A return to wet conditions over Africa: 1995–2010

Abstract

Climatic trends over sub-Saharan Africa are described using major river flows, European Community Medium-Range Weather Forecasts, Coupled Forecast System, global land surface data assimilation and National Center for Environmental Prediction reanalysis, Global Precipitation Climate Center gauge data, and satellite observations in the period 1995–2010. The Niger and Zambezi rivers reached flow levels last seen in the 1950s (2,000 and 5,000 m3 s−1, respectively), and rainfall across the Congo Basin increased steadily ~+0.16 mm day−1 year−1. Weather events that contributed to flooding are studied and include the Zambezi tropical trough of 4 January 2008 and the Sahelian easterly wave of 19 July 2010. Diurnal summer rainfall increased threefold over the 1995–2010 period in conjunction with a strengthened land–sea temperature contrast, onshore flow, and afternoon uplift. 700 mb zonal winds over East Africa became easterly after 2001, so clean Indian Ocean air was entrained to the Congo, improving convective efficiency. Relationships between the African monsoon circulation and global teleconnections are explored. Zonal wind convergence around the Congo appears related with the tropical multi-decadal oscillation and signals in the Atlantic during the study period.