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Large Scale Features Affecting Ethiopian Rainfall

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African Climate and Climate Change

Part of the book series: Advances in Global Change Research ((AGLO,volume 43))

Abstract

In this chapter we will discuss the large scale atmospheric and oceanic features associated with the long (Kiremt) and the short (Belg) rainy seasons. Considering the spatial variability of rainfall, the analysis was carried out for each homogeneous rainfall zones separately. Composite analyses on selected variables (wind, humidity, geopotential heights and sea surface temperature (SST)) from ERA-40 and HadISST reanalysis dataset were done based on excess/deficit seasonal total rainfall events. The result shows that during the Kiremt rainy season the large scale features associated with anomalous rains are the tropical easterly jet (TEJ), African easterly jet (AEJ), Quasi Biennial Oscillation (QBO), inter tropical convergence zone (ITCZ), East African Low Level Jet (EALLJ), Azores high, humidity anomaly over Red Sea and Gulf of Guinea and low level wind anomalies from Atlantic and Indian ocean to Africa and ENSO. Similarly for the Belg rainy season the large scale features associated with rainfall anomalies are the subtropical westerly jet (STWJ), ITCZ, ENSO, Arabian High, humidity anomaly over eastern Africa and low level wind anomalies from the Indian and Atlantic Ocean.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Earth System Physics Section, The Abdus Salam ICTP, Trieste, Italy

    Gulilat Tefera Diro

  2. Department of Meteorology, University of Reading, Reading, UK

    Gulilat Tefera Diro & D.I.F. Grimes

  3. NCAS-Climate, Walker Institute for Climate System Research, University of Reading, Reading, UK

    E. Black

Authors
  1. Gulilat Tefera Diro
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  2. D.I.F. Grimes
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  3. E. Black
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Gulilat Tefera Diro .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. University of Reading, 2U18 Department of Meteorology, Reading, RG6 6BB, United Kingdom

    Charles J. R. Williams

  2. Dept. Geography, University of Sussex, Chichester 1-143, Brighton, BN1 9QJ, United Kingdom

    Dominic R. Kniveton

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Diro, G.T., Grimes, D., Black, E. (2011). Large Scale Features Affecting Ethiopian Rainfall. In: Williams, C., Kniveton, D. (eds) African Climate and Climate Change. Advances in Global Change Research, vol 43. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-90-481-3842-5_2

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