The WMO/GAW northern Africa campaign ElAreno2017, which is one of the two campaigns scheduled for Africa, took place at the El Arenosillo Atmospheric Sounding station hosted by the National Institute for Aerospace Technology Spain  (INTA), Spain, from September 4 to 15, 2017. The Regional Dobson Calibration Centre for Europe (RDCC-E) at the Meteorological Observatory Hohenpeissenberg (MOHp, Germany) with its regional standard D064 was in charge of the technical and scientific organization.

The campaign involved Dobson instruments from Europe (D013 – Portugal, D118 – Greece, D120 – Spain) and Africa (D011 – Algeria, D056 – Uganda, D089 – South African standard instrument from the RDCC-Africa, D096 - Egypt). The Dobson instruments from Portugal and Spain were refurbished (D013 repaired, new electronics were installed in both instruments) at MOHp in the run-up to this campaign. D011 from Algeria did not arrive in due time because of customs problems in Madrid, thus it was taken to MOHp for the calibration service and returned to Algeria from Germany.

The most important goals of the campaign were the check, initial calibration, repair, improvement of operation (if necessary) and final calibration. Despite the late arrival of the African instruments due to customs issues all goals could be achieved successfully. In addition, the participating technicians and scientists, some of them with minor experience in Dobson operation were trained in operating a Dobson instrument in an optimal way. The expert from the Egyptian Meteorological Authority was instructed how to perform an intercomparison himself, as two other Egyptian instruments will be calibrated during a future internal campaign in Egypt against the D096 with remote support from the RDCC-E .

The Vienna Convention Trust Fund supported the travel costs of the participants from Algeria, Egypt, South Africa and Uganda and the transportation of instruments.