AMMA, launched in 2002, is an international interdisciplinary research programme concerned with the variability of the West African Monsoon (WAM) and its impacts on communities in that region.

Coordinator	Jean-Luc Redelsperger - CNRS
CNRM-GAME contact	Jean-Philippe Lafore
CNRM-GAME teams	International executive office
Project web site	AMMA
Funding
Start date	2002
Duration	8 years and reconducted for 10 years

 Goals

– To improve our understanding of the WAM and its influence on the physical, chemical and biological environment regionally and globally.
– To provide the underpinning science that relates variability of the WAM to issues of health, water resources, food security and demography for West African nations and defining and implementing relevant monitoring and prediction strategies.
– To ensure that the multidisciplinary research carried out in AMMA is effectively integrated with prediction and decision making activity.

 CNRM-GAME contribution

The International executive office of AMMA is welcoming since 2007 by the CNRM. This allows a coordination at national, international and African level.
The contribution of Meteo-France through the CNRM-GAME is:
– Participation at the field campaigns
– Participation in research activities (assimilation, convection, mesoscale, climate, chemistry, aerosols, ocean)
– The implementation of observation facilities (ATR42, oceanographic campaigns EGEE-AMMA, VHF)
– And specific forecast of high resolution (10 km) during the SOP.

 Project description

While large uncertainties remain about future prospects for regional climate variability and change in West Africa (IPCC 2007), the impacts of climate variability on the continent, especially in the Sahelo-Saharan zone, are already making themselves felt. Observations have shown that this region experienced one of the largest rainfall deficits on the planet last century. It The region is particularly vulnerable to climate variability due to the societal dependence of various activities on weather and climate, such as rain-fed agriculture (on which 80% of Sahel’s population depend). Economic and institutional capacities are too limited to confront situations and adapt to their consequences.

Researchers from Africa, Europe and the USA are working together to study crucial questions posed by these issues. The need to improve weather and climatic forecasting for implementation of early warning systems motivated the scientific community to define the three major objectives for AMMA.

 Results from AMMA phase 1

Strong international multi-agency coordination generated a research community of 600 committed participants. Within this community, 250 African researchers, grouped into a network called AMMA-Africa, have been working on AMMA science.

Thanks to this international coordination, AMMA has achieved a lot : 500 papers in quality peer-reviewed publications, including 10 special issues; the organization of international conferences (Dakar 2005, Karlsruhe 2007 and Ouagadougou 2009) bringing together an average of 400 researchers; an unprecedented multi-scale multidisciplinary database used across the world and mirrored in Africa; the deployment of long-term observation systems since 2001, and more far-reaching field campaigns between 2005 and 2007, with several periods of intense observation.

After 8 years of activity, AMMA has become a flagship research programme on climate and meteorology in West Africa and is now planning for the next 10 years. The research has lead to significant advances in our knowledge and understanding of the multi-scale multidisciplinary aspects of the coupled ocean-atmosphere-land WAM system – going a long way to addressing the first objective of AMMA. The AMMA programme has also succeeded in laying the groundwork in terms of science and establishing research collaborations to address its second and third objectives.

Training and education has been a priority for AMMA. AMMA has helped with the training of about 160 PhD students, of which half were African. About 80 doctoral theses have already been completed, of which 28 were by Africans. Three summer schools, and four training workshops were successfully implemented bringing together students, researchers and forecasters from Africa and all over the world. Through AMMA, new Masters programmes have also been established. All of these activities demonstrate AMMA’s emphasis on education and training.

The strong intention of AMMA communication is to diffuse knowledge and to increase awareness of issues related to weather and climate and their impacts on societies, especially in Africa.

 A second phase for AMMA

At the end of the 1st phase of the AMMA program in 2010, it has been reconducted for 10 more years. This current second phase is presented on the specific web page AMMA-2 of this site of CNRM-GAME.

 Partners

Founding and supporting organizations
ACMAD - ARM - ASECNA - CILSS - CNES - CNRS (INSU-INEE) -CERMES - Union Européenne - 2iE - ICSU-RoA - IFREMER - IRD - Météo France - MetOffice - MAE - NASA - NERC - NOAA - WMO

Programmes:
CLIVAR – GCOS – GEWEX – IGAC – IGBP – ILEAPS – THORPEX – WCRP

And with the participation of :

Algeria : Algérie

–  Office National de la Météorologie

Benin : Bénin

–  Centre National de Télédétection et de Surveillance du Couvert Forestier
–  Direction Générale de l’Eau (DG-Eau)
–  Direction de la Météorologie Nationale
–  Centre de Recherches Halieutiques et Océanologiques du Bénin (CRHOB)
–  Université d’Abomey-Calavi

Burkina Faso :

–  Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique et Technologique
–  Direction Générale de l’Aviation Civile et de la Météorologie/Direction de la Météorologie
–  Direction Générale de l’Hydraulique
–  Direction Générale de l’Inventaire des Ressources Hydrauliques
–  Institut de l’Environnement et de Recherches Agricoles
–  Université de Ouagadougou

Cabo Verde : Cap Vert

–  Instituto Nacional de Gestao dos Recursos Hidricos
–  Instituto Nacional de Meteorologia e Geofisica
–  Instituto Superior de Engenharia e Ciências do Mar

Cameroon : Cameroun

–  Centre de Recherches Hydrologiques
–  Université de Dschang
–  Université de Yaoundé 1

