Analysis of Storm Structure over Africa Using the Trmm Precipitation Radar Data

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 part s 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.