TITLE:
Analysis of Storm Structure over Africa Using the Trmm Precipitation Radar Data
AUTHORS:
Ayodeji Richard Balogun, Zechariah Debo Adeyewa
KEYWORDS:
Storm Height; Storm Structure; Storm Counts; Histogram
JOURNAL NAME:
Atmospheric and Climate Sciences,
Vol.3 No.4,
September
23,
2013
ABSTRACT:
A 5-year mean seasonal analysis of mean
storm height data and histograms from the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission
(TRMM) Precipitation Radar (PR) have been used to study the storm structure of
the major climatic regions in Africa and over the adjacent Atlantic ocean. The
analysis was carried out in two ways. First, the mean storm height and histogram
were analyzed for the entire continent bounded by 40?N to 40?S and 20?W to 60?E. Secondly, the analysis was carried out
on sub-regional basis, on which Africa was structured into ten regions: Desert (North), Semi-desert
(north), Deciduous forest (North), Brush Grass Savanna (North), Tropical
Rainforest, Deciduous forest (South), Brush Grass-Savanna (South), Temperate
Grassland/Montane Forest, Steppe (East) and Atlantic Ocean. As observed over
Africa, and some parts of the Atlantic Ocean and the Indian
Ocean, the storm height over the land is higher than that over the sea because
ground surfaces tend to be heated more and convections are more easily
developed over the land than over the Ocean. There are high storm counts over
the land at 250 mb whereas the storm
counts are high over the Ocean at 700 mb. Over the regions, the vertical structure of the histograms reveals a
distinct bi-modal distribution in the northern hemisphere and the southern
hemisphere, but a unimodal
distribution is close to the equator
both in the northern and southern hemisphere.