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Ensembles of boreal summer atmospheric simulations, spanning a 15-year period (1979–1993), are performed with the ARPEGE climate model to investigate the influence of soil moisture on climate variability and potential predictability. All experiments are forced with observed monthly mean sea surface temperatures. In addition to a control experiment with interactive soil moisture boundary conditions, two sensitivity experiments are performed. In the first, the interannual variability of the deep soil moisture is removed during the whole season, through a relaxation toward the monthly mean model climatology. In the second, only the variability of the initial soil moisture conditions is suppressed. While it is shown that soil moisture strongly contributes to the climate variability simulated in the control experiment, an analysis of variance indicates that soil moisture does not represent a significant source of predictability in most continental areas. The main exception is the North American continent, where climate predictability is clearly reduced through the use of climatological initial conditions. Using climatological soil moisture boundary conditions does not lead to strong and homogeneous impacts on potential predictability, thereby suggesting that the climate signals driven by the sea surface temperature variability are not generally amplified by interactive soil moisture and that the relevance of soil moisture for seasonal forecasting is mainly an initial value problem. 相似文献
3.
Tropical Atlantic biases and their relation to surface wind stress and terrestrial precipitation 总被引：4，自引：3，他引：1
Ingo Richter Shang-Ping Xie Andrew T. Wittenberg Yukio Masumoto 《Climate Dynamics》2012,38(5-6):985-1001
Most coupled general circulation models (GCMs) perform poorly in the tropical Atlantic in terms of climatological seasonal cycle and interannual variability. The reasons for this poor performance are investigated in a suite of sensitivity experiments with the Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory (GFDL) coupled GCM. The experiments show that a significant portion of the equatorial SST biases in the model is due to weaker than observed equatorial easterlies during boreal spring. Due to these weak easterlies, the tilt of the equatorial thermocline is reduced, with shoaling in the west and deepening in the east. The erroneously deep thermocline in the east prevents cold tongue formation in the following season despite vigorous upwelling, thus inhibiting the Bjerknes feedback. It is further shown that the surface wind errors are due, in part, to deficient precipitation over equatorial South America and excessive precipitation over equatorial Africa, which already exist in the uncoupled atmospheric GCM. Additional tests indicate that the precipitation biases are highly sensitive to land surface conditions such as albedo and soil moisture. This suggests that improving the representation of land surface processes in GCMs offers a way of improving their performance in the tropical Atlantic. The weaker than observed equatorial easterlies also contribute remotely, via equatorial and coastal Kelvin waves, to the severe warm SST biases along the southwest African coast. However, the strength of the subtropical anticyclone and along-shore winds also play an important role. 相似文献
4.
The CNRM atmospheric general circulation model Arpege-Climat is relaxed towards atmospheric reanalyses outside the 10°S?C32°N 30°W?C50°E domain in order to disentangle the regional versus large-scale sources of climatological biases and interannual variability of the West African monsoon (WAM). On the one hand, the main climatological features of the monsoon, including the spatial distribution of summer precipitation, are only weakly improved by the nudging, thereby suggesting the regional origin of the Arpege-Climat biases. On the other hand, the nudging technique is relatively efficient to control the interannual variability of the WAM dynamics, though the impact on rainfall variability is less clear. Additional sensitivity experiments focusing on the strong 1994 summer monsoon suggest that the weak sensitivity of the model biases is not an artifact of the nudging design, but the evidence that regional physical processes are the main limiting factors for a realistic simulation of monsoon circulation and precipitation in the Arpege-Climat model. Sensitivity experiments to soil moisture boundary conditions are also conducted and highlight the relevance of land?Catmosphere coupling for the amplification of precipitation biases. Nevertheless, the land surface hydrology is not the main explanation for the model errors that are rather due to deficiencies in the atmospheric physics. The intraseasonal timescale and the model internal variability are discussed in a companion paper. 相似文献
5.
