Easterly wave regimes and associated convection over West Africa and tropical Atlantic: results from the NCEP/NCAR and ECMWF reanalyses

 NCEP/NCAR and ECMWF daily reanalyses are used to investigate the synoptic variability of easterly waves over West Africa and tropical Atlantic at 700 hPa in northern summer between 1979–1995 (1979–1993 for ECMWF). Spectral analysis of the meridional wind component at 700 hPa highlighted two main periodicity bands, between 3 and 5 days, and 6 and 9 days. The 3–5-day easterly wave regime has already been widely investigated, but only on shorter datasets. These waves grow both north and south of the African Easterly Jet (AEJ). The two main tracks, noted over West Africa at 5 °N and 15 °N, converge over the Atlantic on latitude 17.5 °N. These waves are more active in August–September than in June–July. Their average wavelength/phase speed varies from about 3000 km/8 m s^-1 north of the jet to 5000 km/12 m s^-1 south of the jet. Rainfall, convection and monsoon flux are significantly modulated by these waves, convection in the Inter-Tropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ) being enhanced in the trough and ahead of it, with a wide meridional extension. Compared to the 3–5-day waves, the 6–9-day regime is intermittent and the corresponding wind field pattern has both similar and contrasting characteristics. The only main track is located north of the AEJ along 17.5 °N both over West Africa and the Atlantic. The mean wavelength is higher, about 5000 km long, and the average phase speed is about 7 m s^-1. Then the wind field perturbation is mostly evident at the AEJ latitude and north of it. The perturbation structure is similar to that of 3–5-days in the north except that the more developed circulation centers, moving more to the north, lead to a large modulation of the jet zonal wind component. South of the AEJ, the wind field perturbation is weaker and quite different. The zonal wind core of the jet appears to be an almost symmetric axis in the 6–9-day wind field pattern, a clockwise circulation north of the AEJ being associated with a counter-clockwise circulation south of the jet, and vice versa. These 6–9-day easterly waves also affect significantly rainfall, convection and monsoon flux but in a different way, inducing large zonal convective bands in the ITCZ, mostly in the trough and behind it. As opposed to the 3–5-day wave regime, these rainfall anomalies are associated with anomalies of opposite sign over the Guinea coast and the Sahelian regions. Over the continent, these waves are more active in June–July, and in August–September over the ocean. GATE phase I gave an example of such an active 6–9-day wave pattern. Considered as a sequence of weak easterly wave activity, this phase was also a sequence of high 6–9-day easterly wave activity. We suggest that the 6–9-day regime results from an interaction between the 3–5-day easterly wave regime (maintained by the barotropic/baroclinic instability of the AEJ), and the development of strong anticyclonic circulations, north of the jet over West Africa, and both north and south of the jet over the Atlantic, significantly affecting the jet zonal wind component. The permanent subtropical anticyclones (Azores, Libya, St Helena) could help initiation and maintenance of such regime over West Africa and tropical Atlantic. Based on an a priori period-band criterion, our synoptic classification has enabled us to point out two statistical and meteorological easterly wave regimes over West Africa and tropical Atlantic. NCEP/NCAR and ECMWF reanalyses are in good agreement, the main difference being a more developed easterly wave activity in the NCEP/NCAR reanalyses, especially for the 3–5-day regime over the Atlantic. Received: 28 May 1998 / Accepted: 2 May 1999     

Seasonality and time scales in the relationship between global SST and African rainfall

The main goal of this study is to determine the oceanic regions corresponding to variability in African rainfall and seasonal differences in the atmospheric teleconnections. Canonical correlation analysis (CCA) has been applied in order to extract the dominant patterns of linear covariability. An ensemble of six simulations with the global atmospheric general circulation model ECHAM4, forced with observed sea surface temperatures (SSTs) and sea ice boundary variability, is used in order to focus on the SST-related part of African rainfall variability. Our main finding is that the boreal summer rainfall (June–September mean) over Africa is more affected by SST changes than in boreal winter (December–March mean). In winter, there is a highly significant link between tropical African rainfall and Indian Ocean and eastern tropical Pacific SST anomalies, which is closely related to El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO). However, long-term changes are found to be associated with SST changes in the Indian and tropical Atlantic Oceans, thus, showing that the tropical Atlantic plays a critical role in determining the position of the intertropical convergence zone (ITCZ). Since ENSO is less in summer, the tropical Pacific and the Indian Oceans are less important for African rainfall. The African summer monsoon is strongly influenced by SST variations in the Gulf of Guinea, with a response of opposite sign over the Sahelian zone and the Guinean coast region. SST changes in the subtropical and extratropical oceans mostly take place on decadal time scales and are responsible for low-frequency rainfall fluctuations over West Africa. The modelled teleconnections are highly consistent with the observations. The agreement for most of the teleconnection patterns is remarkable and suggests that the modelled rainfall anomalies serve as suitable predictors for the observed changes.     