Chad : Tchad

–  Direction de la Météorologie Nationale
–  Direction des Ressources en Eau et de la Météorologie
–  Ministère de l’Environnement et de l’Eau

Congo :

–  Université du Congo

Gambia : Gambie

–  Global change Research Unit, Department of Water Resources

Ghana : Ghana

–  Ghana Meteorological Agency
–  Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology
–  University of Ghana, Legon
–  Hydrological Department

Guinea Bissau : Guinée Bissau

–  Serviço Meteorologico Nacional

Guinée Conakry :

–  Direction Nationale de la Météorologie de Guinée
–  Direction Nationale de l’hydrologie

Ivory Coast : Côte d’Ivoire

–  Direction de l’Hydrologie
–  Direction de la Météorologie Nationale
–  Institut de Géographie Tropicale
–  Université de Cocody, Abidjan
–  Université de Abobo-Adjamé (Centre de Recherche en Ecologie/Station d’Ecologie de Lamto)
–  Centre de Recherches Océanologiques (CRO), Abidjan
– Laboratoire de Physique de l’Atmosphère et de Mécanique des Fluides (LAPA-MF)

Mali :

–  Direction Nationale de la Météorologie
–  Direction Nationale de l’Hydraulique
–  Ecole Nationale d’Ingénieurs
–  Institut d’Economie Rurale
–  Institut National de Recherche en Santé Publique
–  Institut Polytechnique Rural de Katibougou
–  Secrétariat Technique Permanent
–  Université de Bamako

Marocco : Maroc

–  Direction de la Météorologie Nationale

Niger :

–  AGRHYMET
–  Centre Régional d’Enseignement Spécialisé en Agriculture
–  Direction de l’Hydrologie
–  Direction de la Météorologie Nationale
–  Université Abdou Moumouni, Niamey

Nigeria :

–  Federal Ministry of Agriculture
–  Federal University of Technology, Akure
–  Nigerian Meteorological Agency
–  Nigerian Institute for Oceanography and Marine Research(NIOMR)
–  Obafemi Awolowo University
–  University of Jos
–  University of Lagos

Senegal: Sénégal

–  Centre d’Études Régional pour l’Améloration de l’Adaptation à la Sécheresse
–  Centre de Suivi écologique
–  Direction de l’Hydraulique
–  Direction de la Météorologie Nationale
–  Ecole Supérieure Polytechnique
–  Institut Sénégalais de Recherches Agricoles
–  Université Cheikh Anta Diop de Dakar
– Centre de Recherches Tropicales de Climatologie en Afrique (CRTCA)
– Laboratoire d’Enseignement et de Recherche en Géomatique (LERG)
– Laboratoire de Physique de l’Atmosphère Siméon Fongang (LPASF)

Togo :

–  Direction de la Météorologie Nationale
–  Direction Générale de l’Hydraulique et de l’Energie
–  Université de Lomé

Belgium : Belgique

–  Université Catholique de Louvain

Denmark : Danemark

–  University of Copenhagen

Finland : Finlande

–  Vaisala OYJ

Germany : Allemagne

–  Deutsches Zentrum für Luft-und Raumfahrt
–  Forschungszentrum Karlsruhe
–  Leibniz-Institut für Meereswissenschaften
–  Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München
–  Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität Bonn
–  Universität Bremen
–  Universität Karlsruhe
–  Universität zu Köln
– Leibniz Institüt für Meereswissenschaften - Universität Kiel (IFM-GEOMAR)

Italy : Italie

–  Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche
–  Ente per Nuove Technologie, l’Energia e l’Ambiente
–  Universita Degli Studi di Perugia

Netherlands : Pays-Bas

–  Koninklijk Nederlands Meteorologisch Instituut

Spain : Espagne

–  Universidad de Castilla La Mancha
–  Universidad Politécnica de Cartagena
–  Universitad Complutense de Madrid

United Kingdom : Royaume Uni

–  Centre for Ecology and Hydrology
–  Chancellor, Masters and Scholars of University of Cambridge
–  Cranfield University
–  European Centre for Medium Range Weather Forecasts.
–  Imperial College
–  Lancaster University
–  Ocean Scientific International Ltd
–  University College, London
–  University of East Anglia
–  University of Leeds
–  University of Leicester
–  University of Liverpool
–  University of Manchester
–  University of Oxford
–  University of Reading
–  University of York
– Centre for Ecology and Hydrology (CEH)
– Chancellor Masters and Scholars of the University of Cambridge
– Environment Systems Science Centre (ESSC), University of Reading
– Facility for Airborne and Atmospheric Measurements (FAAM)

United States : Etats Unis d’Amérique

–  Brookhaven National Laboratory
–  California State University
–  Colorado State University
–  Columbia University
–  Florida State University
–  George Mason University
–  Howard University
–  Massachusetts Institute of Technology
–  National Center for Atmospheric Sciences
–  Naval Research Laboratory
–  SPEC incorporated
–  University at Albany
–  University Corporation for Atmospheric Research
–  University of Connecticut
–  University of Cornell
–  University of Maryland-Baltimore
–  University of Miami
–  University of North Dakota
–  University of Oklahoma
–  University of Utah
–  University of Virginia
– Atlantic Oceanic and Meteorological Laboratory (AOML)
– Earth System Research Laboratory (ESRL)
– Hurricane Research Division (HRD)
– National Centers for Environmental Prediction (NCEP)
– National Environmental Satellite, Data and Information Services (NESDIS)
– National Severe Storms Laboratory (NSSL)
– Natural Resource Ecology Laboratory (NREL)