The West African climate system: a review of the AMMA model inter-comparison initiatives

Summary, in English

We review the African Monsoon Multidisciplinary Analysis (AMMA) model inter-comparison activities for West Africa. The Model Inter-comparison Project is an evaluation exercise of how global and regional atmospheric models represent seasonal and intra-seasonal variations of the climate and rainfall over the Sahel. The Land surface Model Inter-comparison Project in turn focuses on modelling critical land surface processes over West Africa and on their link with the atmosphere. The CHEmistry Model Inter-comparison Project (CHEMIP) is a comparison of the tropospheric composition as simulated by a number of Chemical Transport Models (CTM) and Chemistry-Climate Models. We highlight the main model limitations and provide recommendations for future development. Copyright. (C) 2011 Royal Meteorological Society

• Author: P. M. Ruti; J. E. Williams; F. Hourdin; F. Guichard; A. Boone; P. van Velthoven; F. Favot; I. Musat; Markku Rummukainen; M. Dominguez; M. A. Gaertner; J. P. Lafore; T. Losada; M. B. Rodriguez de Fonseca; J. Polcher; F. Giorgi; Y. Xue; I. Bouarar; K. Law; B. Josse; B. Barret; X. Yang; C. Mari; A. K. Traore
• Department/s: Dept of Physical Geography and Ecosystem Science; MERGE: ModElling the Regional and Global Earth system
• Publishing year: 2011
• Language: English
• Pages: 116-122
• Publication/Series: Atmospheric Science Letters
• Volume: 12
• Issue: 1
• Links: http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/asl.305
• Document type: Journal article
• Publisher: Wiley-Blackwell
• Topic: Physical Geography
• Keywords: regional and global model uncertainties; systematic errors; African; monsoon
• Status: Published
• ISBN/ISSN/Other: ISSN: 1530-261X