SIWA: Scale Interactions in West Africa: predictability, climate change and impacts

The main goal of SIWA project is to advance the scientific knowledge of the West African climate, its variability and impacts. We focus on two key aspects of West African climate: its summer monsoon and the Canary eastern boundary upwelling system.

The project builds on previous scientific knowledge and on the experience of the research team but takes a novel approach consisting of explicitly addressing interaction between different scales: from the main drivers of climate variability and change down to the synoptic timescale and weather events, bridging a gap in the current scientific knowledge. It will also investigate the ocean tunnels between the Mediterranean Sea and the CEBUS region to explore a not yet analyzed relation. SIWA will pay special attention to coastal regions in the westernmost Sahel, which are at the cross-roads of the CEBUS and West African monsoon and suffer from a long-lasting lack of observations, by analyzing and helping acquire data from a new observational network in Dakar. It will also analyze cutting-edge storm-resolving, coupled models capable of simulating organized convection. Finally, SIWA project will showcase the social impacts of West African climate variability by addressing the seasonal prediction of malaria incidence and the influence of environmental degradation and climate variability on the migration decisions of Senegalese people to Spain.

IPs: Irene Polo Sánchez and Elsa Mohino Harris

CURRENTLY HIRING --> SIWA project is seeking a candidate to apply for a pre-doctoral contract for doctoral training (formerly FPI) linked to Knowledge Generation Projects within the framework of the 2024–2027 State Plan for Scientific, Technical and Innovation Research. Press HERE for more information.