Fennec - The Saharan Climate System
Lead Research Organisation:
University of Oxford
Department Name: Geography - SoGE
Abstract
The central Sahara has one of the most extreme climates on Earth. During the northern summer months, a large low pressure system caused by intense sunshine develops over a huge, largely uninhabited expanse of northern Mali, southern Algeria and eastern Mauritania. Temperatures in the high 40s are normal and uplift of dry air through more than 6000m of the atmosphere is routine in what is thought to be the deepest such layer on the planet. This large zone is also where the thickest layer of dust anywhere in the Earth's atmosphere is to be found. Although the central Sahara is extremely remote, it turns out to be vitally important to the world's weather and climate. The large low pressure system drives the West African Monsoon and the dry, dusty air layers are closely related to the tropical cyclones which form over the Atlantic Ocean. Likewise, the dusty air has a strong influence on the way the atmosphere is heated, a process which is poorly understood. It is not surprising that the models we use to predict weather and climate and which are a crucial tool for understanding how the atmosphere works, all have problems in dealing with the central Sahara. Insights into how the climate system works, improving the models and therefore the predictions have all been held back in the case of the Sahara by a lack of measurements of the atmosphere and the processes that make dust and extreme weather. This will always be the case until a team goes to the central Sahara and makes these measurements. A key part of this proposal aims to do just that. We want to set up an array of special instruments, at the surface in two carefully chosen places in the central Sahara, which will monitor the winds, temperatures, dust and so on for an entire year. We will add to this collection for a shorter period of even more intense measurements during the core summer month of June. We plan also to fly a instruments attached to an aeroplane overhead the surface array and across the desert so that we can get an idea of the structure of the atmosphere and how it changes through the day. To find out how dust storms work, we will leave 10 weather stations at places where we think dust storms happen frequently. Satellites play an essential role in measuring weather and climate and are especially useful in remote places. The best available information from satellites will help to quantify how weather and climate works in the Sahara. We also expect to improve the way the satellites are able to make their measurements too. Because models are so important to understanding and predicting weather, we will make heavy use of them in this work. We want to know how well the models work over the Sahara and what can be done to improve them. We are especially interested in seeing whether the models work better if we allow them to deal with small parts of the climate system or whether we can still represent extreme places in the Sahara by ignoring these details in the models.
Organisations
- University of Oxford (Lead Research Organisation)
- Laboratoire Interuniversitaire des Systèmes Atmosphériques (Project Partner)
- University of Maryland, Baltimore County (Project Partner)
- Sorbonne University (Project Partner)
- Met Office (Project Partner)
- Johannes Gutenberg University of Mainz (Project Partner)
- Goddard Space Flight Center (Project Partner)
People |
ORCID iD |
Richard Washington (Principal Investigator) |
Publications
Allen C
(2014)
The low-level jet dust emission mechanism in the central Sahara: Observations from Bordj-Badji Mokhtar during the June 2011 Fennec Intensive Observation Period Central Saharan LLJ dust emission
in Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres
Allen C
(2013)
Dust emission and transport mechanisms in the central Sahara: Fennec ground-based observations from Bordj Badji Mokhtar, June 2011
in Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres
Allen C
(2015)
Dust detection from ground-based observations in the summer global dust maximum: Results from Fennec 2011 and 2012 and implications for modeling and field observations
in Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres
Ashpole I
(2013)
A new high-resolution central and western Saharan summertime dust source map from automated satellite dust plume tracking
in Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres
Ashpole I
(2012)
An automated dust detection using SEVIRI: A multiyear climatology of summertime dustiness in the central and western Sahara
in Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres
Ashpole I
(2013)
Intraseasonal variability and atmospheric controls on daily dust occurrence frequency over the central and western Sahara during the boreal summer
in Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres
Banks J
(2013)
Intercomparison of satellite dust retrieval products over the west African Sahara during the Fennec campaign in June 2011
in Remote Sensing of Environment
Banks J
(2013)
Evaluation of MSG-SEVIRI mineral dust retrieval products over North Africa and the Middle East
in Remote Sensing of Environment
Crumeyrolle S
(2011)
Transport of dust particles from the Bodélé region to the monsoon layer - AMMA case study of the 9-14 June 2006 period
in Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics
Engelstaedter S
(2015)
The Saharan heat low and moisture transport pathways in the central Sahara-Multiaircraft observations and Africa-LAM evaluation
in Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres
Description | Key processes that control the emission of aerosol from the dustiest place on the planet in the Boreal summer months |
Exploitation Route | Model development and evaluation has become possible with the availability of observed data from the central Sahara. |
Sectors | Aerospace Defence and Marine Education Environment Transport |
URL | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r0nre1Zs-R4 |
Description | School talk (Oxford) |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | Local |
Primary Audience | Schools |
Results and Impact | School talk on the Fennec Climate Programme, explaining the instrumentation, deployment, aircraft campaign and key results. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2017 |