BIO

Hello! I am Alex Boreham, a meteorology major here at FSU. While I find all meteorology interesting, my time living in South Florida has given me an appreciation for the tropics. In turn, my research interests are generally all things tropical meteorology.

Understanding the Onset and Demise of the West African Summer Monsoon 

Abstract

The West African Summer Monsoon (WASM), its onset, demise, and seasonal total rainfall has considerable societal and economic importance for West Africa (WA). It has significant impact on agriculture, which contributes to a large amount of the region’s gross domestic product. Hence, the ability to anticipate the seasonal total rainfall of WASM could be extremely useful. In this study, we aim to estimate the onset, demise, seasonal length, and seasonal rainfall for 20 WASM seasons by using 20-year high-resolution Integrated Multi-satellitE Retrievals for Global Precipitation Mission version 6 (IMERG) rainfall data. This study found that an earlier onset date foretells a long WASM and above normal seasonal total rainfall, and a preceding or developing El Niño event may lead to a below normal WASM.

Keywords: monsoon, west africa, el nino