An international team of scientists has reviewed the effectiveness of reanalysis data products for studying the climate over West Africa. Reanalysis data provides scientists with a blend of observations combining past weather forecasts rerun with modern forecasting models. These reanalysis datasets are beneficial alternatives that can be used to investigate climate conditions of any given geographic location where no sufficient observational datasets exist. The team set out to assess the accuracy of the existing reanalysis products in examining the West African climate.