The aim of the SOP will be to document different aspects of the various phases of the West African Monsoon, while focusing on improved observations in a "supra-regional" scale and on a specific instrumentation, on the ground and airborne, at a regional scale, meso-scale and local scale. For this purpose, it will be appropriate as much as possible to consider simultaneously the key phenomena related to the results of heat and moisture, the control of the weather systems by the synoptic flow, the role of continental and near oceanic surfaces and the chemical processes in a non obstructed environment in relation with the precipitating systems. This is a prerequisite to any attempt to understand how these varied and significant aspects of the West African Monsoon system are closely linked. There will be three phases of the SOP (the prospect for a field phase devoted to atmospheric chemistry during boreal winter can be seen as a fourth phase of the SOP, but will not be considered here): - SOP_1 (monsoon onset / 15 May - 30 June) to study the coupled system "Saharan thermal low / monsoon flow / African Easterly Jet" and its interactions with the surface characteristics. - SOP_2 (monsoon maximum / 1 July - 14 August) to document the structure, evolution, propagation, impact and control of the West African mesoscale precipitating systems. - SOP_3 (Late monsoon and the tropical Atlantic / 15 August - 15 September) to study the large scale influence of the West African monsoon, particularly towards the tropical Atlantic Ocean.
Franck ROUX |