scholarly journals Characterization of Model Spread in PMIP2 Mid-Holocene Simulations of the African Monsoon

2013 ◽  
Vol 26 (4) ◽  
pp. 1192-1210 ◽  
Author(s):  
Weipeng Zheng ◽  
Pascale Braconnot
Keyword(s):  
Large Scale ◽  
West African Monsoon ◽  
Heat Fluxes ◽  
Coupled Models ◽  
African Monsoon ◽  
Systematic Biases ◽  
Intercomparison Project ◽  
Basic Features ◽  
Precipitation Changes

Abstract Simulations of the West African monsoon (WAM) for the present-day climate (0 ka) and the mid-Holocene (6 ka) using the coupled models from the Paleoclimate Modelling Intercomparison Project phase 2 (PMIP2) are assessed in this study. The authors first compare the ensemble simulations with modern observations and proxy estimates of past precipitation, showing that the PMIP2 model median captures the basic features of the WAM for 0 ka and the changes at 6 ka, despite systematic biases in the preindustrial (PI) simulations and underestimates of the northward extent and intensity of precipitation changes. The model spread is then discussed based on a classification of the monsoonal convective regimes for a subset of seven coupled models. Two major categories of model are defined based on their differences in simulating deep and moderate convective regimes in the PI simulations. Changes in precipitation at 6 ka are dominated by changes in the large-scale dynamics for most of the PMIP2 models and are characterized by a shift in the monsoonal circulation toward deeper convective regimes. Consequently, changes in the total precipitation at 6 ka depend on the changes in convective regimes and the characteristics of these regimes in the PI simulations. The results indicate that systematic model biases in simulating the radiation and heat fluxes could explain the damping of the meridional temperature gradient over West Africa and thereby the underestimation of precipitation in the Sahel–Sahara region.

scholarly journals Influence of the representation of convection on the mid-Holocene West African Monsoon

2021 ◽  
Vol 17 (4) ◽  
pp. 1665-1684
Author(s):  
Leonore Jungandreas ◽  
Cathy Hohenegger ◽  
Martin Claussen
Keyword(s):  
Land Surface ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Climate Models ◽  
Climate Model ◽  
Monsoon Season ◽  
West African Monsoon ◽  
West African ◽  
Global Climate Models ◽  
African Monsoon ◽  
Monsoonal Precipitation

Abstract. Global climate models experience difficulties in simulating the northward extension of the monsoonal precipitation over north Africa during the mid-Holocene as revealed by proxy data. A common feature of these models is that they usually operate on grids that are too coarse to explicitly resolve convection, but convection is the most essential mechanism leading to precipitation in the West African Monsoon region. Here, we investigate how the representation of tropical deep convection in the ICOsahedral Nonhydrostatic (ICON) climate model affects the meridional distribution of monsoonal precipitation during the mid-Holocene by comparing regional simulations of the summer monsoon season (July to September; JAS) with parameterized and explicitly resolved convection. In the explicitly resolved convection simulation, the more localized nature of precipitation and the absence of permanent light precipitation as compared to the parameterized convection simulation is closer to expectations. However, in the JAS mean, the parameterized convection simulation produces more precipitation and extends further north than the explicitly resolved convection simulation, especially between 12 and 17∘ N. The higher precipitation rates in the parameterized convection simulation are consistent with a stronger monsoonal circulation over land. Furthermore, the atmosphere in the parameterized convection simulation is less stably stratified and notably moister. The differences in atmospheric water vapor are the result of substantial differences in the probability distribution function of precipitation and its resulting interactions with the land surface. The parametrization of convection produces light and large-scale precipitation, keeping the soils moist and supporting the development of convection. In contrast, less frequent but locally intense precipitation events lead to high amounts of runoff in the explicitly resolved convection simulations. The stronger runoff inhibits the moistening of the soil during the monsoon season and limits the amount of water available to evaporation in the explicitly resolved convection simulation.

scholarly journals Investigating West African Monsoon Features in Warm Years Using the Regional Climate Model RegCM4

Atmosphere ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 23 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ibrahima Diba ◽  
Moctar Camara ◽  
Arona Diedhiou
Keyword(s):  
Regional Climate Model ◽  
Climate Model ◽  
Regional Climate ◽  
West African Monsoon ◽  
West African ◽  
Heat Fluxes ◽  
Guinea Coast ◽  
African Monsoon ◽  
Model Driven ◽  
Warm Spell

