Universität zu Köln

Paeth, Heiko, Fink, Andreas H. ORCID: 0000-0002-5840-2120, Pohle, Susan, Keis, Felix, Maechel, Hermann and Samimi, Cyrus ORCID: 0000-0001-7001-7893 (2011). Meteorological characteristics and potential causes of the 2007 flood in sub-Saharan Africa. Int. J. Climatol., 31 (13). S. 1908 - 1927. MALDEN: WILEY-BLACKWELL. ISSN 0899-8418

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Abstract

In August and September 2007 media and aid organizations reported on a severe flood in large parts of sub-Saharan Africa caused by a sequence of extreme rain events. However, the reporting was partly controversial and much was speculated about how unusual the flood event was. Here, we analyse various observational data sets in order to assess and to compare the spatio-temporal characteristics and intensity of the flood and the associated rain events. The return times are estimated from daily precipitation time series at fine spatial resolution, and the potential causes are disclosed in a global and regional context. Satellite data reveal that the flood was not large scale but confined to the main river basins in sub-Saharan West Africa. Nonetheless, abundant rainfall prevailed over large parts of Western Africa extending north into the Western Sahara, particularly during the second half of August and the beginning of September 2007. In detail, various precipitation data sets differ considerably in terms of the monthly anomalies, demonstrating the difficulty to delineate meteorological extreme events even at a sub-continental scale and during the most recent past. Return times typically range between 1 and 50 years with high spatial heterogeneity but amount to 1200 years in the regional mean over the Upper Volta Basin. Among the potential causes we identify a La Nina event in the tropical Pacific, anomalous heating in the tropical Atlantic coming along with a greater depth of the monsoonal westerlies, and enhanced activity of African easterly waves, both evident in 2-6 day zonal wind and outgoing longwave radiation variance anomalies. Copyright. (C) 2010 Royal Meteorological Society

Item Type:	Journal Article
Creators:	Creators Email ORCID ORCID Put Code Paeth, Heiko UNSPECIFIED UNSPECIFIED UNSPECIFIED Fink, Andreas H. UNSPECIFIED orcid.org/0000-0002-5840-2120 UNSPECIFIED Pohle, Susan UNSPECIFIED UNSPECIFIED UNSPECIFIED Keis, Felix UNSPECIFIED UNSPECIFIED UNSPECIFIED Maechel, Hermann UNSPECIFIED UNSPECIFIED UNSPECIFIED Samimi, Cyrus UNSPECIFIED orcid.org/0000-0001-7001-7893 UNSPECIFIED
URN:	urn:nbn:de:hbz:38-486637
DOI:	10.1002/joc.2199
Journal or Publication Title:	Int. J. Climatol.
Volume:	31
Number:	13
Page Range:	S. 1908 - 1927
Date:	2011
Publisher:	WILEY-BLACKWELL
Place of Publication:	MALDEN
ISSN:	0899-8418
Language:	English
Faculty:	Unspecified
Divisions:	Unspecified
Subjects:	no entry
Uncontrolled Keywords:	Keywords Language SEA-SURFACE TEMPERATURE; WEST-AFRICA; INTERANNUAL VARIABILITY; PRECIPITATION PRODUCTS; TROPICAL RAINBELT; SAHELIAN RAINFALL; EASTERLY WAVES; CLIMATE-CHANGE; SST ANOMALIES; NORTH-AFRICA Multiple languages Meteorology & Atmospheric Sciences Multiple languages
URI:	http://kups.ub.uni-koeln.de/id/eprint/48663