Influence of the Mediterranean Sea on the West African monsoon: Intraseasonal variability in numerical simulations

Abstract

The influence of May to September sea surface temperature (SST) anomalies in the Mediterranean Sea on the West African monsoon is investigated, analyzing the outputs of numerical sensitivity experiments performed using three atmospheric general circulation models (Action de Recherche Petite Échelle Grande Échelle, European/Hamburg, and University of California, Los Angeles) in the framework of the African Monsoon Multidisciplinary Analysis project. The precipitation and atmospheric dynamics response to the SST forcing is explored, in terms of intraseasonal variability, evaluating the results from the individual models and from the multimodel mean. A positive precipitation response to warmer than average conditions in the Mediterranean Sea is found in the Sudano‐Sahelian belt in August–September. The proposed dynamic mechanism underlying the Mediterranean action on the West African monsoon is based on the modifications produced by the SST forcing in the moisture content in the lower troposphere. A warmer eastern Mediterranean in August–September feeds the lower troposphere with additional moisture, with a consequent reinforcement of northerly moisture transport toward the Sahel. Furthermore, warmer SST is linked to a strengthening of the Saharan heat low and to an enhancement of the moist static energy meridional gradient over West Africa, favoring the northward displacement of the monsoonal front.