West African water vapor variations between recent contrasting Subsaharan rainy seasons
Open Access
- 1 May 1983
- journal article
- Published by Stockholm University Press in Tellus A: Dynamic Meteorology and Oceanography
- Vol. 35A (3), 198-212
- https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1600-0870.1983.tb00197.x
Abstract
Investigation is made of the interannual and intraseasonal variability of the southwest monsoon layer's thickness and moisture content over West Africa, and its water vapor supply to this region from the tropical Atlantic, for the Subsaharan (10°–20° N) rainy season of July–September. Results for the very deficient 1968. 1971. and 1972 Subsaharan rainy seasons. whose departures from the 1941–74 mean ranged between −0.78σ and − 1.39σ. are compared with those for the near-average rainy seasons of 1967, 1969, and 1975 (–0.27σ to + 0.06σ). The observational base consists of monthly mean rawinsonde data from West African stations and seasonal estimates of the tropical Atlantic near-surface specific humidity field. Subsaharan drought does not appear to be associated with the northward supply of unusually dry surface air to West Africa from the tropical Atlantic. Over West Africa, the magnitude of the vertically integrated monsoon layer advective water vapor flux tends to be proportional to the layer thickness. The extremely poor 1972 Subsaharan rainy season (–1.39σ) coincided with particularly shallow southwesterly flow across the Gulf of Guinea coast (–5°N); thicker monsoon layers are found characteristic of the less severe 1968 (–0.78°) and 1971 (–0.88°) droughts. However, the monsoon layer depth here during the nondrought study years does not always exceed that for drought months. The direction of the low-level water vapor flux above Dakar, a sensitive Subsaharan location (−15°N) on the West African coast, shows a stronger tendency to be from north of west during unproductive Subsaharan rainy seasons (− 0.78σ to − 1.39σ) than in near-average ones (–0.27σ to + 0.06σ). This suggests the southwest monsoon does not extend as far north along the West African coast during Subsaharan droughts as in more abundant rainy seasons. In contrast to the foregoing Gulf of Guinea results, the monsoon layer over the interior of the Subsaharan zone at ˜ 13°N exhibits minimal variability for the drought study years. The better developed nondrought southwesterly flows here tended to be thicker than those characteristic of most drought months. DOI: 10.1111/j.1600-0870.1983.tb00197.xKeywords
This publication has 10 references indexed in Scilit:
- Persistence of Subsaharan droughtNature, 1982
- Monsoon Climate of the Early Holocene: Climate Experiment with the Earth's Orbital Parameters for 9000 Years AgoScience, 1981
- Case Studies of Tropical Atlantic Surface Circulation Patterns During Recent Sub-Saharan Weather Anomalies: 1967 and 1968Monthly Weather Review, 1978
- Large-scale Tropical Atlantic surface circulation patterns associated with Subsaharan weather anomaliesTellus A: Dynamic Meteorology and Oceanography, 1978
- African rainfall and its relation to the upper air circulationQuarterly Journal of the Royal Meteorological Society, 1977
- Sahel drought: Change of climate or part of climate?Archives for Meteorology, Geophysics, and Bioclimatology Series B, 1975
- Structure of an Oceanic Near-Equatorial Trough Deduced from Research Aircraft TraversesMonthly Weather Review, 1974
- The Origin and Structure of Easterly Waves in the Lower Troposphere of North AfricaJournal of the Atmospheric Sciences, 1972
- MONTHLY CHARTS OF SURFACE WIND STRESS CURL OVER THE INDIAN OCEANMonthly Weather Review, 1970
- The Flux of Atmospheric Water Vapor over the Caribbean Sea and the Gulf of MexicoJournal of Applied Meteorology, 1966