SST-induced climate change in tropical North Africa: The intermediary role of lower tropospheric oscillations

Summary  The growth rates of amplifying mid-tropospheric perturbations in tropical North Africa is known to reduce with increased vertical shear in the troposphere. This phenomenon leads to a reduction in the frequency of generation of squall lines – the main rain-producing mechanism in tropical North Africa – because squalls are initiated by amplifying modes of African Easterly Waves (AEW). Ultimately, therefore, tropical North Africa experiences a shortfall, with respect to long-term averages, in annual rainfall. Weakening of AEW intensity is shown to be linked with the warming up to the sea-surface temperatures (SST) of the South Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. These findings are consistent with the observed reduction in the incidence of intense hurricanes along the entire westem Atlantic in Sahelian dry years. It is shown that the frequency of occurrence of Atlantic tropical storms and hurricanes is unaffected by the dryness or otherwise in the Sahel, but the paths of the storms are determined by the zonal exit point, from the African continental land mass to the Atlantic, of West African disturbance lines. These results have applications, and implications, in the level of preparedness for the economic impacts of Atlantic storms and hurricanes. Received June 8, 1996 Revised June 8, 2000     

WRF/ARPEGE-CLIMAT simulated climate trends over West Africa

The Weather Regional Forecast (WRF) model is used in this study to downscale low-resolution data over West Africa. First, the performance of the regional model is estimated through contemporary period experiments (1981?C1990) forced by ARPEGE-CLIMAT GCM output (ARPEGE) and ERA-40 re-analyses. Key features of the West African monsoon circulation are reasonably well represented. WRF atmospheric dynamics and summer rainfall compare better to observations than ARPEGE forcing data. WRF simulated moisture transport over West Africa is also consistent in both structure and variability with re-analyses, emphasizing the substantial role played by the West African Monsoon (WAM) and African Easterly Jet (AEJ) flows. The statistical significance of potential climate changes for the A2 scenario between 2032 and 2041 is enhanced in the downscaling from ARPEGE by the regional experiments, with substantial rainfall increases over the Guinea Gulf and eastern Sahel. Future scenario WRF simulations are characterized by higher temperatures over the eastern Tropical Atlantic suggesting more evaporation available locally. This leads to increased moisture advection towards eastern regions of the Guinea Gulf where rainfall is enhanced through a strengthened WAM flow, supporting surface moisture convergence over West Africa. Warmer conditions over both the Mediterranean region and northeastern Sahel could also participate in enhancing moisture transport within the AEJ. The strengthening of the thermal gradient between the Sahara and Guinean regions, particularly pronounced north of 10°N, would support an intensification of the AEJ northwards, given the dependance of the jet to the position/intensity of the meridional gradient. In turn, mid-tropospheric moisture divergence tends to be favored within the AEJ region supporting southwards deflection of moist air and contributing to deep moist convection over the Sahel where late summer rainfall regimes are sustained in the context of the A2 scenario regional projections. In conclusion, WRF proved to be a valuable and efficient tool to help downscaling GCM projections over West Africa, and thus assessing issues such as water resources vulnerability locally.     

