Some of the material in is restricted to members of the community. By logging in, you may be able to gain additional access to certain collections or items. If you have questions about access or logging in, please use the form on the Contact Page.
This paper examines the climatology of the major jet steams over West Africa. Three prominent jets occur at varying heights in the atmosphere, and while each jet is zonal in its flow, their sizes, magnitudes, and directions vary greatly. The Tropical Easterly Jet is shown to be the strongest and most consistent in its location at approximately 200 to 150 hPa. As its name implies, this jet stream consists of easterly flow and has been the topic of many studies over the Tibetan Plateau and Indian Ocean due to its relationship with the Indian Monsoon. On a smaller scale, the African Easterly Jet is prominent over West Africa at approximately 700 to 600 hPa. Although it is associated with the African Monsoon, its strength is related to the temperature contrast between the dry desert to its north, and the cool, moist south-westerlies to the south. The third jet stream is the only one that is westerly in direction. It is the least studied of the three jets. The Low Level Westerlies are located between 1000 and 850 hPa. Although they exhibit a smaller velocity, they are believed to exert a significant influence on the precipitation pattern over West Africa. The goal of this project is to determine the climatological characteristics of the three jet streams, especially during the summer months of June, July, August, and September. Along with building a database to analyze the climatological trends of the jets, their interrelationships are also studied. The speed of the Low Level Westerlies is shown to have a significant correlation with the speed of the Tropical Easterly Jet. And, although the African Easterly Jet occurs in the center of the atmospheric column between the other two jets, it does not have a significant relationship to either of the jets located above and below. The conclusions of this paper naturally lend themselves to further research to help explain not only the reason why the Tropical Easterly Jet and the Low Level Westerlies are related, but also the influence that these systems have on the local environment. In addition, future research should determine the larger scale implications of each jet's location in relation to the other jet streams
