On the Connection between Atmospheric Moisture Transport and Dry Conditions in Rainfall Climatological Zones of the Niger River Basin
The hydroclimatology of the Niger River basin, located in West Africa, is very complex. It has been widely studied because of its importance to the socioeconomic activities of the countries that share its natural resources. In this study, to better understand the causes and mechanisms that modulate...
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ftmdpi:oai:mdpi.com:/2073-4441/11/3/622/ 2023-08-20T04:09:50+02:00 On the Connection between Atmospheric Moisture Transport and Dry Conditions in Rainfall Climatological Zones of the Niger River Basin Rogert Sorí Raquel Nieto Anita Drumond Milica Stojanovic Luis Gimeno agris 2019-03-26 application/pdf https://doi.org/10.3390/w11030622 EN eng Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute https://dx.doi.org/10.3390/w11030622 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Water; Volume 11; Issue 3; Pages: 622 moisture sources moisture uptake dry conditions climatological rainfall zones Niger River Basin Text 2019 ftmdpi https://doi.org/10.3390/w11030622 2023-07-31T22:08:44Z The hydroclimatology of the Niger River basin, located in West Africa, is very complex. It has been widely studied because of its importance to the socioeconomic activities of the countries that share its natural resources. In this study, to better understand the causes and mechanisms that modulate the rainfall over the Niger River basin, we identified the most relevant moisture sources for precipitation within the basin. The Lagrangian model FLEXPART was utilised to track backward trajectories of air parcels initially losing humidity over climatological rainfall zones of the basin. Along 10-day backward trajectories, we computed the budget of the difference between evaporation and precipitation (E − P) from 1000 to 0.1 hPa, permitting the identification of those regions where moisture uptake ((E − P) > 0) prevail. The study was conducted for the period 1980–2017. Monthly maps of ((E − P) > 0 were developed to illustrate the regions from where moisture is transported, contributing to precipitation in the Niger River basin. The spatial variability of the sources matches the precipitation variability over the basin restricted to surrounding areas of the Niger River basin during months with low average precipitation and widely spreading over the continent and the Atlantic Ocean in months with high average precipitation. During climatological dry months (e.g., December, January and February) the continental sources of West and Northeast Africa and the climatological rainfall zones themselves provide most of the moisture for precipitation. However, during the rainy season, the moisture supplies from oceanic sources increase, becoming greater than the contribution from land-based sources during August (the rainiest month). Dry conditions were identified for each climatological rainfall zone using the Standardised Precipitation Index. Similar to many previous studies, we found that the 1980s were highlighted by dry conditions. Local recycling and particularly moisture uptake from the tropical South Atlantic Ocean ... Text South Atlantic Ocean MDPI Open Access Publishing Water 11 3 622 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
MDPI Open Access Publishing |
op_collection_id |
ftmdpi |
language |
English |
topic |
moisture sources moisture uptake dry conditions climatological rainfall zones Niger River Basin |
spellingShingle |
moisture sources moisture uptake dry conditions climatological rainfall zones Niger River Basin Rogert Sorí Raquel Nieto Anita Drumond Milica Stojanovic Luis Gimeno On the Connection between Atmospheric Moisture Transport and Dry Conditions in Rainfall Climatological Zones of the Niger River Basin |
topic_facet |
moisture sources moisture uptake dry conditions climatological rainfall zones Niger River Basin |
description |
The hydroclimatology of the Niger River basin, located in West Africa, is very complex. It has been widely studied because of its importance to the socioeconomic activities of the countries that share its natural resources. In this study, to better understand the causes and mechanisms that modulate the rainfall over the Niger River basin, we identified the most relevant moisture sources for precipitation within the basin. The Lagrangian model FLEXPART was utilised to track backward trajectories of air parcels initially losing humidity over climatological rainfall zones of the basin. Along 10-day backward trajectories, we computed the budget of the difference between evaporation and precipitation (E − P) from 1000 to 0.1 hPa, permitting the identification of those regions where moisture uptake ((E − P) > 0) prevail. The study was conducted for the period 1980–2017. Monthly maps of ((E − P) > 0 were developed to illustrate the regions from where moisture is transported, contributing to precipitation in the Niger River basin. The spatial variability of the sources matches the precipitation variability over the basin restricted to surrounding areas of the Niger River basin during months with low average precipitation and widely spreading over the continent and the Atlantic Ocean in months with high average precipitation. During climatological dry months (e.g., December, January and February) the continental sources of West and Northeast Africa and the climatological rainfall zones themselves provide most of the moisture for precipitation. However, during the rainy season, the moisture supplies from oceanic sources increase, becoming greater than the contribution from land-based sources during August (the rainiest month). Dry conditions were identified for each climatological rainfall zone using the Standardised Precipitation Index. Similar to many previous studies, we found that the 1980s were highlighted by dry conditions. Local recycling and particularly moisture uptake from the tropical South Atlantic Ocean ... |
format |
Text |
author |
Rogert Sorí Raquel Nieto Anita Drumond Milica Stojanovic Luis Gimeno |
author_facet |
Rogert Sorí Raquel Nieto Anita Drumond Milica Stojanovic Luis Gimeno |
author_sort |
Rogert Sorí |
title |
On the Connection between Atmospheric Moisture Transport and Dry Conditions in Rainfall Climatological Zones of the Niger River Basin |
title_short |
On the Connection between Atmospheric Moisture Transport and Dry Conditions in Rainfall Climatological Zones of the Niger River Basin |
title_full |
On the Connection between Atmospheric Moisture Transport and Dry Conditions in Rainfall Climatological Zones of the Niger River Basin |
title_fullStr |
On the Connection between Atmospheric Moisture Transport and Dry Conditions in Rainfall Climatological Zones of the Niger River Basin |
title_full_unstemmed |
On the Connection between Atmospheric Moisture Transport and Dry Conditions in Rainfall Climatological Zones of the Niger River Basin |
title_sort |
on the connection between atmospheric moisture transport and dry conditions in rainfall climatological zones of the niger river basin |
publisher |
Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute |
publishDate |
2019 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.3390/w11030622 |
op_coverage |
agris |
genre |
South Atlantic Ocean |
genre_facet |
South Atlantic Ocean |
op_source |
Water; Volume 11; Issue 3; Pages: 622 |
op_relation |
https://dx.doi.org/10.3390/w11030622 |
op_rights |
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.3390/w11030622 |
container_title |
Water |
container_volume |
11 |
container_issue |
3 |
container_start_page |
622 |
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1774723539687964672 |