Critical Review of Literature: Teleconnections between Indian Region and West African

Rainfall Variability
Tomviezibe Cephas Dombo
asz198457@iitd.ac.in
2019ASZ8457

Rain-fed agriculture in West Africa and crop yield are very critical to both peasant,
commercial farmers and water resources management. Therefore, the variability of rainfall onset
and cessation of same is an important factor for human sustenance. Various scientists have tried to
investigate the sources and factors that influence rainfall variability over West Africa In order to
understand these conditions.

The Review of four papers [1], [2], [3], [4] in the field of atmospheric sciences from which
critical analyses on the Teleconnections between Indian region and West African Rainfall variability
is presented. This review seeks to evaluate the researchers’ methodologies and results in connection
with the Indian region and West African Rainfall variability. The study of the Teleconnections is
important in understanding the possible dynamics and interactions between the two regions.
Considerable research interests that seek to understand the dynamics of the West African rainfall
and the Teleconnections with the Indian monsoon source regions are on the rise.

Most of these reviewed papers passively enumerated the Teleconnections over West Africa.
While focus on the higher latitudes of the African continent dominates these papers, many of the
interactions studied between the two regions were onset and cessation, West African monsoon and
Indian monsoons, and interactions of global circulations over these regions. Therefore, the current
study will seek to focus on the interaction of the Indian region and the rainfall variability over West
Africa.

While “Sanjeeva and Sikka” [1] examines a reanalysis data in low frequency and synoptic
scales to understand the interdependence between Indian and the African Summer Monsoon
Systems, “Laura and Fred” [2], analyzed the pattern of variability of these two systems on a decadal
timescale, then, “Ellen et al.” [3] focuses on the teleconnections between the precipitation of Sahel
region with the Indian Ocean using the variations in SSTs in the Indian Ocean, then “Flaounas et
al.”[4], used observed and simulated model data to investigate the influence of the onset of Indian
monsoon on the onset of West African monsoon onset.
 On a global scale, the influence of the Madden Julian Oscillations (MJO) on both Indian and
African monsoon seasons has been established which indicates there is a similarity in the
characteristics and dynamics of the atmosphere in the two regions based on large scale analysis
[1],[4]. Therefore, the performance of the circulation indicators associated with rainfall advances the
assertions of interactions between the two monsoon systems based on the pattern of the multi-
decadal, interannual, prolonged periods as well as wet and dry year’s [1]. Though various studies
[1],[2],[3],[4] have largely examined the variability of both the Indian West African rainfall, most
of the studies on the regional connections were extensively conducted on the North African region.
The interaction of the Indian region and West African rainfall variability is yet to receive serious
attention.

According to their result, “Laura and Fred” [2], shows that at the surface level during the
polar summer, there is a contrast in the land-sea temperature which causes the atmospheric
circulation of both Indian and African regions which results in a westerly monsoonal flow. At mid-
level, African Easterly Jet (TEJ) is steered by an anticyclonic circulation whereas cyclonic
circulation dominates over the Indian region, which indicates that over Africa the monsoon is (drier)
wetter when the TEJ is (weaker) stronger [1].

On the other hand, when the AEJ is (intensified) weaker and the low level westerly
increasingly (weak) intense, driving (decreasing) more inflow of moisture inside the continent;
likewise, over India, when the TEJ and the low-level westerlies are (weaker) stronger there is an
observed (drier) wetter monsoon. From their analysis, the studies [3] detects that the TEJ extends
across Africa and is an important feature linking the Asian monsoon and North African regions. It
is worthy of note that ERA-Interim has a much better hydrological cycle and a very less time series
than the previous (ERA-40) because it has a similar cloud nomenclature, and important circulation
characteristics similar to that of the AEJ.

Various authors in the reviewed papers have advanced their research using suitable
methodologies. “Laura and Fred” [2] employs data analysis of an Atmospheric General Circulation
Model (AGCM) and the Simplified Parameterizations Primitive Equation Dynamics (SPEEDY) to
study the probable association between the African and Indian monsoons. Coincidentally the study
focuses on the West African monsoon but did not study the rainfall variability in association with
the Indian region. Also, “Sanjeeva and Sikka” [1] in their study analyze daily and pentad zonal winds
data at 850, 700 and 200 hPa levels of the atmosphere. They also used the common NCEP/NCAR
re-analysis, METEOSAT visible satellite imagery without using complex refining tools to examine
the sub-seasonal variations in the two monsoon regimes. Furthermore, the data used for the analysis
of deep convection were obtained from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
(NOAA) archive of Outgoing Longwave Radiation (OLR) as seen from “Flaounas et al.”[4].
Besides, to observe encroachment of the dry air over West Africa, they utilized daily rainfall fields
from Global Precipitation Climate Project (GPCP), Interim reanalysis of the European Centre for
Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF). Another model utilized was an idealized advection-
subsidence model which recreates water vapour fields through back-trajectories.

Conversely, “Ellen et al.”[3] use various models such as NCAR CESM version 1.0.4 with
active and coupled atmosphere (CAM 5.1) and land (CLM 4.0) models with a data ocean using the
merged Hadley Centre for Climate Prediction and Research Global sea-Ice coverage and Sea Surface
Temperatures (HadISST) and National Ocean and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Optimal
Interpolation Analyses Results from an unperturbed, baseline simulation are compared with the
European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF) atmospheric reanalysis, ERA-
Interim.

In conclusion, the review of these pieces of the literature shows how monsoon connection at
interannual time-scales is comparatively weak because the two systems (Indian and African
Monsoons) present a low interconnection at high-frequency variability when time series analysis is
examined [1]. This corroborates the findings that onset of the Indian monsoon variability is partly
contributing in determining African Monsoon in “Flaounas et al.”[4] while campaigns of
experiments between Continental Tropical Convergence Zone (CTCZ) and AMMA (African
Monsoon Multidisciplinary Analysis) by the two regions of discourse was advocated [2].

References
[1]Sanjeeva Rao P. and Sikka D. R. (2007), Interactive Aspects of the Indian and the African
Summer Monsoon Systems, Pure appl. geophys, 164(2007) 1699–1716,DOI 10.1007/s00024-007-
0.
[2] Laura Feudale, Fred Kucharski (2013), A common mode of variability of African and Indian
monsoon rainfall at decadal timescale, Clim Dyn (2013) 41:243–254, DOI 10.1007/s00382-013-
1827-4.
[3] Ellen L. E. Dyer, Dylan B. A. Jones, Ryan Li, Hiromitsu Sawaoka, and Lawrence Mudryk
(2017), Sahel precipitation and regional teleconnections with the Indian Ocean, J. Geophys. Res.
Atmos., 122, 5654–5676, DOI: 10.1002/2016JD026014.
[4] Emmanouil Flaounas, Serge Janicot, Sophie Bastin, Re´ my Roca, Elsa Mohino (2012), The role
of the Indian monsoon onset in the West African monsoon onset: observations and AGCM nudged
simulations, Clim Dyn (2012) 38:965–983, DOI 10.1007/s00382-011-1045-x.