DATE2016-05-31 18:04:32
IDABSTRACT20160531180432-1087
CONTACTroberto.suarez@fis.ucm.es
PRESENTATIONPOSTER
INVITED0
IDSESSION1
TITLETHE LOW-FREQUENCY OCEAN VARIABILITY RESPONSIBLE FOR THE RECENTLY STRENGTHENED IMPACT OF THE MEDITERRANEAN SEA IN THE SAHEL.
AUTHORSRoberto Suarez-Moreno (1,2), Marco Gaetani (3,4), Belén Rodríguez-fonseca (1,2), Cyrille Flamant (3)
AFFILIATIONS
  1. Departamento De Geofi­sica Y Meteorología, Facultad De Físicas, Universidad Complutense De Madrid, Plaza De Las Ciencias 1 Madrid (Spain)
  2. Instituto De Geociencias (igeo), Facultad De Ciencias Geológicas, Universidad Complutense De Madrid – Csic, C/josé Antonio Novais 12 Madrid (Spain)
  3. Laboratoire Atmosphères, Milieux, Observations Spatiales, Latmos - Ipsl, Upmc Univ. Paris 06 Sorbonne Universités, Uvsq, Cnrs Paris (France)
  4. Laboratoire De Météorologie Dynamique, Lmd - Ipsl, Upmc Univ. Paris 06 Sorbonne Universités, Ecole Normale Supérieur, Ecole Polytechnique, Cnrs Paris (France)
ABSTRACTThe influence of the Mediterranean on the West African Monsoon variability across the 20th century has been studied by several authors, who highlighted a connection active at the interannual time scales. Specifically, warm anomalies in the Mediterranean Sea surface temperature are related to increased rainfall mainly in central and western Sahel, the semiarid region of West Africa between 10ºN and 20ºN. This connection is particularly relevant for the Sahelian countries, where the subsistence is strongly linked to the set of crops and water resources and therefore to the monsoonal rainfall. In this study, we show evidence of an enhanced teleconnection in recent decades, so that the Mediterranean is playing a major role in modulating the interannual variability of rainfall in the Sahel. Our results suggest changes in ocean background state at multidecadal timescales as a factor triggering this enhanced Mediterranean impact.
PAGE29
STATE1