This study investigates the changes in West African monsoon features during warm years using the Regional Climate Model version 4.5 (RegCM4.5). The analysis uses 30 years of datasets of rainfall, surface temperature and wind parameters (from 1980 to 2009). We performed a simulation at a spatial resolution of 50 km with the RegCM4.5 model driven by ERA-Interim reanalysis. The rainfall amount is weaker over the Sahel (western and central) and the Guinea region for the warmest years compared to the coldest ones. The analysis of heat fluxes show that the sensible (latent) heat flux is stronger (weaker) during the warmest (coldest) years. When considering the rainfall events, there is a decrease of the number of rainy days over the Guinea Coast (in the South of Cote d’Ivoire, of Ghana and of Benin) and the western and eastern Sahel during warm years. The maximum length of consecutive wet days decreases over the western and eastern Sahel, while the consecutive dry days increase mainly over the Sahel band during the warm years. The percentage of very warm days and warm nights increase mainly over the Sahel domain and the Guinea region. The model also simulates an increase of the warm spell duration index in the whole Sahel domain and over the Guinea Coast in warm years. The analysis of the wind dynamic exhibits during warm years a weakening of the monsoon flow in the lower levels, a strengthening in the magnitude of the African Easterly Jet (AEJ) in the mid-troposphere and a slight increase of the Tropical Easterly Jet (TEJ) in the upper levels of the atmosphere during warm years.

scholarly journals Intraseasonal Land–Atmosphere Coupling in the West African Monsoon

2008 ◽  
Vol 21 (24) ◽  
pp. 6636-6648 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christopher M. Taylor
Keyword(s):  
Soil Moisture ◽  
Sensible Heat Flux ◽  
West African Monsoon ◽  
West African ◽  
Surface Fluxes ◽  
Heat Fluxes ◽  
The West ◽  
African Monsoon ◽  
Low Level ◽  
The Impact

Abstract Via its impact on surface fluxes, subseasonal variability in soil moisture has the potential to feed back on regional atmospheric circulations, and thereby rainfall. An understanding of this feedback mechanism in the climate system has been hindered by the lack of observations at an appropriate scale. In this study, passive microwave data at 10.65 GHz from the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission satellite are used to identify soil moisture variability during the West African monsoon. A simple model of surface sensible heat flux is developed from these data and is used, alongside atmospheric analyses from the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasting (ECMWF), to provide a new interpretation of monsoon variability on time scales of the order of 15 days. During active monsoon periods, the data indicate extensive areas of wet soil in the Sahel. The impact of the resulting weak surface heat fluxes is consistent in space and time with low-level variations in atmospheric heating and vorticity, as depicted in the ECMWF analyses. The surface-induced vorticity structure is similar to previously documented intraseasonal variations in the monsoon flow, notably a westward-propagating vortex at low levels. In those earlier studies, the variability in low-level flow was considered to be the critical factor in producing intraseasonal fluctuations in rainfall. The current analysis shows that this vortex can be regarded as an effect of the rainfall (via surface hydrology) as well as a cause.

scholarly journals Internal Intraseasonal Variability of the West African Monsoon in WRF

2017 ◽  
Vol 30 (15) ◽  
pp. 5815-5833 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ghassan J. Alaka ◽  
Eric D. Maloney
Keyword(s):  
East Africa ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Intraseasonal Variability ◽  
West African Monsoon ◽  
West African ◽  
Boreal Summer ◽  
Kelvin Wave ◽  
The West ◽  
African Monsoon ◽  
External Influences

The West African monsoon (WAM) and its landmark features, which include African easterly waves (AEWs) and the African easterly jet (AEJ), exhibit significant intraseasonal variability in boreal summer. However, the degree to which this variability is modulated by external large-scale phenomena, such as the Madden–Julian oscillation (MJO), remains unclear. The Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) Model is employed to diagnose the importance of the MJO and other external influences for the intraseasonal variability of the WAM and associated AEW energetics by removing 30–90-day signals from initial and lateral boundary conditions in sensitivity tests. The WAM produces similar intraseasonal variability in the absence of external influences, indicating that the MJO is not critical to produce WAM variability. In control and sensitivity experiments, AEW precursor signals are similar near the AEJ entrance in East Africa. For example, an eastward extension of the AEJ increases barotropic and baroclinic energy conversions in East Africa prior to a 30–90-day maximum of perturbation kinetic energy in West Africa. The WAM appears to prefer a faster oscillation when MJO forcing is removed, suggesting that the MJO may serve as a pacemaker for intraseasonal oscillations in the WAM. WRF results show that eastward propagating intraseasonal signals (e.g., Kelvin wave fronts) are responsible for this pacing, while the role of westward propagating intraseasonal signals (e.g., MJO-induced Rossby waves) appears to be limited. Mean state biases across the simulations complicate the interpretation of results.