Evolution of the relationship between near global and Atlantic SST modes and the rainy season in West Africa: statistical analyses and sensitivity experiments

 Monthly sea surface temperature anomalies (SSTA) at near-global scale (60 °N–40 °S) and May to October rainfall amounts in West Africa (16 °N–5 °N; 16 °W–16 °E) are first used to investigate the seasonal and interannual evolutions of their relationship. It is shown that West African rainfall variability is associated with two types of oceanic changes: (1) a large-scale evolution involving the two largest SSTA leading eigenmodes (16% of the total variance with stronger loadings in the equatorial and southern oceans) related to the long-term (multiannual) component of rainfall variability mainly expressed in the Sudan–Sahel region; and (2) a regional and seasonally coupled evolution of the meridional thermal gradient in the tropical Atlantic due to the linear combination of the two largest SSTA modes in the Atlantic (11% with strong inverse loadings over the northern and southern tropics) which is associated with the interannual and quasi-decadal components of regional rainfall in West Africa. Linear regression and discriminant analyses provide evidence that the main July–September rainfall anomalies in Sudan–Sahel can be detected with rather good skills using the leading (April–June) or synchronous (July–September) values of the four main oceanic modes. In particular, the driest conditions over Sahel, more marked since the beginning of the 1970s, are specifically linked to the warm phases of the two global modes and to cold/warm anomalies in the northern/southern tropical Atlantic. Idealized but realistic SSTA patterns, obtained from some basic linear combinations of the four main oceanic modes appear sufficient to generate quickly (from mid-July to the end of August) significant West African rainfall anomalies in model experiments, consistent with the statistical results. The recent negative impact on West African rainfall exerted by the global oceanic forcing is primarily due to the generation of subsidence anomalies in the mid-troposphere over West Africa. When an idealized north to south SSTA gradient is added in the tropical Atlantic, strong north to south height gradients in the middle levels appear. These limit the northward excursion of the rainbelt in West Africa: the Sahelian area experiences drier conditions due to the additive effect (subsidence anomalies+latitudinal blocking) while over the Guinea regions wet conditions do not significantly increase, since the subsidence anomalies and the blocking effect act here in opposite ways. Received: 26 June 1997 / Accepted: 3 October 1997     

A study of climate and weather variability over the tropical southwest Indian Ocean

Summary The climatology and variability of summer convection and circulation over the tropical southwest Indian Ocean is investigated using satellite imagery, routine synoptic observations, outgoing longwave radiation (OLR) data, sea surface temperatures (SST) and areal averaged rainfall departures. OLR has a –0.90 correlation with rainfall departures and the OLR minimum (ITCZ) in January and February lies across the 10°S latitude, extending further south near Madagascar. The intensity of ITCZ convection is greatest in the longitudes 20–35°E over northern Zambia and is considerably reduced over the SW Indian Ocean. Spatial correlations are analyzed for standardized departures of OLR, rainfall and SST. The correlations change sign in a coherent fashion, creating a climatic dipole between southern Africa and the SW Indian Ocean. Interannual trends are examined through analysis of January–February zonal and meridional wind indices constructed from significantly correlated variables at Zimbabwe, Madagascar and Mauritius. Circulation variability is dominated by quasi-decadal cycles and a trend of inereasing westerly winds. Zonal wind shear alternates from easterly (barotropic) to westerly and together with SST appears to regulate the frequency and intensity of tropical cyclogenesis. Areally averaged rainfall departures exhibit 6.25 year cycles in NE Madagascar and 12.5 and 18.75 year cycles in SW Madagascar and Zimbabwe, respectively. Summer rainfall and meridional winds in NE Madagascar and Zimbabwe are out of phase and negatively correlated in most summers. The presence of synoptic weather systems is assessed using daily Hovmoller-type satellite imagery composites. Convective structure is dominated by transient waves in the 10°–20°S latitude band, with periods of 15–20 days common. The waves are more prominent in summers with increased easterly shear and contribute to fluctuations in rainfall over SE Africa.With 8 Figures     

