Saharan Dust in the Climate system (FENNEC)

 

The Fennec climate programme aims to improve the understanding of and quantify the physical processes controlling the Saharan climate system through a synergy of observational and modelling approaches in order to evaluate and attribute the cause of errors in weather and climate models for this region. The observational strategy is a large-scale, multi-platform approach involving ground-based measurements, airborne observations and Earth observation. Fennec is an international consortium which includes research groups from the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Switzerland and the United States of America working in collaboration with the meteorological services of Algeria and Mauritania in northern Africa. During 2011 and 2012 an extensive data set was collected as part of the Fennec intensive observation programme. These included the deployment of two airborne platforms: the UK BAe146 FAAM and French SAFIRE (Service des Avions Français Instrumentés pour la Recherche en Environnement) F-20 aircraft, and also ground-based observations via two supersites located on the western and eastern flanks of the central Sahara: Zouerate, Mauritania and Bordj Badji Mokhtar, Algeria. These were supplemented by a network of automated weather stations which were installed in the remote desert.

 

URL :http://fennec.ouce.ox.ac.uk/ et http://www.agence-nationale-recherche.fr/Projet-ANR-10-BLAN-0606

Contact LISA: P. Formenti

Financial support: ANR (2012-2015)

Partners
C. Ryder – Univ. Reading
C. Flamant - LATMOS
R. Washington – Univ. Oxford (PI)

Group publications
Ryder C. L., J. B. McQuaid, C. Flamant, R. Washington, H. E. Brindley, E. J. Highwood, J. H. Marsham, D. J. Parker, M. C. Todd, J. R. Banks, J. K. Brooke, S. Engelstaedter, V. Estellés, P. Formenti, L. Garcia-Carreras, C. Kocha, F. Marenco, P. Rosenberg, H. Sodemann, C. J. T. Allen, A. Bourdon, M. Bart, C. Cavazos-Guerra, S. Chevaillier, J. Crosier, E. Darbyshire, A. R. Dean, J. R. Dorsey, J. Kent, D. O'Sullivan, K. Schepanski, K. Szpek and A. Woolley, Advances in understanding mineral dust and boundary layer processes over the Sahara from Fennec aircraft observations, Atmos. Chem. Phys., 15, 8479-8520, 2015.