HR: 14:30h
AN: A43E-03    [Abstracts]
TI: AMMA Land surface Model Intercomparison Project (ALMIP)
AU: * Boone, A A
EM: aaron.boone@meteo.fr
AF: GAME/CNRM, Meteo-France, CNRS Aaron Boone, 42 avenue G. Coriolis, Toulouse, 31057, France
AU: deRosnay, P
EM: pdr@cesbio.cnes.fr
AF: CESBIO, CNRS Patricia deRosnay, 18 avenue Edouard Belin, Toulouse, 31401, France
AB: Extreme climatic variability has afflicted West Africa over the last half century, which has resulted in significant socio-economic consequences for the people of this region. There is therefore a need to improve seasonal to inter-annual prediction of the West-African monsoon (WAM), however, difficulties modeling the WAM arise from both the paucity of observations at sufficient space-time resolutions, and due to the complex interactions between the biosphere, atmosphere and hydrosphere over this region. In particular, there is evidence that the land surface influences the variability of the WAM over a wide range of spatio-temporal scales. A critical aspect of this coupling is the feedback between the regional atmospheric circulation and the strong meridional surface flux gradients of mass and energy. One of the main goals of the African Monsoon Multi-disciplinary Analysis (AMMA) Project is to obtain a better understanding of the physical processes influencing the West-African Monsoon (WAM) on daily to inter-annual timescales. An improved comprehension of the relevant land surface processes is being addressed through the construction of a multi-scale atmospheric and land surface parameter forcing database using a variety of sources; numerical weather prediction forecast data, remote sensing products and local scale observations. The goal of this database is to drive land surface, vegetation and hydrological models over a range of spatial scales (local to regional) in order to gain better insights into the attendant processes. This goal is being met under the auspices of the AMMA Land surface Model Intercomparison Project (ALMIP). In the recently completed Phase 1 of this project, an ensemble of state-of-the-art land surface schemes have been run in "off-line" mode (i.e. decoupled from an atmospheric model) at a regional scale over western Africa for four annual cycles (2002-5). In this talk, intercomparison results will be presented. In addition, results from a second experiment will be presented which show the significant impact of including remotely sensed data on the model simulations.
UR: http:www.cnrm.meteo.fr/amma-moana/amma_surf/almip/index.html
DE: 0426 Biosphere/atmosphere interactions (0315)
DE: 1814 Energy budgets
DE: 1818 Evapotranspiration
SC: Atmospheric Sciences [A]
MN: 2007 Joint Assembly