CoChat
Sign Up
Cited by 40Climate variability and modelsMeteorological Phenomena and SimulationsAtmospheric aerosols and clouds

Spring to summer changes in the West African monsoon through NCEP/NCAR reanalyses (1968–1998).

Fontaine, Bernard, Philippon, Nathalie, Trzaska, Sylwia, Roucou, Pascal·2002·Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres
DOI 10.1029/2001jd000834
Open this paper in CoChat — free account

Abstract

This article focuses on the spring to summer evolutions of the West African monsoon from an energetic point of view; it uses NCEP/NCAR reanalyses along with observed and simulated rainfall data over the period 1968–1998. The results show that the West African monsoon can be viewed as a coupled ocean‐atmosphere‐land system phased with the zenithal evolution of solar radiation which maintains its thermally direct circulation by pumping, from the surface, enthalpy mainly in spring and latent energy in summer. In this context the horizontal energy gradients in the boundary layer play a key role during the spring to summer transition. At the beginning of spring, the moist static energy (MSE) meridional gradients are the strongest over the continent and are maintained by sensible heating and cooling. Then they relax and the monsoon air mass is transported northward into the continent. However, before the wettest (driest) July to September rainy seasons the MSE meridional gradients tend to be stronger (weaker) and tend to relax later (earlier). It is assumed that these gradients could be controlled by the seasonal evolution of precipitation and soil moisture fields: indeed, the months preceding the beginning of an abnormally wet rainy season are characterized by negative rainfall and soil moisture anomalies over Sudan‐Sahel. Such anomalies could maintain stronger than normal MSE and humidity gradients between the Sahelian and the Guinean areas in late spring before they relax more i…

Integrity signals

Registry

Crossref · 10.1029/2001jd000834

Cites

45 of 45 references verified0 citation errors · 0 not checkable

Statistics

Recomputing p-values needs the paper’s full text.

Claims the paper makes

This paper’s full text isn’t openly available, so its claims and self-check weren’t run. The registry and citation checks still apply.

Claims other papers make about this one

Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?

  • A seasonal correlation between autumn Guinean rainfall and the following summer Sahel rainfall has been found and evaluated by other authors, mainly as the result of soil moisture conditions persistence and developed vegetation interactions.

    “a seasonal correlation between autumn Guinean rainfall and the following summer Sahel rainfall has been found and evaluated by other authors, mainly as the result of the soil moisture conditions persistence and the developed vegetation interactions (Philippon and Fontaine 2002;Fontaine et al. 2002;Douville et al. 2007).”

    From Tropical Atlantic variability modes (1979-2002). Part I: Time-evolving SST modes related to West African rainfall (2008) · cites this paper as Fontaine et al. 2002

Cites

Flagged first, then by citations

3 of the 48 references couldn’t be matched to a known paper.

Cited by

Sorted by citations

Related

Authors
Fontaine, B., Philippon, N., Trzaska, S., & Roucou, P.
Affiliations
Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (FR)
ORCID
Philippon, Nathalie
Venue
Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres
Publisher
American Geophysical Union (AGU)
Published
2002-07-17
Volume
107
Issue
D14
ISSN
0148-0227 (ISSN-L)
DOI
10.1029/2001jd000834
OpenAlex
W2014350434
Cited by
40
References
48
Citations by year
2026: 1 · 2025: 1 · 2024: 9 · 2023: 1 · 2022: 1 · 2021: 1 · 2020: 1 · 2018: 2 · 2014: 1 · 2013: 1 · 2012: 1
FWCI
2.09
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
closed
Licence
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/termsAndConditions#vor (vor)
Locations
Journal of Geophysical Research Atmospheres (publishedVersion)
Funders
  • Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique
  • Institut national des sciences de l'Univers
Topics
  • Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Global and Planetary Change › Climate variability and models
  • Physical Sciences › Earth and Planetary Sciences › Atmospheric Science › Meteorological Phenomena and Simulations
  • Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Global and Planetary Change › Atmospheric aerosols and clouds
Keywords
West African monsoon, moist static energy, sensible heating, latent heat, boundary layer, solar radiation, rainfall anomalies, soil moisture anomalies, Sahel, monsoon onset, NCEP/NCAR reanalysis

About these checks

Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.

Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.

Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.

What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›

Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review