African Monsoon Multidisciplinary Analyses - UK (AMMA-UK).
Lead Research Organisation:
University of Liverpool
Department Name: Geography
Abstract
Subsaharan Africa has experienced measurable climate change over recent decades, with severe effects on local water resources, agriculture and health. However, our predictive methods for this region are unreliable, due to a lack of observations and a poor understanding of the processes controlling the West African Monsoon (WAM). As part of the international AMMA programme the UK will undertake a substantial effort, involving 8 institutions and more than 30 scientists, to measure the physical and chemical processes which determine the local climate and its global impacts. AMMA-UK will install an array of ground-based stations, between the tropical forest of the Guinea coast and the Sahara desert, to monitor climate over a two-year period. Within the vegetation canopy, measurements will be made of the environmental quantities which determine disease propagation and these will be related to the larger-scale weather and climate as derived from satellite observations. In the summer of 2006, an intensive campaign of aircraft and balloon-borne measurements will be used to analyse the atmospheric state and composition. Using a synthesis of the full set of measurements, the interaction of patterns of soil moisture and vegetation with weather systems and atmospheric composition will be determined. A co-ordinated programme of modelling will describe the role of the WAM in the global climate, improve our understanding of droughts and contribute to improved forecasts.
Organisations
Publications
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Cornforth R
(2019)
The First Forecasters' Handbook for West Africa
in Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society
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Bhowmick M
(2018)
Analytical solution to a thermodynamic model for the sensitivity of afternoon deep convective initiation to the surface Bowen ratio
in Quarterly Journal of the Royal Meteorological Society
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Lafore J
(2017)
Meteorology of Tropical West Africa - The Forecasters' Handbook
![publication icon](/resources/img/placeholder-60x60.png)
Parker D
(2017)
Meteorology of Tropical West Africa - The Forecasters' Handbook
![publication icon](/resources/img/placeholder-60x60.png)
Lafore J
(2017)
Meteorology of Tropical West Africa - The Forecasters' Handbook
![publication icon](/resources/img/placeholder-60x60.png)
Taylor CM
(2017)
Frequency of extreme Sahelian storms tripled since 1982 in satellite observations.
in Nature
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Cornforth R
(2017)
Meteorology of Tropical West Africa - The Forecasters' Handbook
![publication icon](/resources/img/placeholder-60x60.png)
Fink A
(2011)
Operational meteorology in West Africa: observational networks, weather analysis and forecasting
in Atmospheric Science Letters
![publication icon](/resources/img/placeholder-60x60.png)
Polcher J
(2011)
African Monsoon Multidisciplinary Analysis: an integrated project for understanding of the West African climate system and its human dimension
in Atmospheric Science Letters
Description | Please see details for lead institution: NE/G505538/1. |
Exploitation Route | Please see details for lead institution: NE/G505538/1. |
Sectors | Environment |