Meteorology of Tropical West Africa – The Forecasters′ Handbook

Douglas J Parker is the Met Office Professor of Meteorology at the University of Leeds. Mariane Diop-Kane heads the Research and Development Department in the Senegalese weather service (ANACIM).

Chapter 1: Mean climate and seasonal cycle 1.1 Introduction 1.2 Rainfall and evaporation climatologies 1.3 Water vapour and clouds 1.4 Radiation, dust, sunshine duration, vegetation, and soil water 1.5 Pressure, temperature, humidity and wind at the surface 1.6 Upper air wind, mass and humidity fields 1.7 Summary schematics of the January and July WAM system Chapter 2: Synoptic Systems 2.1 Scientific background 2.2 Operational methods and canonical synoptic patterns Chapter 3: Deep Convection 3.1 Scientific background 3.2 Operational methods Chapter 4: Local weather 4.1 Scientific background 4.2 Operational methods Chapter 5: Dust 5.1 Scientific Background 5.2 Operational Methods Chapter 6: Nowcasting 6.1 Scientific Background 6.2 Operational Methods for Nowcasting Severe Weather Chapter 7: Subseasonal Forecasting 7.1 Scientific Background 7.2 Operational Methods Chapter 8: Seasonal Forecasting 8.1 Scientific background 8.2 Operational methods Chapter 9: Remote Sensing 9.1 Scientific Background 9.2 Operational Methods 9.3 Case Study, Presentations, and other Resources Chapter 10: Numerical weather prediction over Africa 10.1 Scientific Background 10.2 Operational NWP over Africa Chapter 11: West African Synthetic Analysis and Forecast: WASA/F Introduction 11.1 The intertropical discontinuity (ITD), or intertropical front (ITF) 11.2 The Heat Low (HL) or thermal depression 11.3 The Subtropical Jet (STJ) 11.4 Features associated with midlatitudes 11.5 Mid-level dry air 11.6 The Tropical Easterly Jet (TEJ) 11.7 The African Easterly Jet (AEJ) 11.8 African Easterly Waves (AEWs) and cyclonic vortices 11.9 The African Monsoon layer and the Monsoon Trough (MT) 11.10 Dust or Sand 11.11 Convection