caa a22 4500 605474605 CHVBK 20210128100348.0 cr unu---uuuuu 210128e20150601xx s 000 0 eng 10.1007/s00382-014-2382-3 doi (NATIONALLICENCE)springer-10.1007/s00382-014-2382-3 Moisture budget analysis of SST-driven decadal Sahel precipitation variability in the twentieth century [Elektronische Daten] [Catherine Pomposi, Yochanan Kushnir, Alessandra Giannini] It is well known that the Sahel region of Africa is impacted by decadal scale variability in precipitation, driven by global sea surface temperatures. This work demonstrates that the National Center for Atmospheric Research's Community Atmosphere Model, version 4 is capable of reproducing relationships between Sahelian precipitation variability and Indian and Atlantic Ocean sea surface temperature variations on such timescales. Further analysis then constructs a moisture budget breakdown using model output and shows that the change in precipitation minus evaporation in the region is dominated by column integrated moisture convergence due to the mean flow, with the convergence of mass in the atmospheric column mainly responsible. It is concluded that the oceanic forcing of atmospheric mass convergence and divergence to a first order explains the moisture balance patterns in the region. In particular, the anomalous circulation patterns, including net moisture divergence by the mean and transient flows combined with negative moisture advection, together explain the drying of the Sahel during the second half of the twentieth century. Diagnosis of moisture budget and circulation components within the main rainbelt and along the monsoon margins show that changes to the mass convergence are related to the magnitude of precipitation that falls in the region, while the advection of dry air is associated with the maximum latitudinal extent of precipitation. Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg, 2014 Sahel precipitation nationallicence Sea surface temperatures nationallicence Atmospheric moisture budget nationallicence Monsoon nationallicence Pomposi Catherine Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Columbia University, 61 Route 9W, 143 Monell, 10964, Palisades, NY, USA aut Kushnir Yochanan Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory of Columbia University, 61 Route 9W, 104B Oceanography, 10964, Palisades, NY, USA aut Giannini Alessandra International Research Institute for Climate and Society, 61 Route 9W, 109 Monell, 10964, Palisades, NY, USA aut Climate Dynamics Springer Berlin Heidelberg 44/11-12(2015-06-01), 3303-3321 0930-7575 44:11-12<3303 2015 44 382 https://doi.org/10.1007/s00382-014-2382-3 text/html Onlinezugriff via DOI BK010053 XK010053 XK010000 Metadata rights reserved Springer special CC-BY-NC licence nationallicence 1 research-article jats NATIONALLICENCE NATIONALLICENCE NL-springer NATIONALLICENCE 856 40 https://doi.org/10.1007/s00382-014-2382-3 text/html Onlinezugriff via DOI NATIONALLICENCE 700 1- Pomposi Catherine Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Columbia University, 61 Route 9W, 143 Monell, 10964, Palisades, NY, USA aut NATIONALLICENCE 700 1- Kushnir Yochanan Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory of Columbia University, 61 Route 9W, 104B Oceanography, 10964, Palisades, NY, USA aut NATIONALLICENCE 700 1- Giannini Alessandra International Research Institute for Climate and Society, 61 Route 9W, 109 Monell, 10964, Palisades, NY, USA aut NATIONALLICENCE 773 0- Climate Dynamics Springer Berlin Heidelberg 44/11-12(2015-06-01), 3303-3321 0930-7575 44:11-12<3303 2015 44 382