Seasonal forecasts for regional onset of the West African monsoon

The West African monsoon has over the years proven difficult to represent in global coupled models. The current operational seasonal forecasting system of the UK Met Office (GloSea4) has a good representation of monsoon rainfall over West Africa. It reproduces the various stages of the monsoon: a coastal phase in May and June, followed by onset of the Sahelian phase in July when rainfall maxima shift northward of 10N until September; and a secondary coastal rainfall maximum in October. We explore the dynamics of monsoon onset in GloSea4 and compare it to reanalyses. An important difference is the change in the Saharan heat low around the time of Sahelian onset. In Glosea4 the deepening heat low introduces moisture convergence across an east-west Sahelian band, whereas in the reanalyses such an east-west organisation of moisture does not occur and moisture is transported northwards to the Sahara. Lack of observations in the southern Sahara makes it difficult to verify this process in GloSea4 and also suggests that reanalyses may not be strongly constrained by station observations in an area key to Sahelian onset. Timing of monsoon onset has socio-economic importance for many countries in West Africa and we explore onset predictability in GloSea4. We use tercile categories to calculate probabilities for onset occurring before, near and after average in four different onset indicators. Glosea4 has modest skill at 2–3 months’ lead time, with ROC scores of 0.6–0.8. Similar skill is seen in hindcasts with models from the ENSEMBLES project, even in models with large rainfall biases over the Sahel. Forecast skill derives from tropical SST in June and many models capture at least the influence of the tropical Atlantic. This suggests that long-range skill for onset could be present in other seasonal forecasting systems in spite of mean rainfall biases.     

Modification of the southern African rainfall variability/ENSO relationship since the late 1960s

Analysis of 149 raingauge series (1946–1988) shows a weak positive correlation between late summer rainfalls (January–March) in tropical southern Africa and the Southern Oscillation Index (SOI). The correlation coefficients have been unstable since World War II. They were close to zero before 1970 and significant thereafter. Before 1970, southern African late summer rainfalls were more specifically correlated with regional patterns of sea surface temperature (SST), mainly over the southwestern Indian Ocean. After 1970, teleconnections with near global SST anomaly patterns, i.e. over the central Pacific and Indian oceans, dominate the regional connections. The increase in the sensitivity of the southern African rainfall to the global SO-related circulation anomalies is simultaneous with the correlation between SOI and more extensive SST anomalies, particularly over the southern Indian Ocean. This feature is part of longer term (decadal), global SST variability, as inferred from statistical analyses. Numerical experiments, using the Météo-France general circulation model ARPEGE-Climat, are performed to test the impact of the observed SST warming in the southern Indian and extratropical oceans during El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO) events on southern African rainfall. Simulated results show that ENSO events, which occurred in the relatively cold background of the pre-1970 period in the southern oceans, had a little effect on southern Africa climatic conditions and atmospheric circulation. By contrast, more recent ENSO events, with warmer SST over the southern oceans, lead to a climatic bipolar pattern between continental southern African and the western Indian Ocean, which is characterized by reduced (enhanced) deep convection and rainfall over the subcontinent (the western Indian Ocean). A weaker subtropical high-pressure belt in the southwestern Indian Ocean is also simulated, along with a reduced penetration of the moist southern Indian Ocean trade winds over the southern African plateau. These results are consistent with the strong droughts observed over all southern Africa during ENSO events since 1970.     

Sahel rainfall and decadal to multi-decadal sea surface temperature variability

Decadal Sahelian rainfall variability was mainly driven by sea surface temperatures (SSTs) during the twentieth century. At the same time SSTs showed a marked long-term global warming (GW) trend. Superimposed on this long-term trend decadal and multi-decadal variability patterns are observed like the Atlantic Multidecadal Oscillation (AMO) and the inter-decadal Pacific Oscillation (IPO). Using an atmospheric general circulation model we investigate the relative contribution of each component to the Sahelian precipitation variability. To take into account the uncertainty related to the use of different SST data sets, we perform the experiments using HadISST1 and ERSSTv3 reconstructed sets. The simulations show that all three SST signals have a significant impact over West Africa: the positive phases of the GW and the IPO lead to drought over the Sahel, while a positive AMO enhances Sahel rainfall. The tropical SST warming is the main cause for the GW impact on Sahel rainfall. Regarding the AMO, the pattern of anomalous precipitation is established by the SSTs in the Atlantic and Mediterranean basins. In turn, the tropical SST anomalies control the impact of the IPO component on West Africa. Our results suggest that the low-frequency evolution of Sahel rainfall can be interpreted as the competition of three factors: the effect of the GW, the AMO and the IPO. Following this interpretation, our results show that 50% of the SST-driven Sahel drought in the 1980s is explained by the change to a negative phase of the AMO, and that the GW contribution was 10%. In addition, the partial recovery of Sahel rainfall in recent years was mainly driven by the AMO.     