土壤湿度年际变化对中国区域极端气候事件模拟的影响研究Ⅱ.敏感性试验分析 总被引：2，自引：1，他引：1
利用NCARCAM3.1大气环流模式,设计了有、无土壤湿度年际异常的两组数值试验,探讨了土壤湿度年际异常对极端气候事件模拟的可能影响。结果表明,模式模拟的极端气候事件对土壤湿度异常十分敏感,土壤湿度异常对极端气候指标的多年平均空间分布、年际变率以及年际变化均具有重要影响。当不考虑土壤湿度的年际异常时:(1)模拟的暖夜日数、暖昼日数和热浪持续指数的发生频次在全国范围内均明显减少,而霜冻日数则明显增加。极端降水指标的响应表现出明显的空间差异,极端降水频次在江淮流域明显减小,而极端降水强度则表现为东北减弱、长江流域增强;中雨日数和持续湿期在我国大部分地区减少。(2)极端气温指标的年际变率在我国大部分地区呈减小趋势;而极端降水事件的变化则较为复杂,极端降水频次和极端降水强度的年际变率在长江以南有所增强,而北方地区则有所减弱。中雨日数和持续湿期的年际变率在我国呈现出较为一致的减少趋势。(3)模式对暖夜日数、霜冻日数的年际变化的模拟能力明显下降,并对4个极端降水指标的年际变化的模拟能力在全国多数区域均有不同程度的下降。 相似文献
6.
M. Pontaud J.-P. Céron M. Kimoto F. Pluviaud L. Terray A. Vintzileos 《Climate Dynamics》2000,16(12):917-933
The interannual variability over the tropical Pacific and a possible link with the mean state or the seasonal cycle is examined
in four coupled ocean-atmosphere general circulation models (GCM). Each model is composed of a high-resolution ocean GCM of
either the tropical Pacific or near-global oceans coupled to a moderate-resolution atmospheric GCM, without using flux correction.
The oceanic subsurface is considered to describe the mean state or the seasonal cycle through the analytical formulations
of some potential coupled processes. These coupled processes characterise the zonal gradient of sea surface temperature (hereafter
SST), the oceanic vertical gradient of temperature and the equatorial upwelling. The simulated SST patterns of the mean state
and the interannual signals are generally too narrow. The grid of the oceanic model could control the structure of the SST
interannual signals while the behaviour of the atmospheric model could be important in the link between the oceanic surface
and the subsurface. The first SST EOFs are different between the coupled models, however, the second SST EOFs are quite similar
and could correspond to the return to the normal state while that of the observations (COADS) could favour the initial anomaly.
All the models seem to simulate a similar equatorial wave-like dynamics to return to the normal state. The more the basic
state is unstable from the coupled processes point of view, the more the interannual signal are high. It seems that the basic
state could control the intensity of the interannual variability. Two models, which have a significant seasonal variation
of the interannual variance, also have a significant seasonal variation of the instability with a few months lag. The potential
seasonal phase locking of the interannual fluctuations need to be examined in more models to confirm its existence in current
tropical GCMs.
Received: 30 July 1999 / Accepted: 25 April 2000 相似文献
7.
基于NCAR大气模式CAM3.1模式,设计了有、无土壤湿度年际异常两组试验对中国区域近40a(1961-2000年)气候进行了模拟。从气候态和年际变率的角度,通过分析两组试验的差值场来探讨土壤湿度年际异常对气候模拟的影响,并初步探讨了影响的可能机制。结果表明:模式模拟的温度和降水对土壤湿度的年际异常非常敏感,土壤湿度的年际变化对中国春夏季气候及其年际变率均有显著影响。当不考虑土壤湿度年际异常时,模式模拟的春夏季平均温度、最高温度、最低温度在我国大范围内降低,春夏季降水在东部大部分地区明显减少,西部增加。而模式模拟的春夏季温度、降水年际变率在中国大部分地区减弱。但当考虑土壤湿度的年际变化,则能在一定程度上提高模式对气候年际变率的模拟能力。在进一步分析表明土壤湿度年际异常时,主要通过改变地表能量通量和环流场,对温度、降水产生影响。当不考虑土壤湿度年际异常时,地表净辐射通量减少,地表温度降低,感热通量减少。感热通量差值场的空间变化和温度差值场的空间变化一致,感热通量对温度有一定影响。而潜热通量差值场的空间变化和降水的差值场的空间变化一致,可见降水受地表潜热通量的影响。土壤湿度年际异常引起的环流场的变化也是导致气候变化的原因之一,地表能量和环流场年际变率的改变对春夏季气候年际变率存在一定影响。 相似文献
8.
