# **2.4.1 Weather Descriptives**

In addition to estimating mismeasurement from the choice of remote sensing products and extraction method, we examine variation arising from the choice of different weather metrics. In total, we test 22 different ways to measure precipitation and temperature. A complete list of these variables with their exact are in Table 4.

To provide a sense of the variation in measurement induced by the remote sensing product, we present summary figures for a subset of the 22 weather metrics we examine. While our focus in the econometric analysis is country, because that is the relevant unit of analysis for most economists, we present descriptive evidence by global agro-ecological zone as these agro-climatic divisions are more relevant when seeking to assess difference in weather patterns (absent the connection to household data). The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA) develop agro-ecological zones to assess agricultural resources and potential. The measurement integrates available land and water resources, agroclimatic resources, and general conditions about agricultural suitability to determine a set of zones, which differ across these metrics. We use a revised AEZ surface for Africa (Sebastian, 2009) that incorporates high resolution climatology (WorldClim) and elevation (SRTMv4) surfaces to produce a downscaled version of the agro-ecological zones. In our data, six agro-ecological zones are covered, including (1) tropic-warm/semi-arid, (2) tropic-warm/sub-humid, (3) tropic-warm/humid, (4) tropic-cool/semi-arid, (5) tropic-cool/sub-humid, and (6) tropic-cool/humid.

Figure 4 presents the distribution of total season rainfall (measured in millimeters), by remote sensing product and agro-ecological zone. Within any given agro-ecological zone there are substantial differences in the distribution of rainfall as reported by each remote sensing product. In tropic-warm/semi-arid regions all products report about the same mean (between 550 and 650mm) but some report a bimodal distribution while others report a unimodal distribution. At the upper end of the distribution, these differences grow, with MERRA-2 and ERA5 reporting maximum values of greater than 1,700mm while all other sources report maximums of less than 1400mm.

Among the six agro-ecological zones, there tends to be the greatest degree of agreement between remote sensing sources for tropic-warm regions. In the three tropic-warm sub-regions, means from each remote sensing source tend to be close to each other and the largest maximum value is usually less than double the smallest maximum value. By comparison, there is substantial variation in reported rainfall for the three tropic-cool sub-regions. In these agro-ecological zones, the largest mean is nearly double the smallest mean. In tropic-cool/semi-arid locations, ERA5 reports a mean seasonal rainfall of 859mm (maximum 2,579mm) while CPC reports a mean of 454mm (maximum 1,006mm). In tropic-cool/sub-humid locations, ERA5 reports a mean of 1,446mm (maximum 6,968mm) while CPC reports a mean of 706mm (maximum 1,714mm). In tropic-cool/humid locations, ERA5 reports a mean of 1,435mm (maximum 4,363mm) while CPC reports a mean of 766mm (maximum 1,684mm). These are differences in mean value of several feet and differences 14