Changes in the interannual SST-forced signals on West African rainfall. AGCM intercomparison

Rainfall over West Africa shows strong interannual variability related to changes in Sea Surface Temperature (SST). Nevertheless, this relationship seem to be non-stationary. A particular turning point is the decade of the 1970s, which witnessed a number of changes in the climatic system, including the climate shift of the late 1970s. The first aim of this study is to explore the change in the interannual variability of West African rainfall after this shift. The analysis indicates that the dipolar features of the rainfall variability over this region, related to changes in the Atlantic SST, disappear after this period. Also, the Pacific SST variability has a higher correlation with Guinean rainfall in the recent period. The results suggest that the current relationship between the Atlantic and Pacific El Ni?o phenomena is the principal responsible for these changes. A fundamental goal of climate research is the development of models simulating a realistic current climate. For this reason, the second aim of this work is to test the performance of Atmospheric General Circulation models in simulating rainfall variability over West Africa. The models have been run with observed SSTs for the common period 1957?C1998 as part of an intercomparison exercise. The results show that the models are able to reproduce Guinean interannual variability, which is strongly related to SST variability in the Equatorial Atlantic. Nevertheless, problems in the simulation of the Sahelian interannual variability appear: not all models are able to reproduce the observed negative link between rainfall over the Sahel and El Ni?o-like anomalies in the Pacific, neither the positive correlation between Mediterranean SSTs and Sahelian rainfall.     

Twentieth century Sahel rainfall variability as simulated by the ARPEGE AGCM, and future changes

The ability of the ARPEGE AGCM in reproducing the twentieth century Sahelian drought when only forced by observed SST time evolution has been characterized. Atmospheric internal variability is shown to have a strong contribution in driving the simulated precipitation variability over the Sahel at decadal to multi-decadal time scales. The simulated drought is associated with a southward shift of the continental rainbelt over central and eastern Sahel, associated with an inter-hemispheric SST mode (the southern hemisphere oceans warming faster than the northern ones after 1970). The analysis of idealized experiments further highlights the importance of the Pacific basin. The related increase of the tropospheric temperature (TT) over the tropics is then suggested to dry the margin of convection zones over Africa, in agreement with the so-called “upped-ante” mechanism. A simple metric is then defined to determine the ability of the CMIP3 coupled models in reproducing both the observed Sahel drying and these mechanisms, in order to determine the reliability of the twenty-first century scenarios. Only one model reproduces both the observed drought over the Sahel and consistent SST/TT relationships over the second half of the twentieth century. This model predicts enhanced dry conditions over the Sahel at the end of the twenty-first century. However, as the mechanisms highlighted here for the recent period are not stationary during the twenty-first century when considering the trends, similarities between observed and simulated features of the West African monsoon for the twentieth century are a necessary but insufficient condition for a trustworthy prediction of the future.     

Simulated changes in the relationship between tropical ocean temperatures and the western African monsoon during the mid-Holocene

Results from nine coupled ocean-atmosphere simulations have been used to investigate changes in the relationship between the variability of monsoon precipitation over western Africa and tropical sea surface temperatures (SSTs) between the mid-Holocene and the present day. Although the influence of tropical SSTs on the African monsoon is generally overestimated in the control simulations, the models reproduce aspects of the observed modes of variability. Thus, most models reproduce the observed negative correlation between western Sahelian precipitation and SST anomalies in the eastern tropical Pacific, and many of them capture the positive correlation between SST anomalies in the eastern tropical Atlantic and precipitation over the Guinea coastal region. Although the response of individual model to the change in orbital forcing between 6 ka and present differs somewhat, eight of the models show that the strength of the teleconnection between SSTs in the eastern tropical Pacific and Sahelian precipitation is weaker in the mid-Holocene. Some of the models imply that this weakening was associated with a shift towards longer time periods (from 3–5 years in the control simulations toward 4–10 years in the mid-Holocene simulations). The simulated reduction in the teleconnection between eastern tropical Pacific SSTs and Sahelian precipitation appears to be primarily related to a reduction in the atmospheric circulation bridge between the Pacific and West Africa but, depending on the model, other mechanisms such as increased importance of other modes of tropical ocean variability or increased local recycling of monsoonal precipitation can also play a role.     

