Multiscale Characteristics of West African Summer Monsoon Precipitation Derived from UCadMet Network Observations

Since 2012 a joint Université Cheikh Anta Diop de Dakar and Universidad Complutense de Madrid meteorological observation network (UCadMet) has been in place in the city of Dakar (Senegal). During the last years, the observation and data storage systems have been considerably improved. Last summer of 2022, a laser disdrometer was installed providing  detailed information on the size and speed of precipitation with a time resolution of one minute. Observations from several tipping bucket rain gauges are available also at the same site. Summer 2022 has been anomalously rainy in West Africa, with large precipitation events during the African monsoon season, which seems to be enhanced by a La Niña situation in the Pacific. These events have proven to be particularly suitable for evaluating the performance of the installed observing systems and for drawing some conclusions about the characteristics of monsoon precipitation in this region not only at different time scales, but also across scales (from 1 min to season). Commonly used rain rate together with drop size distribution are used to access information on rainfall microphysics. This analysis allows the design of future lines of action considering climate change, for which large precipitation events are expected to become more frequent.