Séminaire
West African climate is marked by a wet season, when the monsoon occurs bringing precipitation over the continent; and a dry season when Harmattan wind blows carrying large amounts of dust. West Africa knows a massive economic and population growth, however climate impacts on health or the pollution export from megacities along the Guinean gulf are largely unknown. The talk will focus first on the links between meningitis and climate and second on coastal pollution export.
Meningitis epidemics are a major public health problem in several African countries belonging to the ?Meningitis Belt?. The period of maximum meningitis cases coincides with the period of highest temperatures and
dust concentrations, but the links between epidemics and atmospheric conditions are still debated. The study presented provides new evidences of these links between epidemics and atmospheric conditions, with a special focus on spatial patterns and forecasting possibilities.
Coastal pollution export is challenging to model, especially in the complex monsoon system, which results from the interaction between Land-Sea-Atmosphere (dynamics, aerosols, chemistry, cloud) acting at different spatial scales. First results from the AMMA field campaign are presented combining modeling and several observational tools (stations, aircrafts, etc).
Segolène Berthou, Arnaud Dumas