through the support and authorisation of the Kenya Meteorological Service Authority (KMSA) and the Institute for Meteorological Training and Research (IMTR). Their collaboration has enabled laboratory repairs, equipment upgrades and field-based testing at the testbed.
As part of the ongoing engagement, Joshua Brewster and Victor Omoit met with IMTR Assistant Director Paul Murage to provide an update on the work completed. The visit included a tour of the IMTR/TAHMO testbed, where Victor Omoit demonstrated the current setup and explained how repaired equipment will be tested and validated.
The team also visited the TAHMO laboratory, which is currently being organised and developed into a dedicated facility for equipment maintenance, testing and future innovation.
For TAHMO, this initiative represents an important step towards a more sustainable approach to equipment management. By diagnosing, repairing and validating faulty equipment locally, TAHMO can extend the life of valuable instruments while reducing unnecessary replacement and improving the availability of field-ready spares.
The collaboration between TAHMO Kenya, KMSA, IMTR and Oregon State University is laying the foundation for a stronger local ecosystem for equipment recovery, testing and improvement. With the IMTR/TAHMO testbed providing real-world validation, the laboratory will play an increasingly important role in ensuring that equipment returned to the field is ready to perform reliably.
