Monday, 21 January 2008
Tropical Storm Debby and the SAL: A comparative analysis with TD 8 from the NAMMA 2006 field campaign
Exhibit Hall B (Ernest N. Morial Convention Center)
During the NASA African Monsoon Multidisciplinary Analyses (NAMMA) of 2006, several developing tropical cyclones and their interactions with the Saharan Air Layer (SAL) were investigated. One such system was Tropical Storm Debby, a compact tropical cyclone that moved off the West African coast August 20-21, 2006 and interacted extensively with the SAL throughout its lifetime. Previous studies have indicated the presence of Saharan dust enhancing convection associated with Tropical Depression 8, which developed in September 2006 (and later became Hurricane Helene). Ground-based and aircraft measurements will be utilized in characterizing the SAL interaction with Debby and compared to similar measurements of TD 8 to denote any similarities and/or differences. Preliminary results suggest the possibility of dust being a positive enhancing factor for the genesis of TS Debby.
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