OCCURRENCES OF LOW CLOUDS OVER THE WESTERN MARGINS OF THE CONGO BASIN (SEPTEMBER TO DECEMBER 2021)

This study aims to analyze the occurrence of low cumuliform clouds over the western margins of the Congo Basin from September to December 2021. The imagery of the Cloud Top Height product of Meteosat Second Generation set on synoptic hours (i.e. 00 hours, 06 hours, 12 hours and 18 hours) have been retained for this study. Through these data, we have developed an observation grid of 1° over the entire Congolese territory to make an inventory of low clouds identified at each 1°. The results obtained show that the low clouds appear most often between 00 hours and 12 hours. And the spatial distribution of the occurrences of clouds attests that the low cloud cover remains more pronounced in the Southern, Southwestern and Northern parts of the country.