Universität zu Köln

Knippertz, Peter ORCID: 0000-0001-9856-619X, Fink, Andreas H. ORCID: 0000-0002-5840-2120, Schuster, Robert, Trentmann, Joerg, Schrage, Jon M. and Yorke, Charles (2011). Ultra-low clouds over the southern West African monsoon region. Geophys. Res. Lett., 38. WASHINGTON: AMER GEOPHYSICAL UNION. ISSN 1944-8007

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Abstract

New ground- and space-based observations show that summertime southern West Africa is frequently affected by an extended cover of shallow, non-precipitating clouds only few hundred meters above the ground. These clouds are associated with nocturnal low-level wind speed maxima and frequently persist into the day, considerably reducing surface solar radiation. While the involved phenomena are well represented in re-analysis data, climate models show large errors in low-level wind, cloudiness, and solar radiation of up to 90 W m(-2). Errors of such a magnitude could strongly affect the regional energy and moisture budgets, which might help to explain the notorious difficulties of many models to simulate the West African climate. More effort is needed in the future to improve the monitoring, modeling, and physical understanding of these ultra-low clouds and their importance for the West African monsoon system. Citation: Knippertz, P., A. H. Fink, R. Schuster, J. Trentmann, J. M. Schrage, and C. Yorke (2011), Ultra-low clouds over the southern West African monsoon region, Geophys. Res. Lett., 38, L21808, doi:10.1029/2011GL049278.

Item Type:	Journal Article
Creators:	Creators Email ORCID ORCID Put Code Knippertz, Peter UNSPECIFIED orcid.org/0000-0001-9856-619X UNSPECIFIED Fink, Andreas H. UNSPECIFIED orcid.org/0000-0002-5840-2120 UNSPECIFIED Schuster, Robert UNSPECIFIED UNSPECIFIED UNSPECIFIED Trentmann, Joerg UNSPECIFIED UNSPECIFIED UNSPECIFIED Schrage, Jon M. UNSPECIFIED UNSPECIFIED UNSPECIFIED Yorke, Charles UNSPECIFIED UNSPECIFIED UNSPECIFIED
URN:	urn:nbn:de:hbz:38-485474
DOI:	10.1029/2011GL049278
Journal or Publication Title:	Geophys. Res. Lett.
Volume:	38
Date:	2011
Publisher:	AMER GEOPHYSICAL UNION
Place of Publication:	WASHINGTON
ISSN:	1944-8007
Language:	English
Faculty:	Unspecified
Divisions:	Unspecified
Subjects:	no entry
Uncontrolled Keywords:	Keywords Language DIURNAL CYCLE; ERA Multiple languages Geosciences, Multidisciplinary Multiple languages
URI:	http://kups.ub.uni-koeln.de/id/eprint/48547