scholarly journals Climate and African precipitation changes in the mid-Holocene simulated using an Earth System Model MIROC-ESM

2012 ◽  
Vol 8 (4) ◽  
pp. 3277-3343 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. Ohgaito ◽  
T. Sueyoshi ◽  
A. Abe-Ouchi ◽  
T. Hajima ◽  
S. Watanabe ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
General Circulation ◽  
Coupled Model ◽  
Circulation Model ◽  
Earth System Model ◽  
System Model ◽  
Earth System ◽  
African Monsoon ◽  
Proxy Records ◽  
Intercomparison Project ◽  
Precipitation Changes

Abstract. The importance of evaluating models using paleoclimate simulations is becoming more recognized in efforts to improve climate projection. To evaluate an integrated Earth System Model, MIROC-ESM, we performed simulations in time-slice experiments for the mid-Holocene (6000 yr before present, 6 ka) and preindustrial (1850 AD) times under the protocol of the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project 5/Paleoclimate Modelling Intercomparison Project 3. We first overview the simulated global climates by comparing with simulations using a previous version of the MIROC model (MIROC3), which is an atmosphere-ocean coupled general circulation model, and then comprehensively discuss various aspects of climate change with 6 ka forcing. We also discuss the 6 ka African monsoon activity. The 6 ka precipitation change over northern Africa according to MIROC-ESM does not differ dramatically from that obtained with MIROC3, which means that newly developed components such as dynamic vegetation and improvements in the atmospheric processes do not have significant impacts on representing the 6 ka monsoon change suggested by proxy records. Although there is no drastic difference in the African monsoon representation between the two models, there are small but significant differences in the precipitation enhancement in MIROC-ESM, which can be related to the representation of the sea surface temperature rather than the vegetation coupling, at least in MIROC-ESM.

scholarly journals Mid-Pliocene West African Monsoon Rainfall as simulated in the PlioMIP2 ensemble

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ellen Berntell ◽  
Qiong Zhang ◽  
Qiang Li ◽  
Alan M. Haywood ◽  
Julia C. Tindall ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
West Africa ◽  
West African Monsoon ◽  
West African ◽  
Climate Projections ◽  
Second Phase ◽  
Sahara Desert ◽  
Humid Climate ◽  
Future Projections ◽  
African Monsoon ◽  
Intercomparison Project

Abstract. The mid-Pliocene Warm Period (mPWP; ~3.2 million years ago) is seen as the most recent time period characterized by a warm climate state, with similar modern geography and ~400 ppmv atmospheric CO2 concentration, and is therefore often considered an interesting analogue for near-future climate projections. Paleoenvironmental reconstructions indicate higher surface temperatures, decreasing tropical deserts, and a more humid climate in West Africa characterized by a strengthened West African Monsoon (WAM). Using model results from the second phase of the Pliocene Modelling Intercomparison Project (PlioMIP2) ensemble we analyze changes of the WAM rainfall during the mPWP, by comparing with the control simulations for the pre-industrial period. The ensemble shows a robust increase of the summer rainfall over West Africa and the Sahara region with an average increase of 2.7 mm/day, contrasted by a rainfall decrease over the equatorial Atlantic. An anomalous warming of the Sahara Desert and deepening of the Saharan Heat Low, seen in > 90 % of the models, leads to a strengthening of the WAM and an increased monsoonal flow into the continent. A similar warming of the Sahara Desert is seen in future projections using both phase 3 and 5 of the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project (CMIP3 and CMIP5), and though previous studies of future projections indicate a west/east drying/wetting contrast over Sahel, PlioMIP2 simulations indicate a uniform rainfall increase over Sahel in warm climates characterized by increasing greenhouse gas forcing.

