Here are some of the highlights from the AMMA (African Monsoon Multidisciplinary Analysis) workshop that took place at the University of Maryland on Nov 14-15. Chris Thorncroft highlighted 3 main AMMA objectives:

1. study the onset and retreat of the West African Monsoon (WAM) and its impact on African easterly waves (AEWs)
2. relate climate variability to issues of health, water resources, and food security
3. assure that multi-disciplinary research is effectively applied to the issues

There are many motivations for the AMMA experiment, many of which are peripheral to HRD interests. If we become involved in AMMA, it would be in 2005 during what is being called the "Special Observing Period". Some of the research that was discussed that may overlap with HRD interests include:

• Steve Rutledge discussed the NCAR S-Pol Radar, the NASA N-Pol radar, UHF Doppler wind profilers, and the RASS system. He emphasized the potential placement of these systems in west Africa to support various AMMA research (AEWs, MCS evolution, etc).
• Bob Houze spoke about the need to research the lightning characteristics of N. Africa, the "hottest" region in the world for lightning activity.
• Peter Lamb discussed the climate of the region, including the relationship of Sahel rainfall and SSTs off the W. African coast.
• Glenn White (NCEP) spoke about NCEP interests in AMMA, which include validating near-sfc fields in the global models in the AMMA region, continue to improve the integration of aerosols into the global forecast models, and the need to improve support for the "African desk" at NCEP.
• I spoke about HRD interests such as looking at TC genesis, Saharan Air Layer/TC interactions, and TC lifecycle studies (aka taking a detailed look at a TC from inception as an MCS over Africa to eventual decay/extra tropical transition), and the need to better capture the effect of aerosols/dust on satellite SST retrievals. The group discussed the fact that the Saharan Air Layer/TC research might be a good "hook" that could separate the TC portion of AMMA from work done in previous field campaigns like GATE in 1974.
• Frank Roux (France) spoke about examining monsoon dynamics (monsoon onset, tropical jets, and AEWs) and the water and energy budget of the region.
• Chris Meinen from AOML spoke about using the NOAA ship Ron Brown during AMMA. Possible placement at 40W north of the ITCZ was discussed.
• Joe Prospero discussed interests from the aerosol perspective. This includes looking at dust transport, the effects of dust/aerosols on cloud microphysics, correlations of dust loading/African rainfall/TC activity, and the transport of microrganisms by the SAL.

There are a lot of questions about funding sources and participants right now. The European AMMA participants seem much more in gear for the AMMA campaign. Overall, the level of US participation in AMMA is very unclear right now. NASA/NOAA is considering aligning CAMEX-V with Crystal FACE, AMMA, or CBLAST, so we'll have to see what happens there. That could make a world of difference. An AMMA web page is supposed to be available shortly, so I'll give that web address to the group when it's available.

Jason Dunion
NOAA/AOML/Hurricane Research Division
Dec. 17, 2002