THE 2024 TISON AWARD GOES TO MARTIN ADDI (GHANA)
IAHS is pleased to announce that the 2024 Tison award goes to Martin Addi (Ghana) for his work on the 2022 Hydrological Sciences Journal paper: Evaluation of imputation techniques for infilling missing daily rainfall records on river basins in Ghana, Hydrological Sciences Journal, Volume 67, Issue 4, Pages 613-627, DOI: 10.1080/02626667.2022.2030868. The paper is free to view. The paper was co-authored by Yeboah Gyasi-Agyei, Emmanuel Obuobie & Leonard Kofitse Amekudzi who are not eligible for the Tison Award, age-wise.
Citation given by Professor Attilio Castellarin, Editor-in-Chief of Hydrological Sciences Journal on behalf of the Jury of the 2024 Tison Award.
The Tison Award for 2024 is presented to Dr. Martin Addi, affiliated to the Ghana Space Science and Technology Institute (GSSTI), Accra, Ghana, for the paper titled: “Evaluation of imputation techniques for infilling missing daily rainfall records on river basins in Ghana,” published in Hydrological Sciences Journal in 2022. The paper was co-authored by Prof. Yeboah Gyasi-Agyei (Griffith University, Australia), Dr. Emmanuel Obuobie (Water Research Institute – CSIR, Ghana), and Professor Leonard Kofitse Amekudzi (KNUST, Ghana), who were not eligible for the Tison Award due to age criteria.
The award committee particularly commended this paper for its comprehensive and methodologically rigorous evaluation of twelve statistical and machine learning-based imputation techniques for reconstructing missing daily rainfall data in two major river basins in Ghana. The study stands out for its relevance to hydrological modeling in data-scarce regions, where missing rainfall records are a persistent challenge. Beyond its methodological contributions, the paper addresses a critical issue for water resource management and climate resilience in West Africa. The findings have practical implications for improving the quality of hydro-climatic datasets, which are essential for reliable hydrological forecasting, agricultural planning, and climate adaptation strategies. The jury believes this work represents a significant advancement in the field of hydrological data reconstruction and has the potential to influence both research and operational practices in similar climatic regions.
Although the 2024 Tison Award saw strong competition among 30 nominated papers, this work stood out with broad support and was selected as the clear winner. As of this writing, the paper has been viewed almost 2000 times and cited 24 times in the literature. We extend our warmest congratulations to Dr. Addi and his co-authors and hope that this recognition by the International Association of Hydrological Sciences will further inspire their impactful contributions to hydrological science.
Response from Martin Addi
I am incredibly honoured to receive the 2024 Tison Award from the International Association of Hydrological Sciences (IAHS) and the Tison Award Committee for our paper on evaluating imputation techniques for reconstructing missing rainfall data in Ghana.
This achievement reflects the collaborative efforts of my co-authors, Prof. Yeboah Gyasi-Agyei, Dr. Emmanuel Obuobie, and Prof. Leonard Kofitse Amekudzi, whose mentorship, teamwork, and scientific expertise were instrumental throughout this research. I am also deeply grateful to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Denmark and the DANIDA Fellowship Centre, through the CREAM “Building Climate-Resilience into Basin Water Management” research project [18-13-GHA], for their invaluable support.
Our work was driven by the need to tackle one of the most pressing issues in hydrology and climate studies: data scarcity and its impact on water resource management and climate resilience in Africa. I hope this recognition encourages efforts to improve the quality of hydro-climatic datasets in developing countries across Africa. This will help scientists create reliable findings crucial for informed decisions and sustainable development.