Paula A. Agudelo Carlos D. Hoyos Judith A. Curry Peter J. Webster 《Climate Dynamics》2011,36(7-8):1379-1401
About 50?C60% of Atlantic tropical cyclones (TCs) including nearly 85% of intense hurricanes have their origins as African Easterly Waves (AEWs). However, predicting the likelihood of AEW intensification remains a difficult task. We have developed a Bayesian diagnostic methodology to understand genesis of North Atlantic TCs spawned by AEWs through the examination of the characteristics of the AEW itself together with the large-scale environment, resulting in a probabilistic discrimination between large-scale environments associated with intensifying and decaying AEWs. The methodology is based on a new objective and automatic AEW tracking scheme used for the period 1980 to 2001 based on spatio-temporally Fourier-filtered relative vorticity and meridional winds at different levels and outgoing long wave radiation. Using the AEW and Hurricane Best Track Files (HURDAT) data sets, probability density functions of environmental variables that discriminate between AEWs that decay, become TCs or become major hurricanes are determined. Results indicate that the initial amplitude of the AEWs is a major determinant for TC genesis, and that TC genesis risk increases when the wave enters an environment characterized by pre-existing large-scale convergence and moist convection. For the prediction of genesis, the most useful variables are column integrated heating, vertical velocity and specific humidity, and a combined form of divergence and vertical velocity and SST. It is also found that the state of the large-scale environment modulates the annual cycle and interannual variability of the AEW intensification efficiency. 相似文献
9.
Ingo Richter Swadhin K. Behera Takeshi Doi Bunmei Taguchi Yukio Masumoto Shang-Ping Xie 《Climate Dynamics》2014,43(11):3091-3104
The factors controlling equatorial Atlantic winds in boreal spring are examined using both observations and general circulation model (GCM) simulations from the coupled model intercomparison phase 5. The results show that the prevailing surface easterlies flow against the attendant pressure gradient and must therefore be maintained by other terms in the momentum budget. An important contribution comes from meridional advection of zonal momentum but the dominant contribution is the vertical transport of zonal momentum from the free troposphere to the surface. This implies that surface winds are strongly influenced by conditions in the free troposphere, chiefly pressure gradients and, to a lesser extent, meridional advection. Both factors are linked to the patterns of deep convection. Applying these findings to GCM errors indicates, that, consistent with the results of previous studies, the persistent westerly surface wind bias found in most GCMs is due mostly to precipitation errors, in particular excessive precipitation south of the equator over the ocean and deficient precipitation over equatorial South America. Free tropospheric influences also dominate the interannual variability of surface winds in boreal spring. GCM experiments with prescribed climatological sea-surface temperatures (SSTs) indicate that the free tropospheric influences are mostly associated with internal atmospheric variability. Since the surface wind anomalies in boreal spring are crucial to the development of warm SST events (Atlantic Niños), the results imply that interannual variability in the region may rely far less on coupled air–sea feedbacks than is the case in the tropical Pacific. 相似文献
10.
