Articles | Volume 17, issue 5
https://doi.org/10.5194/esd-17-1455-2026
© Author(s) 2026. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
https://doi.org/10.5194/esd-17-1455-2026
© Author(s) 2026. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Research article
| 
12 Oct 2026
Research article |
| 12 Oct 2026
| 12 Oct 2026
From paper to proof: revealing Congo Basin warming through rescued climate archives
Department of Water and Climate, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, 1050 Brussels, Belgium
Koen Hufkens
BlueGreen Labs (bv), 9120 Melsele, Belgium
Kim Jacobsen
Department of Environment, Ghent University, 9000 Ghent, Belgium
Department of Biology, Royal Museum for Central Africa, 3080 Tervuren, Belgium
Hans Verbeeck
Department of Environment, Ghent University, 9000 Ghent, Belgium
Pascal Boeckx
Isotope Bioscience Laboratory – ISOFYS, Ghent University, 9000 Ghent, Belgium
Dominique Kankonde Ntumba
Institut National pour l'Etude et la Recherche Agronomiques, Direction Générale, Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of the Congo
Olivier Kapalay Moulasa
Institut National pour l'Etude et la Recherche Agronomiques, Direction Générale, Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of the Congo
Bas Vercruysse
Department of History, Ghent Centre for Digital Humanities, Ghent University, 9000 Ghent, Belgium
Julie M. Birkholz
Department of History, Ghent Centre for Digital Humanities, Ghent University, 9000 Ghent, Belgium
KBR Digital Research Lab, Royal Library of Belgium, 1000 Brussels, Belgium
Christophe Verbruggen
Department of History, Ghent Centre for Digital Humanities, Ghent University, 9000 Ghent, Belgium
Ed Hawkins
Department of Meteorology, National Centre for Atmospheric Science, University of Reading, RG6 6ET Reading, United Kingdom
Seppe Lampe
Department of Water and Climate, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, 1050 Brussels, Belgium
Emmanuel Kasongo Yakusu
Department of Environment, Laboratory of Wood Technology, Ghent University, 9000 Ghent, Belgium
Royal Museum for Central Africa, Service of Wood Biology, 3080 Tervuren, Belgium
Faculté de Gestion des Ressources Naturelles Renouvelables, Université de Kisangani, Kisangani, Democratic Republic of the Congo
Fils Makanzu Imwangana
Faculté des Sciences, Université de Kinshasa, Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of the Congo
Department of Urban Geology and Environment, Center for Geological and Mining Research, Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of the Congo
José Mbifo
Institut National pour l'Etude et la Recherche Agronomiques, Centre de Recherche de Yangambi, Yangambi, Democratic Republic of the Congo
Théophile Besango Likwela
Institut National pour l'Etude et la Recherche Agronomiques, Centre de Recherche de Yangambi, Yangambi, Democratic Republic of the Congo
Félicien Meunier
Department of Water and Climate, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, 1050 Brussels, Belgium
Department of Environment, Ghent University, 9000 Ghent, Belgium
Isotope Bioscience Laboratory – ISOFYS, Ghent University, 9000 Ghent, Belgium
Olivier Dewitte
Department of Earth Sciences, Royal Museum for Central Africa, 3080 Tervuren, Belgium
Peter Thorne
ICARUS Climate Research Centre, Maynooth University, Maynooth, Ireland
Wim Thiery
Department of Water and Climate, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, 1050 Brussels, Belgium
Data sets
Daily and Sub-daily Temperature and Daily Precipitation Records from 37 INERA stations across the Democratic Republic of the Congo (Version 1.0) D. Muheki et al. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.18770063
Digital Copies of Historical Daily Weather Observations taken at INERA stations across the Democratic Republic of the Congo D. Muheki et al. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.21274281
Model code and software
VUB-HYDR/MeteoSaver: MeteoSaver v1.1 (Version v1.1) D. Muheki et al. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.21818879
VUB-HYDR/2026_Muheki_et_al: Scripts_Revealing_Congo_Basin_Warming (Version v1) D. Muheki et al. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.21808003
Short summary
The Congo Basin is one of the least studied regions for climate change due to limited accessible data, despite large volumes of historical records stored on paper in archives. In this study, we digitised over 9000 sheets from 37 stations in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, producing more than one million daily weather observations. The results show clear warming since the 1960s, with more hot days and fewer cold days, highlighting the importance of data rescue in data-sparse regions.
The Congo Basin is one of the least studied regions for climate change due to limited accessible...
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