Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics
Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics
ACP
Articles | Volume 19, issue 3
Articles | Volume 19, issue 3
https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-19-1623-2019
© Author(s) 2019. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Special issue:
https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-19-1623-2019
© Author(s) 2019. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Articles | Volume 19, issue 3
Research article
 | 
07 Feb 2019
Research article |  | 07 Feb 2019

The role of low-level clouds in the West African monsoon system

Anke Kniffka, Peter Knippertz, and Andreas H. Fink

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Short summary
The role of low-level clouds in the southern West Africa (SWA) energy balance and the West African monsoon system is assessed via targeted sensitivity studies with the NWP model ICON. We show for the first time that rainfall over SWA depends logarithmically on the optical thickness of low clouds, as these control the diurnal evolution of the planetary boundary layer, vertical stability and finally convection. Small variations in clouds or aerosol have a substantial impact on precipitation.
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Results of the project "Dynamics–aerosol–chemistry–cloud...
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