The Fennec climate program

The central Sahara has one of the most extreme climates on Earth. During the summer months, a large low pressure system caused by intense solar heating develops over a huge, largely uninhabited expanse of northern Mali, southern Algeria and eastern Mauritania. The atmospheric aerosol loading and thermodynamics over this region are unique, and have major impacts on the climate of North Africa, Europe and the Atlantic.

Fennec is a large-scale, international, multi-institutional, multi-platform, observational, modelling and satellite programme designed to tackle one of the world’s key climate regions. 

This short film covers the story of the observations made of the Central Sahara in the summers of 2011 and 2012. It tells the story of a dedicated set of specialists both on the ground and in the air who managed to deliver the most comprehensive field campaign ever mounted in this hugely-empty, fiercely hot and inhospitable region.

Access to the 17 minutes length film submitted to the Geocinema session at the next European Geosciences Union Asembly (EGU2013) from 7-12 April. Results from such exciting experience will also be shown in the Saharan Weather, Climate and Dust session.

Fennec: Into the Cauldron  (you can right click on the link to it and select "Save Target/Link As...").  

File is around 700Mb size, it will take from 5-30 min depending on internet connection.  

You can also watch the video online at the NCAS youtube channel.

University of Sussex, Sussex House, Brighton, BN1 9RH, United Kingdom. (map)