0000000000346727
AUTHOR
Alice Favre
Diagnostic de la variabilité interannuelle des sorties CORDEX-Africa sur le secteur de l’Afrique du Sud.
7 pages; International audience; La variabilité interannuelle des précipitations issues de dix modèles climatiques régionaux du projet CORDEXAfricaa été analysée sur la région d’Afrique australe située au sud de 20°S et au cours de la période 1990-2007. Nous avonstout d’abord diagnostiqué que la majorité des modèles sous-estime légèrement la variance relative des cumuls annuels,comparativement aux observations, mais reproduit correctement la distribution spatiale avec une variabilité relative plusforte sur les régions les plus sèches. À propos des tendances sur la période, même s’il existe une certaine hétérogénéitéintermodèles, la plupart des MCR présentent, comme les observations, des coe…
Downscaling West African climate : uncertainties, sensitivity to the model physics and regional variability
We present here a set of regional climate simulations, complementary to the CORDEX-Africa modeling exercice, performed over West Africa during the 1989-2010 period using the non-hydrostatic model WRF. Lateral and SST forcings are provided by ERA-Interim reanalyses. The regional domain [45W 45E 10S 30N] encompasses West Africa and the nearby Atlantic Ocean and Gulf of Guinea. The grid resolution is moderate (80km, with 28 levels on the vertical) in order to reduce computational costs and multiply sensitivity experiments. A first set of fifteen 20-year long simulations addresses the influence of the model physics (convective, radiative and land surface schemes). A second set of simulations co…
L'activité dépressionnaire et anticyclonique hivernale des moyennes latitudes du Pacifique Nord
Using a new automated scheme, synoptic mid-latitudes cyclone and anticyclone trajectories have been constructed over the North Pacific from daily sea level pressure (SLP) data, covering the period 1950-2001. Over the North-Eastern Pacific, the strength of anticyclones diminished and their frequency became more variable, while cyclones intensified and presented further southerly trajectories since the mid-1970s. Thus, cyclonic and anticyclonic activities are significantly anti-correlated. These transient activity changes averaged out into anomalously low winter mean SLP in the Aleutian Low region, consistent with the positive phase of the North Pacific Oscillation, inducing positive sea surf…
The influence of ENSO on winter rainfall in South Africa
Whereas the impact of ENSO on the African summer rainfall regions is largely documented and still regularly investigated, little is known about its impact on the winter rainfall regions located at the southwestern and northwestern tips of Africa. Yet, these regions are densely inhabited and are net exporters of high-quality agricultural products. Here we analyze the relationship between El Nino Southern Oscillation (ENSO) and South Africa austral winter rainfall using a 682 raingauges daily rainfall database documenting the period 1950–1999. The May, June and July (MJJ) seasonal rainfall amount shows a positive correlation with the Nino3.4 index that becomes significant since the so-called …