AMMA's contribution to the evolution of prediction and decision-making systems for West Africa

Jan Polcher (1) , Douglas J. Parker (2) , A. Gaye (3) , Arona Diedhiou (4) , Laurence Eymard (5, 6) , Federico Fierli (7) , L. Genesio (8) , H. Höller (9) , Serge Janicot (5) , Jean-Philippe Lafore (10) , Harouna Karambiri (11) , Thierry Lebel (4) , Jean-Luc Redelsperger (10) , Claire E. Reeves (12) , Paolo Ruti (13) , Inge Sandholt (14, 15) , Chris D. Thorncroft (16)

1 LMD - Laboratoire de Météorologie Dynamique (UMR 8539)
2 SEE - School of Earth and Environment [Leeds]
3 LPAO-SF - Laboratoire de Physique de l'Atmosphère et de l'Océan Siméon Fongang
4 HMCI
5 LOCEAN - Laboratoire d'Océanographie et du Climat : Expérimentations et Approches Numériques
6 IPSL - Institut Pierre-Simon-Laplace
7 ISAC - Istituto di Scienze dell'Atmosfera e del Clima
8 IBIMET - Istituto di Biometeorologia [Firenze]
9 IPA - DLR Institut für Physik der Atmosphäre
10 CNRM - Centre national de recherches météorologiques
11 2IE - Ecole Inter-Etats d'Ingénieurs de l'Equipement Rural
12 School of Environmental Sciences [Norwich]
13 ENEA - Ente per le Nuove tecnologie, l'Energia e l'Ambiente
14 IGUC
15 Section for Geography [Copenhagen]
16 Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences [Albany]

The AMMA (African Monsoon Multidisciplinary Analysis) project set out to better understand the geophysical processes which govern the evolution of the monsoon and provide the science needed to improve prediction and decision-support systems. The control exerted by weather and climate on agronomic production, water resources and public health was studied to evaluate the potential for populations to adapt. AMMA made advances which have the potential to improve forecasts from weather to climate scales. Translating them into operational tools for decision making will require improvements to the observational networks, and stronger support for the organizations which generate and disseminate application forecasts.

Keywords: agriculture; overview; climate; health; water resources; monitoring; forecasting; review

Domains: Geomorphology

Jan Polcher, Douglas J. Parker, A. Gaye, Arona Diedhiou, Laurence Eymard, et al.. AMMA's contribution to the evolution of prediction and decision-making systems for West Africa. Atmospheric Science Letters, 2011, 12 (1), pp.2-6. ⟨10.1002/asl.320⟩. ⟨insu-00649241⟩