Processes acting at the interface between the land surface and the atmosphere have a strong impact on the European summer climate, particularly during extreme years. These processes are to a large extent associated with soil moisture (SM). This study investigates the role of soil moisture?Catmosphere coupling for the European summer climate over the period 1959?C2006 using simulations with a regional climate model. The focus of this study is set on temperature and precipitation extremes and trends. The analysis is based on simulations performed with the regional climate model CLM, driven with ECMWF reanalysis and operational analysis data. The set of experiments consists of a control simulation (CTL) with interactive SM, and sensitivity experiments with prescribed SM: a dry and a wet run to determine the impact of extreme values of SM, as well as experiments with lowpass-filtered SM from CTL to quantify the impact of the temporal variability of SM on different time scales. Soil moisture?Cclimate interactions are found to have significant effects on temperature extremes in the experiments, and impacts on precipitation extremes are also identified. Case studies of selected major summer heat waves reveal that the intraseasonal and interannual variability of SM account for 5?C30% and 10?C40% of the simulated heat wave anomaly, respectively. For extreme precipitation events on the other hand, only the wet-day frequency is impacted in the experiments with prescribed soil moisture. Simulated trends for the past decades, which appear consistent with projected changes for the 21st century, are identified to be at least partly linked to SM-atmosphere feedbacks. 相似文献
11.
L M Druyan 《Climate Dynamics》1987,2(2):117-126
A 37-year simulation of global climate by a 9-level GCM on an 8°×10° grid showed realistic interannual variation of the computed precipitation over the African Sahel. The model includes an interactive ocean so that interannual variations of sea-surface temperature (SST) also occur. Comparison of an ensemble of five summers that were rainy over the Sahel with five summers of simulated drought showed that insufficient ambient moisture was the immediate cause of the lack of moist convection. The drier conditions are shown to result from weaker moisture advection over the southeast Atlantic Ocean. Weaker southerly winds there and lower sea-level pressure gradients seemed to result from anomalously warm SST. Such SST anomalies have been linked to Sahelian drought in previous observational studies. These regional circulations that were conducive to lower rainfall rates during the north African summer monsoon were not manifestations of the more generalized zonal mean circulation. 相似文献
12.
In the framework of the Global Soil Wetness Project (GSWP), the ISBA land-surface scheme of the ARPEGE atmospheric general circulation model has been forced with meteorological observations and analyses in order to produce a two-year (1987–1988) soil moisture climatology at a 1°×1° horizontal resolution. This climatology is model dependent, but it is the climatology that the ARPEGE model would produce if its precipitation and radiative fluxes were perfectly simulated. In the present study, ensembles of seasonal simulations (March to September) have been performed for 1987 and 1988, in which the total soil water content simulated by ARPEGE is relaxed towards the GSWP climatology. The results indicate that the relaxation has a positive impact on both the model's climatology and the simulated interannual variability, thereby confirming the utility of the GSWP soil moisture data for prescribing initial or boundary conditions in comprehensive climate and numerical weather prediction models. They also demonstrate the relevance of soil moisture for achieving realistic simulations of the Northern Hemisphere summer climate. In order to get closer to the framework of seasonal predictions, additional experiments have been performed in which GSWP is only used for initialising soil moisture at the beginning of the summer season (the relaxation towards GSWP is removed on 1st June). The results show a limited improvement of the interannual variability, compared to the simulations initialised from the ARPEGE climatology. However, some regional patterns of the precipitation differences between 1987 and 1988 are better captured, suggesting that seasonal predictions can benefit from a better initialisation of soil moisture. 相似文献
13.
年际气候变率的数值模拟 总被引：2，自引：1，他引：2
本文利用IAP GCM 20年的模式输出结果，计算了海平面气压、表面气温和降水的年际气候变率，并与观测资料作了对比分析，以考察模式模拟年际变率的能力。结果表明，模式成功地再现了观测变率地理分布的基本特征，这说明大气内部动力-物理相互作用过程对年际变率有重要影响，而模拟值的偏低则显示了模式中未包括的某些外界强迫因子如海温和海冰年际变化的潜在作用。 相似文献
14.
