| AMMA
African Monsoon Multidisciplinary Analyses |
|---|
AMMA, launched in 2002, is an international interdisciplinary research programme concerned with the variability of the West African Monsoon (WAM) and its impacts on communities in that region.
| Coordinator | Jean-Luc Redelsperger - CNRS |
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| CNRM-GAME contact | Jean-Philippe Lafore | |
| CNRM-GAME teams | International executive office | |
| Project web site | (AMMA) | |
| Funding | ||
| Start date | 2002 | |
| Duration | 8 years and reconduct for 10 years |
Goals
To improve our understanding of the WAM and its influence on the physical, chemical and biological environment regionally and globally.
To provide the underpinning science that relates variability of the WAM to issues of health, water resources, food security and demography for West African nations and defining and implementing relevant monitoring and prediction strategies.
To ensure that the multidisciplinary research carried out in AMMA is effectively integrated with prediction and decision making activity.
CNRM-GAME contribution
The International executive office of AMMA is welcoming since 2007 by the CNRM. This allows a coordination at national, international and African level.
The contribution of Meteo-France through the CNRM-GAME is:
Participation at the field campaigns
Participation in research activities (assimilation, convection, mesoscale, climate, chemistry, aerosols, ocean)
The implementation of observation facilities (ATR42, oceanographic campaigns EGEE-AMMA, VHF)
And specific forecast of high resolution (10 km) during the SOP.
Project description
While large uncertainties remain about future prospects for regional climate variability and change in West Africa (IPCC 2007), the impacts of climate variability on the continent, especially in the Sahelo-Saharan zone, are already making themselves felt. Observations have shown that this region experienced one of the largest rainfall deficits on the planet last century. It The region is particularly vulnerable to climate variability due to the societal dependence of various activities on weather and climate, such as rain-fed agriculture (on which 80% of Sahel’s population depend). Economic and institutional capacities are too limited to confront situations and adapt to their consequences.
Researchers from Africa, Europe and the USA are working together to study crucial questions posed by these issues. The need to improve weather and climatic forecasting for implementation of early warning systems motivated the scientific community to define the three major objectives for AMMA.
Results from AMMA phase 1
Strong international multi-agency coordination generated a research community of 600 committed participants. Within this community, 250 African researchers, grouped into a network called AMMA-Africa, have been working on AMMA science.
Thanks to this international coordination, AMMA has achieved a lot : 500 papers in quality peer-reviewed publications, including 10 special issues; the organization of international conferences (Dakar 2005, Karlsruhe 2007 and Ouagadougou 2009) bringing together an average of 400 researchers; an unprecedented multi-scale multidisciplinary database used across the world and mirrored in Africa; the deployment of long-term observation systems since 2001, and more far-reaching field campaigns between 2005 and 2007, with several periods of intense observation.
After 8 years of activity, AMMA has become a flagship research programme on climate and meteorology in West Africa and is now planning for the next 10 years. The research has lead to significant advances in our knowledge and understanding of the multi-scale multidisciplinary aspects of the coupled ocean-atmosphere-land WAM system – going a long way to addressing the first objective of AMMA. The AMMA programme has also succeeded in laying the groundwork in terms of science and establishing research collaborations to address its second and third objectives.
Training and education has been a priority for AMMA. AMMA has helped with the training of about 160 PhD students, of which half were African. About 80 doctoral theses have already been completed, of which 28 were by Africans. Three summer schools, and four training workshops were successfully implemented bringing together students, researchers and forecasters from Africa and all over the world. Through AMMA, new Masters programmes have also been established. All of these activities demonstrate AMMA’s emphasis on education and training.
The strong intention of AMMA communication is to diffuse knowledge and to increase awareness of issues related to weather and climate and their impacts on societies, especially in Africa.
Partners
Founding and supporting organizations
ACMAD - ARM - ASECNA - CILSS - CNES - CNRS (INSU-INEE) -CERMES - Union Européenne - 2iE - ICSU-RoA - IFREMER - IRD - Météo France - MetOffice - MAE - NASA - NERC - NOAA - WMO
Programmes:
CLIVAR – GCOS – GEWEX – IGAC – IGBP – ILEAPS – THORPEX – WCRP
And with the participation of :
Algeria : Algérie
Benin : Bénin
Burkina Faso :
Cabo Verde : Cap Vert
Cameroon : Cameroun
Chad : Tchad
Congo :
Gambia : Gambie
Ghana : Ghana
Guinea Bissau : Guinée Bissau
Guinée Conakry :
Ivory Coast : Côte d’Ivoire
Mali :
Marocco : Maroc
Niger :
Nigeria :
Senegal: Sénégal
Togo :
Belgium : Belgique
Denmark : Danemark
Finland : Finlande
Germany : Allemagne
Italy : Italie
Netherlands : Pays-Bas
Spain : Espagne
United Kingdom : Royaume Uni
United States : Etats Unis d’Amérique
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