North-Atlantic Oscillation and regional-scale sea-surge variability in Gulf of Lions during the 20th century

Article soumisInternational audienceSea-surge variations recorded at three tide-gauge stations (Grau-de-la-Dent, Sète, and Port-Vendres) around the Gulf of Lions (Northwest Mediterranean Sea) are mostly locally forced by onshore winds blowing from 90° to 180° related to an atmospheric depression usually centered between the Bay of Biscay and the British Island, which is more prevalent during the negative phase of the North-Atlantic Oscillation (NAO). During the second half of the 20th century, the long-term increase of sea-surge height at Grau-de-la-Dent finds no counterpart in the positive deviation of the NAO. The relationship between the monthly frequency of sea surges > 20 cm at Grau-de-la-Dent and the monthly mean NAO Index significantly strengthens from 1975. This is synchronous with the eastward shift of the two main centers of the NAO (i.e. Iceland low and Azores high) and an increase of the occurrence of depressions near the Bay of Biscay and of surge-related onshore winds in the Gulf of Lions during negative phases of the NAO

Spatial coherence of monsoon onset over Western and Central Sahel (1950-2000)

International audienceThe spatial coherence of boreal monsoon onset over Western and Central Sahel (Senegal, Mali, Burkina-Faso) is studied through the analysis of daily rainfall data for 103 stations from 1950 to 2000. Onset date is defined using a local agronomic definition, i.e. the first wet day (> 1 mm) of 1 or 2 consecutive days receiving at least 20 mm without a 7-day dry spell receiving less than 5 mm in the following 20 days. Changing either the length and/or the amplitude of the initial wet spell, or the length of the following dry spell modify the long-term mean local-scale onset date but has only a weak impact either on its interannual variability or its spatial coherence. Onset date exhibits a seasonal progression from southern Burkina-Faso (mid May) to northwestern Senegal and Saharian edges (early August). Interannual variability of the local-scale onset date does not seem to be strongly spatially coherent. The amount of common or covariant signal across the stations is far weaker than the inter-station noise at the interannual time scale. In particular, a systematic spatially-consistent, advance or delay of the onset is hardly observed across the whole Western and Central Sahel. In consequence, the seasonal predictability of local-scale onset over the Western and Central Sahel associated for example with large-scale sea surface temperatures, is, at best, weak

Diurnal Cycle in Different Weather Regimes and Rainfall Variability over Borneo Associated with ENSO

The interannual variability of precipitation over the island of Borneo in association with El Niño–Southern Oscillation (ENSO) has been studied by using the Global Precipitation Climatology Centre (GPCC) gridded rain gauge precipitation, the NOAA Climate Prediction Center (CPC) Morphing Technique (CMORPH) satellite estimated precipitation, the Quick Scatterometer (QuikSCAT) satellite estimated sea winds, and the National Centers for Environmental Prediction (NCEP)–National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) reanalysis data. Analysis of the GPCC precipitation shows a dipolar structure of wet southwest versus dry central and northeast in precipitation anomalies associated with El Niño over Borneo Island during the austral summer [December–February (DJF)]. By using the 0.25° and 3-hourly CMORPH precipitation, it is found that rainfall over Borneo is strongly affected by the diurnal cycle of land–sea breezes. The spatial distribution of rainfall over Borneo depends on the direction of monsoonal winds. Weather typing analysis indicates that the dipolar structure of rainfall anomalies associated with ENSO is caused by the variability in the frequency of occurrence of different weather types. Rainfall is enhanced in the coastal region where sea breezes head against off-shore synoptic-scale low-level winds (i.e., in the lee side or wake area of the island), which is referred to here as the “wake effect.” In DJF of El Niño years, the northwesterly austral summer monsoon in southern Borneo is weaker than normal over the Maritime Continent and easterly winds are more frequent than normal over Borneo, acting to enhance rainfall over the southwest coast of the island. This coastal rainfall generation mechanism in different weather types explains the dipole pattern of a wet southwest versus dry northeast in the rainfall anomalies over Borneo Island in the El Niño years

Local versus regional-scale characteristics of monsoon onset and post-onset rainfall over Indonesia

