MEVEX
The African Monsoon Multidisciplinary Analysis (AMMA) was an international project to improve our knowledge and understanding of the West African monsoon (WAM), its variability on daily-to-interannual time scales, and its effects on the status of the atmosphere (Redelsperger et al., 2006). The experimental strategy of the AMMA program was based on embedded multi-year, seasonal and intensive observation periods (Janicot et al., 2008; Lebel et al., 2010). The observations used in this paper were conducted during the intensive observations periods, called Special Observing Periods (SOPs). The wintertime SOP (SOP0), was dedicated to the investigation of mineral dust and biomass burning, and their mixing, took place from 13 January and 13 February 2006. The aircraft observations were conducted from Niamey, Niger. The wintertime airborne campaign, called AMMA SOP0-DABEX, was conducted onboard the Facility for Airborne Atmospheric Measurements (FAAM) BAe-146 aircraft (Haywood et al., 2008). The aircraft performed thirteen research flights in the area between 8°N and 18°N, including three dedicated excursion to the north of Niger, toward the Aïr Mountains and the Ténéré desert to probe specifically mineral dust whilst transport.
