Analysis of the African easterly jet, using aircraft observations from the JET2000 experiment

Abstract

Analyses of the African easterly jet (AEJ) are presented which are based on meridional transects of high-resolution dropsonde observations made during JET2000, an aircraft campaign conducted in the last week of August 2000. The observations have confirmed that the AEJ is closely defined by geostrophic balance. The baroclinicity between the extreme northern and southern profiles accurately determines the altitude of the jet core, while the location and morphology of the jet core correspond to a locally-defined geostrophic wind measure. The potential-vorticity (PV) structure has also been found to accord with theoretical expectations, with distinctive positive- and negative-PV anomalies equatorward and poleward of the jet core respectively. The thermodynamic structure of the AEJ environment can be categorized into coherent layers. The monsoon layer is a humid zone connected to the land surface, extending northwards into the Sahel and increasing in depth towards the south. This layer is affected by the land surface on diurnal time-scales, through the growing convective mixed layer and through shallow cumulus clouds. Above the monsoon layer is the Saharan air layer (SAL), which can be identified as a layer of low static-stability and low PV. The SAL is deep where it merges with the Saharan boundary-layer in the north, and becomes thinner toward the south. It has been shown that the boundaries of the SAL can be approximated to good accuracy as adiabatic surfaces, meaning that the SAL comprises air which is adiabatically connected to the land surface via the Saharan boundary-layer. The upper region of the SAL is identified as a layer of high relative-humidity where altocumulus and stratocumulus layers are observed. Finally, the troposphere above the SAL is again almost pseudoadiabatic, with small baroclinicity which determines the closure of the AEJ core aloft. Through inspection of thermodynamic tracers, evidence of convective and lateral transport and exchange between these layers is also presented. Copyright © 2005 Royal Meteorological Society