Assessment of water budgets from NWP model analyses and reanalyses over West Africa

International audience; Water budgets from ECMWF reanalysis ERA-Interim and NCEP reanalysis I and II are inter-compared and compared to GPS precipitable water and to a 6-yr so-called "hybrid" budget dataset composed of ALMIP (AMMA Land surface Model Intercomparison Project) offline simulations forced with TRMM precipitation data. Deficiencies are evidenced in the reanalyses which are the most pronounced over the Sahel. Results from operational models (ECMWF-IFS, NCEP-GFS, and ARPEGE-Tropiques) and the special ECMWF AMMA reanalysis confirm and help understand these findings. A bias (~1-2 mm day-1) in precipitation and evapotranspiration leads to an unrealistic view of West Africa as a moistu…