Internal processes within the African Easterly Wave system

2014 ◽  
Vol 141 (689) ◽  
pp. 1121-1136 ◽  
Author(s):  
D. Emmanuel Poan ◽  
Jean-Philippe Lafore ◽  
Romain Roehrig ◽  
Fleur Couvreux
2018 ◽  
Vol 52 (9-10) ◽  
pp. 5567-5584
Author(s):  
Allison Lynn Brannan ◽  
Elinor R. Martin

2017 ◽  
Vol 143 (709) ◽  
pp. 3207-3227 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lorenzo Tomassini ◽  
Douglas J. Parker ◽  
Alison Stirling ◽  
Caroline Bain ◽  
Catherine Senior ◽  
...  

2020 ◽  
Vol 2020 ◽  
pp. 1-14 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. O. Ansah ◽  
M. A. Ahiataku ◽  
C. K. Yorke ◽  
F. Otu-Larbi ◽  
Bashiru Yahaya ◽  
...  

The first episodes of floods caused by heavy rainfall during the major rainy season in 2018 occurred in Accra (5.6°N and 0.17°W), a coastal town, and Kumasi (6.72°N and 1.6°W) in the forest region on the 18th and 28th of June, respectively. We applied the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model to investigate and examine the meteorological dynamics, which resulted in the extreme rainfall and floods that caused 14 deaths, 34076 people being displaced with damaged properties, and economic loss estimated at $168,289 for the two cities according to the National Disaster Management Organization (NADMO). The slow-moving thunderstorms lasted for about 8 hours due to the weak African Easterly Wave (AEW) and Tropical Easterly Jet (TEJ). Results from the analysis showed that surface pressures were low with significant amount of moisture influx aiding the thunderstorms intensification, which produced 90.1 mm and 114.6 mm of rainfall over Accra and Kumasi, respectively. We compared the rainfall amount from this event to the historical rainfall data to investigate possible changes in rainfall intensities over time. A time series of annual daily maximum rainfall (ADMR) showed an increasing trend with a slope of 0.45 over Accra and a decreasing trend and a slope of –0.07 over Kumasi. The 95th percentile frequencies of extreme rainfall with thresholds of 45.10 mm and 42.16 mm were analyzed for Accra and Kumasi, respectively, based on the normal distribution of rainfall. Accra showed fewer days with more heavy rainfall, while Kumasi showed more days with less heavy rainfalls.


2014 ◽  
Vol 71 (7) ◽  
pp. 2763-2781 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stefan F. Cecelski ◽  
Da-Lin Zhang ◽  
Takemasa Miyoshi

Abstract In this study, the predictability of and parametric differences in the genesis of Hurricane Julia (2010) are investigated using 20 mesoscale ensemble forecasts with the finest resolution of 1 km. Results show that the genesis of Julia is highly predictable, with all but two members undergoing genesis. Despite the high predictability, substantial parametric differences exist between the stronger and weaker members. Notably, the strongest-developing member exhibits large upper-tropospheric warming within a storm-scale outflow during genesis. In contrast, the nondeveloping member has weak and more localized warming due to inhibited convective development and a lack of a storm-scale outflow. A reduction in the Rossby radius of deformation in the strongest member aids in the accumulation of the warmth, while little contraction takes place in the nondeveloping member. The warming in the upper troposphere is responsible for the development of meso-α-scale surface pressure falls and a meso-β surface low in the strongest-developing member. Such features fail to form in the nondeveloping member as weak upper-tropospheric warming is unable to induce meaningful surface pressure falls. Cloud ice content is nearly doubled in the strongest member as compared to its nondeveloping counterparts, suggesting the importance of depositional heating of the upper troposphere. It is found that the stronger member undergoes genesis faster due to the lack of convective inhibition near the African easterly wave (AEW) pouch center prior to genesis. This allows for the faster development of a mesoscale convective system and storm-scale outflow, given the already favorable larger-scale conditions.


2011 ◽  
Vol 24 (20) ◽  
pp. 5378-5396 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stephanie Leroux ◽  
Nicholas M. J. Hall ◽  
George N. Kiladis

Abstract A dynamical model is constructed of the northern summertime global circulation, maintained by empirically derived forcing, based on the same dynamical code that has recently been used to study African easterly waves (AEWs) as convectively triggered perturbations (Thorncroft et al.; Leroux and Hall). In the configuration used here, the model faithfully simulates the observed mean distributions of jets and transient disturbances, and explicitly represents the interactions between them. This simple GCM is used to investigate the origin and intraseasonal intermittency of AEWs in an artificially dry (no convection) context. A long integration of the model produces a summertime climatology that includes a realistic African easterly jet and westward-propagating 3–5-day disturbances over West Africa. These simulated waves display intraseasonal intermittency as the observed AEWs also do. Further experiments designed to discern the source of this intermittency in the model show that the simulated waves are mainly triggered by dynamical precursors coming from the North Atlantic storm track. The model is at least as sensitive to this remote influence as it is to local triggering by convective heating.


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