scholarly journals Understanding the Mechanisms behind the Northward Extension of the West African Monsoon during the Mid-Holocene

2017 ◽  
Vol 30 (19) ◽  
pp. 7621-7642 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marco Gaetani ◽  
Gabriele Messori ◽  
Qiong Zhang ◽  
Cyrille Flamant ◽  
Francesco S. R. Pausata
Keyword(s):  
West Africa ◽  
Radiative Forcing ◽  
Numerical Models ◽  
Substantial Reduction ◽  
West African Monsoon ◽  
West African ◽  
Heat Fluxes ◽  
Dust Concentration ◽  
The West ◽  
African Monsoon

Abstract Understanding the West African monsoon (WAM) dynamics in the mid-Holocene (MH) is a crucial issue in climate modeling, because numerical models typically fail to reproduce the extensive precipitation suggested by proxy evidence. This discrepancy may be largely due to the assumption of both unrealistic land surface cover and atmospheric aerosol concentration. In this study, the MH environment is simulated in numerical experiments by imposing extensive vegetation over the Sahara and the consequent reduction in airborne dust concentration. A dramatic increase in precipitation is simulated across the whole of West Africa, up to the Mediterranean coast. This precipitation response is in better agreement with proxy data, in comparison with the case in which only changes in orbital forcing are considered. Results show a substantial modification of the monsoonal circulation, characterized by an intensification of large-scale deep convection through the entire Sahara, and a weakening and northward shift (~6.5°) of the African easterly jet. The greening of the Sahara also leads to a substantial reduction in the African easterly wave activity and associated precipitation. The reorganization of the regional atmospheric circulation is driven by the vegetation effect on radiative forcing and associated heat fluxes, with the reduction in dust concentration to enhance this response. The results for the WAM in the MH present important implications for understanding future climate scenarios in the region and in teleconnected areas, in the context of projected wetter conditions in West Africa.

Agricultural impacts of large-scale variability of the West African monsoon

2005 ◽  
Vol 128 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 93-110 ◽  
Author(s):  
Benjamin Sultan ◽  
Christian Baron ◽  
Michael Dingkuhn ◽  
Benoît Sarr ◽  
Serge Janicot
Keyword(s):  
Large Scale ◽  
West African Monsoon ◽  
West African ◽  
The West ◽  
Agricultural Impacts ◽  
African Monsoon

scholarly journals Influence of ENSO on the West African Monsoon: Temporal Aspects and Atmospheric Processes

2009 ◽  
Vol 22 (12) ◽  
pp. 3193-3210 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mathieu Joly ◽  
Aurore Voldoire
Keyword(s):  
Southern Oscillation ◽  
West African Monsoon ◽  
West African ◽  
Boreal Summer ◽  
Atmospheric Response ◽  
Coupled Models ◽  
The West ◽  
African Monsoon ◽  
Enso Events ◽  
Temporal Aspects

Abstract A significant part of the West African monsoon (WAM) interannual variability can be explained by the remote influence of El Niño–Southern Oscillation (ENSO). Whereas the WAM occurs in the boreal summer, ENSO events generally peak in late autumn. Statistics show that, in the observations, the WAM is influenced either during the developing phase of ENSO or during the decay of some long-lasting La Niña events. The timing of ENSO thus seems essential to the teleconnection process. Composite maps for the developing ENSO illustrate the large-scale mechanisms of the teleconnection. The most robust features are a modulation of the Walker circulation and a Kelvin wave response in the high troposphere. In the Centre National de Recherches Météorologiques Coupled Global Climate Model, version 3 (CNRM-CM3), the teleconnection occurs unrealistically at the end of ENSO events. An original sensitivity experiment is presented in which the ocean component is forced with a reanalyzed wind stress over the tropical Pacific. This allows for the reproduction of the observed ENSO chronology in the coupled simulation. In CNRM-CM3, the atmospheric response to ENSO is slower than in the reanalysis data, so the influence on the WAM is delayed by a year. The two principal features of the teleconnection are the timing of ENSO onsets and the time lag of the atmospheric response. Both are assessed separately in 16 twentieth-century simulations of the third phase of the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project (CMIP3). The temporal aspects of the ENSO teleconnection are reproduced with difficulty in state-of-the-art coupled models. Only four models simulate an impact of ENSO on the WAM during the developing phase.

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