The austral summer monsoon onset and post-onset rainfall and their associated low-level winds are analyzed during the August-February season over Indonesia from 1979 to 2006 using surface and satellite products as well as reanalyses and regional climate model simulations. Onset date is defined using a local agronomic definition. Its leading empirical orthogonal function is found to exhibit a regional-scale spatially-coherent signal across "monsoonal" Indonesia, i.e. mostly south of the Equator, with an asymmetric temporal behavior, such that delayed onsets are more intense than early ones. Associated anomalies in rainfall tend to weaken quickly after mid-to-late November or early December, especially over islands, while they tend to persist over ocean. This weakening is shown to be associated with the evolution of distinct weather types revealed by a kmeans cluster analysis. In particular, late onsets—usually related to warm El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO) events—are found to be accompanied by an increased prevalence of a weather type characterized by weak low-level daily-averaged winds across monsoonal Indonesia and increased (decreased) rainfall over most of the island orography and southern and western coasts (seas). The regional model simulations provide evidence that this land-sea rainfall contrast could be associated with an enhanced diurnal sea-land breeze circulation

Présence du virus de peste équine type 9 en République algérienne. Identification des souches de virus isolées en 1965-1966

Isolement et identification, en 1965-66, de 14 souches de virus de peste équine type 9, au cours de l'épizootie apparue pour la première fois chez les équidés en Algérie à l'automne 1965 dans le sud algérien et qui s'est étendue en 1966 à plusieurs autres régions de la République Algérienn

Diurnal to interannual variability of low‐level cloud cover over western equatorial Africa in May–October

This study examines the diurnal to interannual variations of the stratiform cloud cover in May–October (1971–2019) from a 3-hourly station database and from ERA5 reanalyses over western equatorial Africa (WEA). The main diurnal variations of the local-scale fraction and genus of stratiform clouds are synthesized into three canonical diurnal types (i.e., “clear,” “clear afternoon,” “cloudy” days). The interannual variations of frequencies of the three diurnal types during the cloudiest months (JJAS) are mostly associated with two main mechanisms: a meridional shallow overturning cell associating more “cloudy” and less “clear” and “clear afternoon” days to anomalous southerlies below 900 hPa over and around WEA, anomalous ascent around 5°–7°N, anomalous northerlies between 875 and 700 hPa, and anomalous subsidence over the equatorial Atlantic. This circulation is strongly related to interannual variations of the equatorial Atlantic upwelling (i.e., more clouds when the upwelling is strong) associated with a meridional shift of the Intertropical Convergence Zone over the Tropical Atlantic and adjacent continents. The second mechanism operates mostly in the zonal direction and involves again the coupled ocean–atmosphere system over the equatorial Atlantic, but also the remote El Niño–Southern Oscillation (ENSO). An anomalously cold equatorial Atlantic drives increased low-level westerlies toward the Congo Basin. Warm ENSO events promote broad warm and easterly anomalies in the middle and upper troposphere, which increase the local static stability, and thus the local stratiform cloud cover over WEA. The present study suggests new mechanisms responsible for interannual variations of stratiform clouds in WEA, thus providing avenues of future research regarding the stability of the stratiform cloud deck under the ongoing differential warming of tropical ocean and land masses

Multi-scale study of the rainy season onset over the Sudano-Sahelian belt: Spatial coherence and potential predictability

The spatial coherence of boreal monsoon onset (July-September) over the western and central Sahel is studied through the analysis of daily rainfall records for 136 rain-gauges from 1950-2000. Onset of the rainy season has been defined using 3 definitions which rely on 3 overlapped spatial scales: (i) the regional scale, i.e. the northward ITCZ jump from Guinean to Soudano-Sahelian latitudes, (ii) the meso-scale related with the first occurrence of the main rainfall-generating phenomenon, that is squall line and (iii) the local-scale of the first rainfall recorded at the rain-gauge. Local and meso-scale onsets show a weak degree of instantaneous and inter-annual spatial coherence, meaning that onset is almost never simultaneously recorded across a regional network but also that its inter-annual variability is not in-phase across such area. In consequence, the seasonal predictability of the monsoon onset coming from planetary and zonal sea surface temperature variations is weak