Abstract
Abstract The Hydrological Atmospheric Pilot Experiment in the Sahel (HAPEX-Sahel) was designed to investigate land–atmosphere interactions in the semiarid conditions of southwest Niger. During the intensive observation period (IOP) in 1992, a pronounced mesoscale rainfall gradient developed over the Southern Super Site (SSS). Measurements from a high-resolution rain gauge network indicate that over a distance of 9 km, cumulative rainfall in the final 7 weeks of the wet season (31 July–18 September) ranged from 224 mm in the south to 508 mm in the north. The extreme rainfall gradient is not apparent in other years and evolves through persistent local intensification of convection in passing large-scale storms. This paper assesses the influence of the rainfall variability on the surface and atmosphere, and explores the possibility of a land surface feedback on rainfall at this scale. Soil moisture estimates across the SSS illustrate the importance of rainfall on the water balance and indicate that gradients...
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