Diurnal and Seasonal Cycles of Cloud Occurrences, Types, and Radiative Impact over West Africa

• Published in: Journal of applied meteorology and climatology Vol. 51; no. 3; pp. 534 - 553
• Main Authors: Bouniol, Dominique, Couvreux, Fleur, Kamsu-Tamo, Pierre-Honoré, Leplay, Madeleine, Guichard, Françoise, Favot, Florence, O’Connor, Ewan J.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Boston, MA American Meteorological Society 01.03.2012
• Subjects: Aerosols; Anvil clouds; Anvils; Cirrus clouds; Clouds; Convection; Convection clouds; Datasets; Earth, ocean, space; Exact sciences and technology; External geophysics; Lidar; Marine; Meteorology; Monsoons; Radiation measurement; Radiative forcing; Rainy seasons; Studies; Wind; Niger; West Africa; Africa; Sahara; Niger, Niamey; ASE, Africa; Africa, Sahara Desert; short period waves; Meteorological radar; Stratocumulus cloud; Long wave; aerosols; radiative transfer; Space remote sensing; Infrared observation; Convective cloud; Satellite observation; diurnal variations; CloudSat spacecraft; Spring(season); Radar observation; Lidar; Observation data; Forcing; Atmospheric radiation; monsoons; seasonal variations

This study focuses on the occurrence and type of clouds observed in West Africa, a subject that has been neither much documented nor quantified. It takes advantage of data collected above Niamey, Niger, in 2006 with the Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) Mobile Facility. A survey of cloud chara...