The possible role of local air pollution in climate change in West Africa

The climate of West Africa is characterized by a sensitive monsoon system that is associated with marked natural precipitation variability. This region has been and is projected to be subject to substantial global and regional-scale changes including greenhouse-gas-induced warming and sea-level rise, land-use and land-cover change, and substantial biomass burning. We argue that more attention should be paid to rapidly increasing air pollution over the explosively growing cities of West Africa, as experiences from other regions suggest that this can alter regional climate through the influences of aerosols on clouds and radiation, and will also affect human health and food security. We need better observations and models to quantify the magnitude and characteristics of these impacts

Environmental vulnerability index : application to the white bandama bassin in the northern Côte d'Ivoire

The White Bandama Basin (WBB) faces multiple changes that could undermine it. In order to analyze its sensitivity to those changes, the environmental Vulnerability Index (EVI), developed by the South Pacific Applied Geosciences Commission (SOPAC), as a global composite index that quantifies the vulnerability of an area’s environment, was applied to the basin. The results revealed that the major vulnerability issues are from anthropogenic sources, country-characteristics and climate changes. The most important climate risk factor for the basin is drought. The overall risk factor in the basin is higher than the means of resistance, making it moderately sensitive to changes

Health effects of small dams in Mali

Health effects of small dams in Mal

Dust induced changes on the West African summer monsoon features

Dust generation and transportation from North Africa are thought to modulate the West African Monsoon (WAM) features. In this study, we investigated the relationship between the Saharan Air Layer located above Atlantic Ocean (OSAL) and WAM features, including Monsoon flow, African Easterly Jet (AEJ) and Tropical Easterly Jet (TEJ) over West Africa using the RegCM4 regional model at 30 km grid resolution. Two sets of experiments with and without dust load were performed between 2007 and 2013 over the simulation domain, encompassing the whole of West Africa and a large part of the adjacent Atlantic Ocean. An intercomparison of the two simulations shows that dust load into the atmosphere greatly influences both the wind and temperature structure at different levels, resulting in the observed changes in the main features of the WAM system during summer. These changes lead to a westward shift with a slight strengthening of AEJ core over tropical Atlantic and weakening of both TEJ and monsoon flux penetration over land. In addition, despite running the RegCM4 with prescribed sea surface temperature, a correlation has been found between Aerosol Optical Depths in OSAL and WAM dynamics suggesting a mechanistic link between dust and WAM well reproduced by RegCM4

Combustion Particulate Emissions in Africa: Regional Climate Modeling and Validation

Africa, as a major aerosol source in the world, plays a key role in regional and global geochemical cycles and climate change. Combustion carbonaceous particles, central in this context through their radiative and hygroscopic properties, require ad hoc emission inventories. These inventories must incorporate fossil fuels FF (industries, traffic,...), biofuels BF (charcoal, wood burning,... quite common in Africa for domestic use), and biomass burning BB regularly occurring over vast areas all over the African continent. This latter, subject to rapid massive demographic, migratory, industrial and socio-economic changes, requires continuous emission inventories updating, so as to keep pace with this evolution. Two such different inventories, L96 and L06 with main focus on BB emissions, have been implemented for comparison within the regional climate model RegCM3 endowed with a specialized carbonaceous aerosol module. Resulting modeled black carbon BC and organic carbon OC fields have been compared to past and present composite data set available in Africa. This data set includes measurements from intensive field campaigns (EXPRESSO 1996, SAFARI 2000), from the IDAF/DEBITS surface network and from MODIS, focused on selected west, central and southern African sub-domains. This composite approach has been adopted to take advantage of possible combinations between satellite high-resolution coverage of Africa, regional modeling, use of an established surface network, together with the patchy detailed knowledge issued from past short intensive regional field experiments. Stemming from these particular comparisons, one prominent conclusion is the need for continuous detailed time and spatial updating of combustion emission inventories apt to reflect the rapid transformations of the African continent.JRC.H.3-Global environement monitorin

Combustion particulate emissions in Africa: regional climate modeling and validation

International audienceAfrica, as a major aerosol source in the world, plays a key role in regional and global geochemical cycles and climate change. Combustion carbonaceous particles, central in this context through their radiative and hygroscopic properties, require ad hoc emission inventories. These inventories must incorporate fossil fuels FF (industries, traffic,...), biofuels BF (charcoal, wood burning,... quite common in Africa for domestic use), and biomass burning BB regularly occurring over vast areas all over the African continent. This latter, subject to rapid massive demographic, migratory, industrial and socio-economic changes, requires continuous emission inventories updating, so as to keep pace with this evolution. Two such different inventories, L96 and L06 with main focus on BB emissions, have been implemented for comparison within the regional climate model RegCM3 endowed with a specialized carbonaceous aerosol module. Resulting modeled black carbon BC and organic carbon OC fields have been compared to past and present composite data set available in Africa. This data set includes measurements from intensive field campaigns (EXPRESSO 1996, SAFARI 2000), from the IDAF/DEBITS surface network and from MODIS, focused on selected west, central and southern African sub-domains. This composite approach has been adopted to take advantage of possible combinations between satellite high-resolution coverage of Africa, regional modeling, use of an established surface network, together with the patchy detailed knowledge issued from past short intensive regional field experiments. Stemming from these particular comparisons, one prominent conclusion is the need for continuous detailed time and spatial updating of combustion emission inventories apt to reflect the rapid transformations of the African continent

Effect of the African greenbelt position on West African summer climate : a regional climate modeling study

This modeling study is conducted to examine the potential impact of the reforestation (greenbelt) location (either in Sahel or in Guinean region) on West Africansummer climate system. To this end, three simulations using the regional climate model RegCM4 driven by ERA-Interim reanalysis were performed at 50km horizontal resolution over a West African domain for the period 2000-2011. The first experiment, namely the control (CTRL), uses the standard vegetation cover, while the two others incorporate throughout the model integration, a zonal reforestation band of evergreen broadleaf over different locations: (i) over a 13 degrees N-17 degrees N band latitudes in a Sahel-Sahara region (experiment hereafter referred to as GB15N) and (ii) between 8.5 degrees N-11.5 degrees N in the Guinea Coast region (experiment hereafter referred to as GB10N). A comparison of the CTRL experiment with observation reveals a faithful reproduction of the mean boreal and summer seasonal precipitation pattern, though substantial dry/wet biases remain, especially in the Atlantic Ocean. In addition, the seasonal cycle over sub-regions matches satisfactory the observed pattern. The GB15N reforestation leads to a precipitation increase in the range of 2-4mm/day over the forested areas, whereas in the GB10N reforestation, precipitation increase is weaker and not necessarily located in the forested areas. Temperature cooling is observed over the reforested area and may be explained by a decrease of ground heat flux related to a reduction of the surface albedo