The Applicability of Environmental Physics and Meteorology in Africa

WORKSHOPS ON THEAPPLICABILITY OFENVIRONMENTAL PHYSICS ANDMETEOROLOGY IN AFRICASEVENTHWORKSHOP ON THE APPLICABILITYOF ENVIRONMENTAL PHYSICS ANDMETEOROLOGY IN AFRICAAKINTAYO ADEDOYINUNIVERSITY OF BOTSWANA

• The Society of African Physicists andMathematicians (SAPAM), was inauguratedin 1984 at the International Centre forTheoretical Physics (ICTP), Italy.•Initiated a series of workshops – theApplicability of Environmental Physics andMeteorology in Africa (APEPMA) – aimed atsensitizing African scientists, withbackground in the physical sciences, to theneed for re-orientation towards climaterelatedresearch.

•Direct response to the drought situation inEthiopia and other countries around thehorn of Africa in the early-80s.• This capacity-building initiative targetedyoung African scientists at the beginning oftheir careers.•The APEMA series of workshops havesince been held in Ethiopia (1987, 1989),Kenya (1991, 1993), Ghana (1995) andSouth Africa (2001), with considerablesupport from ICTP

•Mesoscale Convective Systems (MCS) areorganized groups of thunderstorms thatrange in horizontal dimension from 5-500km and typically possess lifetimes of 6-24hours.• Vertical motions within MCSs could be assignificant as horizontal motions. Theseupdraughts and downdraughts impactheavily on local rainfall, wind, lightning andother forms of severe weather.

•Their limited lateral extent and timescale donot often make them evident on synopticcharts. These also keep them at sub-gridlevels in most climate models; hence, theneed for parameterization.•A better understanding of the dynamics,moisture flux, heat flux, momentum transferetc. within these tropical storms isenvisaged to improve the parameterizationprocedures in climate models especially asthey relate to tropical Africa.

The workshop decided on the followingresearch projects as worthy of attention byAfrican scientists:•River of smoke/clouds in Southern Africa(to be coordinated by Hannes Rautenbach,University of Pretoria, South Africa)•The relationship between Atlantichurricanes and tropical Africa mesoscalesystems (to be coordinated by AkintayoAdedoyin, University of Botswana,Botswana)

Workshop participants resolved asfollows:•The APEPMA series of workshops aremeeting important needs in Africa (theyseem to be the only forum for exchange ofideas amongst the climate modellingcommunity in Africa)•For sustained capacity building, theseries is recommended to be held biannually

•The next workshop should be a hybridevent in the form of workshop andconference on the broad theme of climatechange and its multi-faceted impacts onthe African continent•The APEPMA series of workshops shouldhave pan-African focus rather thanregional outlook

•There are needs for Regional Centres,with adequate infrastructures, to serve ashubs for scientists in climate-relatedstudies•The African Journal of Meteorologyshould be considered for publication of theproceedings of the APEPMA series ofworkshops

•There is a need for ICTP to help drawfurther attention to the APEPMA seriesthrough the insertion of information aboutthe series within the ICTP webpage•There should be vigorous canvassing forother forms of support from otherorganisation in addition to the substantialsupport from ICTP.