Boreal summer continental monsoon rainfall and hydroclimate anomalies associated with the Asian-Pacific Oscillation

With the twentieth century analysis data (1901–2002) for atmospheric circulation, precipitation, Palmer drought severity index, and sea surface temperature (SST), we show that the Asian-Pacific Oscillation (APO) during boreal summer is a major mode of the earth climate variation linking to global atmospheric circulation and hydroclimate anomalies, especially the Northern Hemisphere (NH) summer land monsoon. Associated with a positive APO phase are the warm troposphere over the Eurasian land and the relatively cool troposphere over the North Pacific, the North Atlantic, and the Indian Ocean. Such an amplified land–ocean thermal contrast between the Eurasian land and its adjacent oceans signifies a stronger than normal NH summer monsoon, with the strengthened southerly or southwesterly monsoon prevailing over tropical Africa, South Asia, and East Asia. A positive APO implies an enhanced summer monsoon rainfall over all major NH land monsoon regions: West Africa, South Asia, East Asia, and Mexico. Thus, APO is a sensible measure of the NH land monsoon rainfall intensity. Meanwhile, reduced precipitation appears over the arid and semiarid regions of northern Africa, the Middle East, and West Asia, manifesting the monsoon-desert coupling. On the other hand, surrounded by the cool troposphere over the North Pacific and North Atlantic, the extratropical North America has weakened low-level continental low and upper-level ridge, hence a deficient summer rainfall. Corresponding to a high APO index, the African and South Asian monsoon regions are wet and cool, the East Asian monsoon region is wet and hot, and the extratropical North America is dry and hot. Wet and dry climates correspond to wet and dry soil conditions, respectively. The APO is also associated with significant variations of SST in the entire Pacific and the extratropical North Atlantic during boreal summer, which resembles the Interdecadal Pacific Oscillation in SST. Of note is that the Pacific SST anomalies are not present throughout the year, rather, mainly occur in late spring, peak at late summer, and are nearly absent during boreal winter. The season-dependent APO–SST relationship and the origin of the APO remain elusive.     

A revised picture of the structure of the “monsoon” and land ITCZ over West Africa

This article presents an overview of the land ITCZ (Intertropical Convergence Zone) over West Africa, based on analysis of NCAR–NCEP Reanalysis data. The picture that emerges is much different than the classic one. The most important feature is that the ITCZ is effectively independent of the system that produces most of the rainfall. Rainfall linked directly to this zone of surface convergence generally affects only the southern Sahara and the northern-most Sahel, and only in abnormally wet years in the region. A second feature is that the rainbelt normally assumed to represent the ITCZ is instead produced by a large core of ascent lying between the African Easterly Jet and the Tropical Easterly Jet. This region corresponds to the southern track of African Easterly Waves, which distribute the rainfall. This finding underscores the need to distinguish between the ITCZ and the feature better termed the “tropical rainbelt”. The latter is conventionally but improperly used in remote sensing studies to denote the surface ITCZ over West Africa. The new picture also suggests that the moisture available for convection is strongly coupled to the strength of the uplift, which in turn is controlled by the characteristics of the African Easterly Jet and Tropical Easterly Jet, rather than by moisture convergence. This new picture also includes a circulation feature not generally considered in most analyses of the region. This feature, a low-level westerly jet termed the African Westerly Jet, plays a significant role in interannual and multidecadal variability in the Sahel region of West Africa. Included are discussions of the how this new view relates to other aspects of West Africa meteorology, such as moisture sources, rainfall production and forecasting, desertification, climate monitoring, hurricanes and interannual variability. The West African monsoon is also related to a new paradigm for examining the interannual variability of rainfall over West Africa, one that relates changes in annual rainfall to changes in either the intensity of the rainbelt or north–south displacements of this feature. The new view presented here is consistent with a plethora of research on the synoptic and dynamic aspects of the African Easterly Waves, the disturbances that are linked to rainfall over West Africa and spawn hurricanes over the Atlantic, and with our knowledge of the prevailing synoptic and dynamic features. This article demonstrate a new aspect of the West Africa monsoon, a bimodal state, with one mode linked to dry conditions in the Sahel and the other linked to wet conditions. The switch between modes appears to be linked to an inertial instability mechanism, with the cross-equatorial pressure gradient being a critical factor. The biomodal state has been shown for the month of August only, but this month contributes most of the interannual variability. This new picture of the monsoon and interannual variability shown here appears to be relevant not only to interannual variability, but also to the multidecadal variability evidenced in the region between the 1950s and 1980s.     