Heat waves and dry spells are analyzed (i) at eightstations in south Moravia (Czech Republic), (ii) inthe control ECHAM3 GCM run at the gridpoint closest tothe study area, and (iii) in the ECHAM3 GCM run fordoubled CO2 concentrations (scenario A) at thesame gridpoint (heat waves only). The GCM outputs arevalidated both against individual station data andareally representative values. In the control run, theheat waves are too long, appear later in the year,peak at higher temperatures and their numbers areunder- (over-) estimated in June and July (in August).The simulated dry spells are too long, and the annualcycle of their occurrence is distorted.Mid-tropospheric circulation, and heat waves and dryspells are linked much less tightly in the controlclimate than in the observed. Since mid-troposphericcirculation is simulated fairly successfully, wesuggest the hypothesis that either the air-masstransformation and local processes are too strong inthe model or the simulated advection is too weak. Inthe scenario A climate, the heat waves become a commonphenomenon: warming of 4.5 °C in summer(difference between scenario A and control climates)induces a five-fold increase in the frequency oftropical days and an immense enhancement of extremityof heat waves. The results of the study underline theneed for (i) a proper validation of the GCM outputbefore a climate impact study is conducted and (ii)translation of large-scale information from GCMs intolocal scales using downscaling and stochasticmodelling techniques in order to reduce GCMs' biases. 相似文献
15.
Summary ?The interannual variability of broad-scale Asian summer monsoon was studied using a general circulation model (GCM) and NCEP
(National Center for Environmental Prediction) data set during 1979–95. In the GCM experiment, the main emphasis was given
to isolate the individual role of surface boundary conditions on the existence of winter-spring time circulation anomalies
associated with the interannual variability of Asian summer monsoon.
In order to understand the role of sea-surface temperatures (SSTs) alone on the existence of precursory signals, we have conducted
17 years numerical integration with a GCM forced with the real-time monthly averaged SSTs of 1979 to 1995. In this experiment,
among the many surface boundary conditions only SSTs are varying interannually. The composite circulation anomalies simulated
by the GCM have good resemblance with the NCEP circulation anomalies over subtropical Asia. This suggests that the root cause
of the existence of winter-spring time circulation anomalies associated with the interannual variability of Asian summer monsoon
is the interannual variability of SST.
Empirical Orthogonal Functions (EOFs) of 200-mb winds and OLR were constructed to study the dynamic coupling between SST anomalies
and winter-spring time circulation anomalies. It is found that the convective heating anomalies associated with SST anomalies
and stationary eddies undergo systematic and coherent interannual variations prior to summer season. We have identified Matsuno-Gill
type mode in the velocity potential and stream function fields. This suggests the existence of dynamic links between the SST
anomalies and the precursory signals of Asian summer monsoon.
Received June 9, 1999/Revised April 7, 2000 相似文献
16.
Multi-year predictability in a coupled general circulation model 总被引：1，自引：0，他引：1
Multi-year to decadal variability in a 100-year integration of a BMRC coupled atmosphere-ocean general circulation model (CGCM)
is examined. The fractional contribution made by the decadal component generally increases with depth and latitude away from
surface waters in the equatorial Indo-Pacific Ocean. The relative importance of decadal variability is enhanced in off-equatorial
“wings” in the subtropical eastern Pacific. The model and observations exhibit “ENSO-like” decadal patterns. Analytic results are
derived, which show that the patterns can, in theory, occur in the absence of any predictability beyond ENSO time-scales.
In practice, however, modification to this stochastic view is needed to account for robust differences between ENSO-like decadal
patterns and their interannual counterparts. An analysis of variability in the CGCM, a wind-forced shallow water model, and
a simple mixed layer model together with existing and new theoretical results are used to improve upon this stochastic paradigm
and to provide a new theory for the origin of decadal ENSO-like patterns like the Interdecadal Pacific Oscillation and Pacific
Decadal Oscillation. In this theory, ENSO-driven wind-stress variability forces internal equatorially-trapped Kelvin waves
that propagate towards the eastern boundary. Kelvin waves can excite reflected internal westward propagating equatorially-trapped
Rossby waves (RWs) and coastally-trapped waves (CTWs). CTWs have no impact on the off-equatorial sub-surface ocean outside
the coastal wave guide, whereas the RWs do. If the frequency of the incident wave is too high, then only CTWs are excited.
