Assessing the performance of WRF model in predicting high-impact weather conditions over Central and Western Africa: an ensemble-based approach

Natural Hazards - For numerical weather prediction over a particular region, it is important to know the best combination of physical parameterizations available in the considered modelling frame...     

Flood forecasting based on an artificial neural network scheme

Natural Hazards - Nowadays, floods have become the widest global environmental and economic hazard in many countries, causing huge loss of lives and materials damages. It is, therefore, necessary...     

Land leasing in a post-land reform context: insights from Zimbabwe

GeoJournal - Despite the Zimbabwean State’s narrative and discourse that in fast track land reform areas ‘land leasing is illegal’, there is a surge in land leasing. This article...     

Wastewater dephosphorization using crude clays

The present work aims to establish the possibility of using local clays to treat wastewater. Thus, three clay samples extracted from two localities in the south of Côte d’Ivoire have been studied in their crude state. The qualitative physicochemical study that consisted in measurement of pH variation and argillaceous particles zeta potential showed that the Nieki-Agneby clay and the Beige Anyama clay presented disposal to uptake phosphate ions in solution at pH 5. For each clay, it is shown that the tension accompanying the sorption of a phosphate ion could be estimated to ?5 mV. Differences in their composition and in the number of hydrating molecules of water were also accessible. The quantitative study performed with the Nieki-Agneby clay thereafter consisted following the sorption kinetic. The adsorption was found to reach the maximum after 5 h. of exchange, and almost 400 μg phosphate ions in per gram of clay were fixed. Future studies will focus on the modification of these materials in order to increase their sorption capacity.     

Are squall lines detected by NCEP-NCAR reanalyses?

Summary The aim of the paper is to show that NCEP-NCAR reanalyses do display modifications in the atmosphere at the occurrence of squall lines (SLs). 135 SLs were detected at Dakar (Senegal) during the summers of 1981–95. A compositing method was applied to temperature, specific humidity and zonal wind component at grid-point 15° N; 17.5° W close to Dakar, for the 135 SLs’ occurrences. The slight modifications of these three parameters as computed here proved to be statistically significant.     

Kinetics and thermodynamics study of lead adsorption on to activated carbons from coconut and seed hull of the palm tree

The kinetic and thermodynamic of the bath sorption of lead (Pb) on to activated carbon from Coconut (CA) and Seed hull of the Palm tree (GA) have been investigated. The effects of initial Pb concentration, contact time and temperature were examined. The results showed that the adsorption capacities of the activated carbons increased with the initial lead concentration. The process sorption followed a pseudo first order kinetics and parameters such as Ea and k₀ were determined. It could be best fitted by the Langmuir and Freundlich isotherms. From the first, the equilibrium sorption capacities of lead ion were determined and found to be respectively 4.38 and 3.77 mg/ g for CA and GA at 60 °C. The thermodynamic parameters such as dGH, dGS and dGG were computed from the experimental data. These values show that the adsorption is endothermic and non spontaneous. Moreover, the relative weak values of dGH (～5 kcal/mol) confirm a physical adsorption. The maximum adsorptions were obtained at 60 °C, pH 4 and with a Pb initial concentration of 100 mg/L.     

The Challenges of Modeling Climate Variability and Change in West Africa

This paper overviews observations and examines modeling issues associated with the mean state, climate variability and climate change in West Africa. The Tropical Rain Measuring Mission (TRMM) satellite allows for the first time estimates of Unconditional, Convective and Stratiform rain rates in West Africa. The 1998 estimated TRMM rates are compared to long-term observed rain rates and a merged rain data set (CMAP) during 1998. Further, the TRMM estimates are compared to the simulated rain rates from the Community Climate Model Version 3.6. The TRMM Precipitation Radar rain estimates are generally lower than either the long-term observations or the CMAP rates during 1998. Moreover, the TRMM rain estimates show a significant fraction of the total rain (convective + stratiform) is characterized as stratiform rain (30–40%). The CCM3 simulates primarily convective rain and negligible amounts of non-convective rain for West Africa. Furthermore, the TRMM high-resolution rain patterns strongly imply that rain in West Africa occurs on mesoscales in association with mesoscale convective systems (squall lines, mesoscale convective complexes and non-squall tropical clusters). We demonstrate this by briefly examining two mesoscale convective systems during May 1998 with METEOSAT data. Regional climate models may offer the best solution to understanding climate change in West Africa because of their ability to capture mesoscale systems and better their representation of orographic features. Adequate boundary conditions from Global Climate Models are still necessary for regional climate model simulations to successfully reproduce mean climate conditions and provide understanding with respect to future climate change. Observations in West Africa should be maintained or increased for monitoring climate variability and possibility of climate change in West Africa, proper initialization of numerical weather prediction models and the validation of climate models.