New perspectives on land-atmosphere feedbacks from the African Monsoon Multidisciplinary Analysis (original) (raw)

Coupled land/atmosphere interactions in the West African Monsoon

Geophysical Research Letters, 2001

Rainfall in subSaharan West Africa is concentrated in a rainy season beginning in summer whose arrival is of critical importance for local economies. Here we use new surface wind observations made available by the QuickSCAT satellite and rainfall estimates from the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission to provide the first documentation of a biweekly oscillation in rainfall and wind that precedes the onset of the rainy season. This oscillation in rainfall occurs in conjunction with monsoonal wind patterns and is particularly noticeable in the zonal wind field. It is also associated with a cooling of surface temperature and a reduction in zonal surface pressure gradient. Together the phasing of these variables implies a feedback cycle acting between the monsoonal winds and their clouds, soil moisture, and surface temperature.

Coupled Land–Atmosphere Intraseasonal Variability of the West African Monsoon in a GCM

Journal of Climate, 2010

Recent observational studies have suggested a role for soil moisture and land–atmosphere coupling in the 15-day westward-propagating mode of intraseasonal variability in the West African monsoon. This hypothesis is investigated with a set of three atmospheric general circulation model experiments. 1) When soil moisture is fully coupled with the atmospheric model, the 15-day mode of land–atmosphere variability is clearly identified. Precipitation anomalies lead soil moisture anomalies by 1–2 days, similar to the results from satellite observations. 2) To assess whether soil moisture is merely a passive response to the precipitation, or an active participant in this mode, the atmospheric model is forced with a 15-day westward-propagating cycle of regional soil moisture anomalies based on the fully coupled mode. Through a reduced surface sensible heat flux, the imposed wet soil anomalies induce negative low-level temperature anomalies and increased pressure (a cool high). An anticyclon...

Soil moisture memory and West African monsoon predictability: artefact or reality?

Climate Dynamics, 2007

Besides sea surface temperature (SST), soil moisture (SM) exhibits a significant memory and is likely to contribute to atmospheric predictability at the seasonal timescale. In this respect, West Africa was recently highlighted as a “hot spot” where the land–atmosphere coupling could play an important role, through the recycling of precipitation and the modulation of the meridional gradient of moist static

Influence of Soil Moisture on the Asian and African Monsoons. Part II: Interannual Variability

Journal of Climate, 2002

The relevance of soil moisture (SM) for simulating the interannual climate variability has not been much investigated until recently. Much more attention has been paid on SST anomalies, especially in the Tropics where the El Niño-Southern Oscillation represents the main mode of variability. In the present study, ensembles of atmospheric integrations based on the Action de Recherche Petit Echelle Grande Echelle (ARPEGE) climate model have been performed for two summer seasons: 1987 and 1988, respectively. The aim is to compare the relative impacts of using realistic boundary conditions of SST and SM on the simulated variability of the Asian and African monsoons. Besides control runs with interactive SM, sensitivity tests have been done in which SM is relaxed toward a state-of-the-art SM climatology, either globally or regionally over the monsoon domain. The simulations indicate that the variations of the Asian monsoon between 1987 and 1988 are mainly driven by SST anomalies. This result might be explained by the strong teleconnection with the ENSO and by a weak SMprecipitation feedback over south Asia (Part I of the study). The influence of SM is more obvious over Africa. The model needs both realistic SST and SM boundary conditions to simulate the observed variability of the Sahelian monsoon rainfall. The positive impact of the SM relaxation is not only due to a local mechanism whereby larger surface evaporation leads to larger precipitation. The best results are obtained when the relaxation is applied globally, suggesting that remote SM impacts also contribute to the improved simulation of the precipitation variability. A relationship between the Sahelian rainfall anomalies and the meridional wind anomalies over North Africa points out the possible influence of the Northern Hemisphere midlatitudes. The comparison of the low-and midtropospheric anomalies in the various pairs of experiments indicates that SM anomalies can trigger stationary waves over Europe, and thereby promote the intrusion of dry air from the midlatitudes into the Tropics. The study therefore emphasizes the relevance of SM for seasonal climate predictions, at least in summer in the Northern Hemisphere, and shows a dynamical interaction between the Tropics and extratropics.

Moisture Variability and Multiscale Interactions during Spring in West Africa

Monthly Weather Review, 2014

The West African monsoon (WAM) is a vital source of rainfall for the African Sahel. In addition to the agricultural benefit of its rains, it benefits public health because bacterial meningitis outbreaks end with the monsoon onset. Outbreaks occur between December and May, a period of low humidity. Knowledge of the onset of high humidity could aid in predicting where the outbreaks will cease. Therefore, this study investigates the variability of atmospheric moisture during the spring over West Africa, characterizing the sources of moisture, as well as circulation patterns and relative influences of tropical and midlatitude systems. A conceptual model of the evolution of the premonsoon period is presented. The meridional and temporal variability of surface moisture during the spring is modulated by multiscale interactions, as illustrated for the period from mid-April to early May 2009. As westward-propagating, synoptic disturbances move across West Africa, a corresponding peak occurs in the surface relative humidity. With the passage of each disturbance a new and more humid regime is established. Filtered anomalies of outgoing longwave radiation (OLR) indicate that Kelvin waves, equatorial Rossby waves, and possibly the MJO contributed to the initiation and intensification of the synoptic disturbances. During the last of the disturbances, whose passage raised the relative humidity above 40%, a critical threshold for meningitis, an extratropical cyclone also contributed to moisture influx over the Sahel. Analysis of the period 2000-09 shows the relative influences of synoptic and subseasonal circulations on the onset of high relative humidity over the Sahel during the spring.

Spatial Coherence of Monsoon Onset over Western and Central Sahel (1950–2000)

Journal of Climate, 2009

The spatial coherence of boreal monsoon onset over the western and central Sahel (Senegal, Mali, Burkina Faso) is studied through the analysis of daily rainfall data for 103 stations from 1950 to 2000. Onset date is defined using a local agronomic definition, that is, the first wet day (.1 mm) of 1 or 2 consecutive days receiving at least 20 mm without a 7-day dry spell receiving less than 5 mm in the following 20 days. Changing either the length or the amplitude of the initial wet spell, or both, or the length of the following dry spell modifies the long-term mean of local-scale onset date but has only a weak impact either on its interannual variability or its spatial coherence. Onset date exhibits a seasonal progression from southern Burkina Faso (mid-May) to northwestern Senegal and Saharian edges (early August). Interannual variability of the local-scale onset date does not seem to be strongly spatially coherent. The amount of common or covariant signal across the stations is far weaker than the interstation noise at the interannual time scale. In particular, a systematic spatially consistent advance or delay of the onset is hardly observed across the whole western and central Sahel. In consequence, the seasonal predictability of local-scale onset over the western and central Sahel associated, for example, with large-scale sea surface temperatures, is, at best, weak.