At lower frequencies, both CTWs and RWs can be excited. The lower the frequency, the greater the fraction of energy transmitted
to RWs. This lowers the characteristic frequency (reddens the spectrum) of variability off the equator relative to its equatorial
counterpart. At low frequencies, dissipation acts as an additional low pass filter that becomes more effective, as latitude
increases. At the same time, ENSO-driven off-equatorial surface heating anomalies drive mixed layer temperature responses
in both hemispheres. Both the eastern boundary interactions and the accumulation of surface heat fluxes by the surface mixed
layer act to low pass filter the ENSO-forcing. The resulting off-equatorial variability is therefore more coherent with low
pass filtered (decadal) ENSO indices [e.g. NINO3 sea-surface temperature (SST)] than with unfiltered ENSO indices. Consequently
large correlations between variability and NINO3 extend further poleward on decadal time-scales than they do on interannual
time-scales. This explains why decadal ENSO-like patterns have a broader meridional structure than their interannual counterparts.
This difference in appearance can occur even if ENSO indices do not have any predictability beyond interannual time-scales.
The wings around 15–20°S, and sub-surface variability at many other locations are predictable on interannual and multi-year
time-scales. This includes westward propagating internal RWs within about 25° of the equator. The slowest of these take up
to 4 years to reach the western boundary. This sub-surface predictability has significant oceanographic interest. However,
it is linked to only low levels of SST variability. Consequently, extrapolation of delayed action oscillator theory to decadal
time-scales might not be justified. 相似文献
17.
A near-global grid-point nudging of the Arpege-Climat atmospheric General Circulation Model towards ECMWF reanalyses is used to diagnose the regional versus remote origin of the summer model biases and variability over West Africa. First part of this study revealed a limited impact on the monsoon climatology compared to a control experiment without nudging, but a significant improvement of interannual variability, although the amplitude of the seasonal anomalies remained underestimated. Focus is given here on intraseasonal variability of monsoon rainfall and dynamics. The reproducible part of these signals is investigated through 30-member ensemble experiments computed for the 1994 rainy season, a year abnormally wet over the Sahel but representative of the model systematic biases. In the control experiment, Arpege-Climat simulates too few rainy days that are associated with too low rainfall amounts over the central and western Sahel, in line with the seasonal dry biases. Nudging the model outside Africa tends to slightly increase the number of rainy days over the Sahel, but has little effect on associated rainfall amounts. However, results do indicate that a significant part of the monsoon intraseasonal variability simulated by Arpege-Climat is controlled by lateral boundary conditions. Parts of the wet/dry spells over the Sahel occur in phase in the 30 members of the nudging experiment, and are therefore embedded in larger-scale variability patterns. Inter-member spread is however not constant across the selected summer season. It is partly controlled by African Easterly Waves, which show dissimilar amplitude from one member to another, but a coherent phasing in all members. A lowpass filtering of the nudging fields suggests that low frequency variations in the lateral boundary conditions can lead to eastward extensions of the African Easterly Jet, creating a favorable environment for easterly waves, while high frequency perturbations seem to control their phasing. 相似文献
18.
