2017•Unpublished venueRequires access
Deep Convection
Jean Philippe Lafore, Nicolas Chapelon, Mariane Diop, Balla Gueye, Yann Largeron, Serge Lepape, Ousmane Ndiaye, Douglas J. Parker, Emmanuel Poan, Rémy Roca, Romain Roehrig, Christopher M. Taylor, Mitch Moncrieff
Open publisher page 24 citations
Abstract
This chapter shows that the unique characteristics of convection over West Africa can be explained in terms of the semi-arid climatic conditions that prevail in the region. Predicting convection is one of the most important and, at the same time, most difficult tasks facing the forecaster. The chapter summarizes the factors and diagnostics that should be taken into account when making a forecast of deep convective activity. It also shows examples of typical convective events and provides more cases in the online supporting case-studies. The chapter is structured around the four types of processes and factors that govern the convective activity, that is, convective updraughts, downdraughts and density currents, vertical shear of the wind and the external forcings both by small-scale processes. High values of convective available potential energy (CAPE) and precipitable water (PW) are favourable and necessary for deep convection, and convective inhibition energy (CIN) tends to suppress the development of convection.