The team has operated a fixed flux tower in Israel\u2019s Yatir forest<\/a> on the northern edge of the Negev Desert for 26 years. The tower is one of the oldest in the global network and the only one situated in a semi-arid forest, but scientists sought to get data from other sites as well, and so built a lab onto a truck.<\/p>\n \n\t\t\tGet The Times of Israel’s Daily Edition \t\t\t\tBy signing up, you agree to the terms<\/a><\/p>\n \u201cAfter 10 years there, we realized a permanent tower has strong limitations,\u201d said Prof Dan Yakir, an Israel Prize laureate, who heads the Ecophysiology group at Weizmann\u2019s Earth and Planetary Sciences Department.\u00a0 \u201cWe needed to move to see other ecosystems, and places where there are land use changes.\u201d<\/p>\n For years, the truck moved between the Galilee in the north and the Negev in the south. Starting last year, the team began overhauling and updating the mobile lab, and then sent it to Mombasa, Kenya, by boat.<\/p>\n Because of the volatility of Red Sea shipping lanes, where Iran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen have targeted maritime activity, the lab instead took a complex multi-month route around practically the whole of Africa.<\/p>\n In February, the mobile lab officially commenced its African field campaign, beginning a planned two- to three-year visit that will eventually span Kenya, Tanzania, Zambia, Botswana, and Namibia. This will enable research across a variety of ecosystems, from dry grasslands to tropical and even cloud forests.<\/p>\n \t The truck spent its first month at an International Livestock Research Institute research station southeast of Nairobi and is currently at a site farther north.<\/p>\n At each site it visits, the mobile lab deploys an extendable tower and dozens of advanced sensors to gather data.<\/p>\n A key focus of the African project is understanding the consequences of land-use change. In Kenya, for example, where pastoralism and livestock herding are a central feature of life, once-forested landscapes are transforming into savanna and grassland; the data will reveal exactly how these changes alter carbon storage and affect local hydrology.<\/p>\n \t \u201cAll land-use change has implications for surface temperature, humidity, living conditions, hydrology, and carbon storage,\u201d Yakir said.\u00a0 \u201cYou need data. This will help policymakers make data-driven decisions.\u201d<\/p>\n The ground-level data will also contribute to international climate models.<\/p>\n Globally, nearly 30 percent of human-driven carbon emissions are absorbed on land, making the terrestrial biosphere act as a crucial brake on climate change. In regions like East Africa, scientists currently rely heavily on satellite data, which is limited by cloud cover and other factors.<\/p>\n \t The project, funded by the Weizmann Institute and the Israel Science Foundation, will involve 10 Weizmann researchers, who will rotate in and out of Africa for month-long stints. A\u00a0Kenyan postdoctoral student and others handle weekly maintenance and help with data analysis, while the team\u2019s core in Israel maintains contact via Starlink.<\/p>\n It is enthusiastically backed by Israel\u2019s Ambassador in Kenya, Gideon Behar, a former climate envoy.<\/p>\n Five years in the making, the climate data truck tour represents nothing short of \u201ccrazy ambition\u201d for the team making it a reality, said Yakir.<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t She died more than four decades ago, but Leah Goldberg remains a magnetic and enigmatic figure: Israel\u2019s most beloved poet, a powerful woman who lived with her mother and never married, who reinvented herself from the ashes of World War I through her magical writing.<\/p>\n You can screen ‘The Five Houses of Leah Goldberg’ June 4-11.\u00a0 Join The Times of Israel Community today to support our work and watch this and other outstanding documentary films in our DocuNation series.\u00a0<\/p>\n \t\t\t
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\n\t\tWeizmann team members, a Kenyan postdoctoral student, Vincent Ogodo, and local forestry staff pose outside the truck carrying all the scientific equipment. (Courtesy)<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/dan-yakir1-300x480.jpg\")
\n\t\tWeizmann Institute team member Dan Elhanati sets up the flux tower in an acacia woodland in Kenya. (Courtesy)<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/1--640x400.jpeg\")
\n\t\tProf. Dan Yakir (left) and postdoc team member Dan Elhanati with school children in the Taita mountains of Kenya. (Courtesy)<\/p>\n
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