US-West Africa Workshop: Validation of TRMM Rainfall Data over West Africa, Tallahassee, Florida, February 2000

9911918该奖项资助四名非洲人参加将于2000年2月在佛罗里达塔拉哈西举行的美国-西非关于验证TRMM西非降雨量数据的讲习班。 其他参与者包括来自美国的七名和来自西非的其他六名气象学家。 (The国家航空航天局和佛罗里达州立大学正在为更多的非洲参与者提供支持。 共同组织者是佛罗里达州立大学气象系的Sharon Nicholson教授和尼日尔非洲气象应用促进发展中心气候数据库的Bonaventure Some先生。 研讨会将包括来自科特迪瓦、加纳、贝宁、多哥、马里、塞内加尔、布基纳法索、几内亚、冈比亚和尼日尔的气象学家。非洲的降水量在年际和年代际时间尺度上出现了剧烈波动。 严重的干旱是常见的，非洲四分之三的地区是干旱或半干旱的。 降水监测在整个非洲都非常重要，因为非洲许多人民仍在从事农业活动。 但对于许多地区来说，降水数据要么不可用，要么太不可靠，无法用于监测。 对非洲环境进行长期监测的关键在于开发降雨量评估的卫星方法。 TRMM卫星的测量可以提供良好的空间覆盖，但卫星校准中使用的算法所获得的结果需要通过地面测量进行验证。 该讲习班的主要目的是促进计量数据的获取和质量控制，并让西非国家参与验证过程。 非洲与会者将带来其1998年月降水量的现场台站数据。 参加者将在验证过程中使用这些数据，以确定TRMM值如何与其网格化的质量控制台站数据进行比较。 此外，还将与其他卫星的估计数进行相互比较，以验证这些数据。 这一验证过程可以降低从一些国家购买数据的高昂费用，并最大限度地减少与使用此类数据有关的困难。 还将计划为1999年取得类似的数据，并最终取得每日数据以证实五天的估计数。 非洲与会者还将熟悉从美国气象卫星收集的数据。 这次研讨会的成果应能增加目前对萨赫勒区域年际和年代际时间尺度气候变异性的了解。 研讨会还将促进美国和非洲参与者之间的互动，预计这将导致未来的合作研究活动。 国际方案司和大气科学司正在联合支持这一讲习班。

9911918This award supports four African participants in the US-West Africa Workshop on Validation of TRMM Rainfall Data over West Africa, to be held in Tallahassee, Florida, February 2000. Additional participants include seven from the United States, and six other meteorologists from West Africa. (The National Air and Space Administration and Florida State University are providing support for the additional African participants.) The co-organizers are Professor Sharon Nicholson, of the Department of Meteorology at Florida State University and Mr. Bonaventure Some, with the Climatological Data Bank at the African Center of Meteorological Applications for Development, in Niger. The workshop will include meteorologists from the Ivory Coast, Ghana, Benin, Togo, Mali, Senegal, Burkina Faso, Guinea, Gambia, and Niger. Africa has experienced dramatic fluctuations of precipitation on interannual and interdecadal time scales. Severe droughts are common, and three-quarters of Africa is arid or semi-arid. Precipitation monitoring is of great importance throughout Africa since many of its peoples are still engaged in agricultural pursuits. But for many areas, precipitation data is either unavailable or too unreliable to be used for monitoring. The key to long-term monitoring of Africa's environment lies in the development of satellite methods for rainfall assessment. Measurements from the TRMM satellite can provide good spatial coverage, but the results obtained from the algorithms used in satellite calibration need to be validated by ground measurements. The main purposes of this workshop are to facilitate the acquisition and quality control of gauge data, and to involve West African countries in the validation process. The African participants will bring their in-situ station data on monthly precipitation for 1998. The participants will use these data in the validation process to determine how TRMM values compare with their gridded, quality-controlled station data. Additionally, intercomparisons will be made with other satellite estimates in order to validate those data as well. This validation process can reduce the high cost of purchasing data from some countries, and also minimize difficulties related to the use of such data. Plans will also be made for the acquisition of similar data for 1999, and for the eventual acquisition of daily data to validate five-day estimates. The African participants will also become acquainted with data collected from American meteorological satellites. The results of this workshop should increase the current knowledge about climate variability of the Sahel region on interannual and interdecadal time scales. The workshop will also foster interactions among and between the US and African participants, which are expected to lead to future collaborative research activities. The Division of International Programs and the Division of Atmospheric Sciences are jointly supporting this workshop.