Divergent and non-divergent water vapour transport over southern Africa during wet and dry conditions

Summary Inter-seasonal and inter-annual variations of low-level tropospheric water vapour transport over southern Africa and adjacent oceans have been examined using the ECMWF III-B global analysis data set. Velocity potential and stream function analyses have been used to investigate differences between the large-scale circulation fields and the sources and sinks of water vapour over subtropical southern Africa in wet and dry early (October) and late (January) summer months. Water vapour transported over the region in early summer has been found to originate from both the Atlantic and Indian oceans. Transport takes place in a southerly direction over the subcontinent with eddy transport playing an important role only in early summer. During late summer transport is effected mainly by the mean circulation fields. At this time the tropical Indian Ocean becomes the most important source for water vapour. Variations in the intensity and position of the Walker and Hadley cells are important controls of moisture availability over southern Africa. Wet late summers are characterized by an anomalous Hadley cell over tropical and subtropical Africa such that excess vapour transport occurs across southern Africa from the north in the second half of the summer rainfall season. During dry late summers the vapour source region locates over the south-western Indian Ocean and diminished vapour transport takes place across southern Africa from the south east.With 8 Figures     

Summer Sahel-ENSO teleconnection and decadal time scale SST variations

The correlation between Sahel rainfall and El Niño–Southern Oscillation (ENSO) in the northern summer has been varying for the last fifty years. We propose that the existence of periods of weak or strong relationship could result from an interaction with the global decadal scale sea surface temperature (SST) background. The main modes of SST variability have been extracted through a principal component analysis with Varimax rotation. The correlations between a July-September Sahel rainfall index and these SST modes have been computed on a 20-year running window between 1945 and 1993. The correlations with the interannual ENSO-SST mode are negative, not significant in the 1960s during the transition period from the wet climate phasis to the long-running drought in the Sahel, but then were significant since 1976. During the former period, the correlations between the Sahel rainfall index and the other SST modes (expressing mostly on quasi and multi-decadal scales) are the highest, in particular correlations with the tropical Atlantic “dipole”. Correlations between Sahel and Guinea Coast rainfall are also significantly negative. After 1970, the Sahel-Guinea Coast rainfall correlations are no longer significant, and the ENSO-SST mode becomes the only one significantly correlated with Sahel rainfall, especially due to the impact of warm events. The partial correlations between the ENSO-SST mode and the Sahel rainfall index, when the influence of the other SST modes are eliminated, are significant over all the 20-year running periods between 1945 and 1993, suggesting that this summer teleconnection could be modulated by the decadal scale SST background. The NCEP/NCAR reanalyses reproduce accurately the interannual variability of the atmospheric circulation after 1968. In particular a regional West African Monsoon Index (WAMI), combining wind speed anomalies at 925 and 200?hPa, is highly correlated with the July-September Sahel rainfall index. A warm ENSO event is associated both with an eastward mean sea level pressure gradient between the eastern tropical Pacific and the tropical Atlantic and with a northward pressure gradient along the western coast of West Africa. This pattern leads to enhanced trade winds over the tropical Atlantic and to weaker moisture advection over West Africa, consistent with a weaker monsoon system strength and a weaker Southern Hemisphere Hadley circulation. The NCEP/NCAR reanalyses do not reproduce accurately the decadal variability of the atmospheric circulation over West Africa because of artifical biases. Therefore the impact of the decadal scale pattern of the atmospheric circulation has been investigated with atmospheric general circulation model (AGCM) sensitivity experiments, by forcing the ARPEGE-Climat model with different combinations of an El Niño-like SST pattern with the pattern of the main mode of decadal scale SST variability where the hightest weights are located in the Pacific and Indian basins. AGCM outputs show that the decadal scale SST variations weakly affect Sahel rainfall variability but that they do induce an indirect effect on Sahel rainfall by enhancing the impact of the warm ENSO phases after 1980, through an increase in the fill-in of the monsoon trough and a moisture advection deficit over West Africa.     