Soil moisture effects on seasonal temperature and precipitation forecast scores in Europe 总被引：3，自引：0，他引：3
Bart van den Hurk Francisco Doblas-Reyes Gianpaolo Balsamo Randal D. Koster Sonia I. Seneviratne Helio Camargo Jr 《Climate Dynamics》2012,38(1-2):349-362
The Second Global Land Atmosphere Coupling Experiment (GLACE2) is designed to explore the improvement of forecast skill of summertime temperature and precipitation up to 8?weeks ahead by using realistic soil moisture initialization. For the European continent, we show in this study that for temperature the skill does indeed increase up to 6 weeks, but areas with (statistically significant) lower skill also exist at longer lead times. The skill improvement is smaller than shown earlier for the US, partly because of a lower potential predictability of the European climate at seasonal time scales. Selection of extreme soil moisture conditions or a subset of models with similar initial soil moisture conditions does improve the forecast skill, and sporadic positive effects are also demonstrated for precipitation. Using realistic initial soil moisture data increases the interannual variability of temperature compared to the control simulations in the South-Central European area at longer lead times. This leads to better temperature forecasts in a remote area in Western Europe. However, the covered range of forecast dates (1986–1995) is too short to isolate a clear physical mechanism for this remote correlation. 相似文献
19.
The sensitivity of the hydrological cycle to soil hydrology is investigated with the LMD GCM. The reference simulation includes
the land-surface scheme SECHIBA, with a two-reservoir scheme for soil water storage and runoff at saturation. We studied a
non-linear drainage parametrization, and a distributed surface runoff parametrization, accounting for the subgrid scale variability
(SSV) of soil moisture capacity, through a distribution where the shape parameter was b. GCM results show that the drainage parametrization induces significant reductions in soil moisture and evaporation rate
compared to the reference simulation. They are related to changes in moisture convergence in the tropics, and to a precipitation
decrease in the extratropics. When drainage is implemented, the effect of the SSV parametrization (b=0.2) is also to reduce soil moisture and evaporation rates compared to the simulation with drainage only. These changes are
much smaller than the former, but the sensitivity of the hydrological cycle to the SSV parametrization is shown to be larger
in dry periods, and to be enhanced by an increase of the shape parameter b. The comparison of simulated total runoffs with observed data shows that the soil hydrological parametrizations does not
reduce the GCM systematic errors in the annual water balance, but that they can improve the representation of the total runoff’s
annual cycle. 相似文献
20.
The Weather Regional Forecast (WRF) model is used in this study to downscale low-resolution data over West Africa. First, the performance of the regional model is estimated through contemporary period experiments (1981?C1990) forced by ARPEGE-CLIMAT GCM output (ARPEGE) and ERA-40 re-analyses. Key features of the West African monsoon circulation are reasonably well represented. WRF atmospheric dynamics and summer rainfall compare better to observations than ARPEGE forcing data. WRF simulated moisture transport over West Africa is also consistent in both structure and variability with re-analyses, emphasizing the substantial role played by the West African Monsoon (WAM) and African Easterly Jet (AEJ) flows. The statistical significance of potential climate changes for the A2 scenario between 2032 and 2041 is enhanced in the downscaling from ARPEGE by the regional experiments, with substantial rainfall increases over the Guinea Gulf and eastern Sahel. Future scenario WRF simulations are characterized by higher temperatures over the eastern Tropical Atlantic suggesting more evaporation available locally. This leads to increased moisture advection towards eastern regions of the Guinea Gulf where rainfall is enhanced through a strengthened WAM flow, supporting surface moisture convergence over West Africa. Warmer conditions over both the Mediterranean region and northeastern Sahel could also participate in enhancing moisture transport within the AEJ. The strengthening of the thermal gradient between the Sahara and Guinean regions, particularly pronounced north of 10°N, would support an intensification of the AEJ northwards, given the dependance of the jet to the position/intensity of the meridional gradient. In turn, mid-tropospheric moisture divergence tends to be favored within the AEJ region supporting southwards deflection of moist air and contributing to deep moist convection over the Sahel where late summer rainfall regimes are sustained in the context of the A2 scenario regional projections. In conclusion, WRF proved to be a valuable and efficient tool to help downscaling GCM projections over West Africa, and thus assessing issues such as water resources vulnerability locally. 相似文献