GCM studies of the African summer monsoon

A 37-year simulation of global climate by a 9-level GCM on an 8°×10° grid showed realistic interannual variation of the computed precipitation over the African Sahel. The model includes an interactive ocean so that interannual variations of sea-surface temperature (SST) also occur. Comparison of an ensemble of five summers that were rainy over the Sahel with five summers of simulated drought showed that insufficient ambient moisture was the immediate cause of the lack of moist convection. The drier conditions are shown to result from weaker moisture advection over the southeast Atlantic Ocean. Weaker southerly winds there and lower sea-level pressure gradients seemed to result from anomalously warm SST. Such SST anomalies have been linked to Sahelian drought in previous observational studies. These regional circulations that were conducive to lower rainfall rates during the north African summer monsoon were not manifestations of the more generalized zonal mean circulation.     

Interdecadal variation of the West African summer monsoon during 1979–2010 and associated variability

This paper addresses the interdecadal variation of the West African summer monsoon (WASM) along with its background of atmospheric circulation and possible physical mechanism over the past 32?years (1979–2010). It is indicated that the WASM starts to strengthen from 1998 as the rainfall begins to increase over western West Africa on the whole, which shows a new interdecadal variation. In this interdecadal variation, the strengthened ascending motion corresponding to enhanced divergence (convergence) movement on the upper (lower) troposphere is prone to develop the local circulation of the monsoon. Moreover, the strengthened southwestern (eastern) wind on the lower (upper) level leads to more moisture from the Atlantic and the Gulf of Guinea transported to the West African continent. In addition, the summer subtropical high over the north Atlantic and western West Africa is strong and northward, and the tropical east wind is also strong. Statistically, the weaker (stronger) the spring North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) is, the stronger (weaker) the tropical easterly is, and then the WASM is also stronger. But the effect of the NAO on the decadal variation of the WASM is not so significant from the north Atlantic anomaly sensitivity simulation with a single model. This is also an indication that the relationship between the WASM and NAO is complicated in an interdecadal time scale and is needed further study. In terms of sea surface temperature (SST) variation, the tendency is toward warming in the subtropical north Pacific, the south Pacific and north Atlantic. Numerical simulation experiments and data analysis show that the SST variation in the north Pacific plays an important role in the latest interdecadal strengthening of the WASM during the past 32?years, while the influences of the south Pacific and the north Atlantic SST anomalies are not so significant to the associated atmospheric circulation changes.     

热带海面温度对亚马逊旱季降水年际变率的影响及机制

用偏最小二乘(Partial Least Square,PLS)回归方法分析了 1979～2018年影响亚马逊旱季(6～8月)降水年际变率的热带海面温度模态.第一海面温度模态解释了总方差的64％,主要表现为前期亚马逊雨季(12月至次年2月)至旱季(6～8月)热带东太平洋La Ni?a型海面温度异常演变.12月至次年2月...     

An investigation of the relationship between sub‐Saharan rainfall and global sea surface temperatures

Abstract

The relationship between sea surface temperature (SST) and rainfall index anomalies over sub‐Saharan Africa for the 15‐year period, 1970–84, has been examined. The objectively analysed monthly mean SST data were used for the global oceans between 40°S and 60°N. The rainfall data consist of annual mean rainfall indices for the Sahel and Soudan belts over north Africa.

An Empirical Orthogonal Function analysis of the SST data has been carried out for the Atlantic, Indian and global ocean regions. The results show that the most dominant eigenmode, EOF1, is characterized by warming over the central eastern Pacific, cooling over the eastern mid‐latitude Pacific and warming over the entire Atlantic and Indian ocean basins. The second EOF for the Atlantic Ocean SST analysis shows a dipole (north‐south see‐saw) pattern. The third EOF for the Atlantic SST analysis has the same sign over the entire Atlantic basin. Global SST EOF2 and EOF3 correspondió Atlantic SST EOF3 and EOF2, respectively.

The correlation between the sub‐Saharan annual rainfall index, which mainly represents the summer season rainfall from June to September, and SST EOFs shows that EOF1 has statistically significant monthly correlations for the Sahel and Soudan regions and that the warm El Niño‐like phases of SST EOF1 correspond to drought conditions. This result suggests that the large‐scale SST anomalies may be responsible for a significant component of the observed vacillation of sub‐Saharan rainfall. Some preliminary GLA GCM simulation results that support the above findings are also presented.