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This article discusses the presentation copies of two sixteenth-century works, Martin Bucer’s De regno Christi and Johannes Sturm’s De periodis, both of which were sent in fine copies by Bucer to John Cheke in 1550. The covering letter that accompanied these books survives today at Corpus Christi College, Cambridge, whilst the presentation copy of De regno Christi intended for King Edward VI is British Library, Royal MS. 8 B. VII. The circumstances surrounding these books, their production and transmission can be reconstructed in unusual and intriguing detail. This article presents several new and important discoveries, including the identification of the two presentation copies of Sturm’s De periodis mentioned by Bucer in his letter (today London, British Library, C.24.e.5 and Cambridge, Trinity College, II.12.21), as well as the tentative attribution of the binding of Royal MS. 8 B. VII to Bucer’s collaborator, the Strasbourg-based printer Remigius Guidon. An in-depth analysis of these artefacts and their codicological features confirms that TCC II.12.21 was intended for Edward VI, whereas BL C.24.e.5 can be identified, for the first time, as a book designed for and received by Princess Elizabeth. The dynamics governing the production and exchange of presentation copies between the Edwardian court and the Protestant reformers serve to paint a sharply focused picture of Bucer’s activities around 1550, that is, at a key moment of religious change in England.

16 pages; International audience; A Hierarchical Ascending Classification is used to regionalize monthly temperature anomalies measured at 24 weather stations in Antarctica and the Sub-Antarctic and mid-latitude southern islands from 1973 to 2002. Three principal regions are identified that are geographically coherent: Eastern Antarctica, the Antarctic Peninsula and the Sub- Antarctic and mid-latitude islands. Within each region, consistent trends are observed: namely, stationary temperatures in 'East-Antarctica'; a robust warming in the 'Sub-Antarctic and mid-latitude islands', most pronounced in austral summer (nearly 0.5 °C per decade); and a strong but more recent warming in the 'Antarctic Peninsula'. Austral summer temperature anomalies are related to (1) the Southern Annular Mode (SAM) indexes computed using two reanalysis products (20th Century Reanalyses and ERA40) over two periods (1958-2002 and 1973-2002), (2) the seasonal frequencies of four recurrent daily weather regimes identified with a k-means algorithm applied on the 500hPa geopotential height (DJF 1958-2002) and (3) HadSST2 sea surface temperature (SST) anomalies (DJF 1958-2002). East-Antarctica interannual temperature anomalies are associated with the SAM variability. In the Antarctic Peninsula, only the long-term trend is common with the SAM. The SAM does impact significantly the temperature anomalies of the Sub-Antarctic and midlatitude islands. Trend and interannual variability of the islands' temperatures are associated with the nearby SST. For the Indian Ocean stations, warming in the Agulhas Current system could also have led to these changes.

International audience; This paper investigates the influence of some modes of climate variability on the spatio-temporal rainfall variability over South Africa during the core of the rainy season (December to February; DJF). All analyses are based directly on the rainfall field instead of atmospheric processes and dynamics. An original agglomerative hierarchical clustering approach is used to classify daily rainfall patterns recorded at 5352 stations from DJF 1971 to DJF 1999. Five clusters are retained for analysis. Amongst them, one cluster looks most like the rainfall and circulation mean picture. Another one, representing 37% of the days, describes strong negative rainfall anomalies over South Africa resulting from a regional barotropic trough-ridge-trough wave structure and moisture divergence. These dry anomalies are more frequent in El Niño years (with a 0.75 correlation between ENSO and the seasonal occurrences of that cluster) and are associated with a weakening and / or a regional shift of the Walker-type circulation and the subtropical jet stream. Three clusters, which describe respectively a decrease, an increase and a conservation of the seasonal mean eastward rainfall gradient, are all associated with strong cyclonic moisture flux anomalies centered over Angola or northern Botswana and anomalous convergence located over the largest positive rainfall anomalies, suggesting the importance of thermal low pressures. One of them is clearly associated with tropical-temperate-troughs. The rainfall patterns of these 3 clusters tend to propagate eastward, and their seasonal frequencies tend to increase in La Niña years.

International audience; Uncertainties in simulating the seasonal mean atmospheric water cycle in Equatorial East Africa are quantified using 58 one-year-long experiments performed with the Weather Research and Forecasting model (WRF). Tested parameters include physical parameterizations of atmospheric convection, cloud microphysics, planetary boundary layer, land-surface model and radiation schemes, as well as land-use categories, lateral forcings (ERA-Interim and ERA40 reanalyses), and domain geometry (size and vertical resolution). Results show that (i) uncertainties, defined as the differences between the experiments, are larger than the biases; (ii) the parameters exerting the largest influence on simulated rainfall are, in order of decreasing importance, the shortwave radiation scheme, the land-surface model, the domain size, followed by convective schemes and land-use categories; (iii) cloud microphysics, lateral forcing reanalysis, the number of vertical levels and planetary boundary layer schemes appear to be of lesser importance at the seasonal scale. Though persisting biases (consisting of conditions that are too wet over the Indian Ocean and the Congo Basin and too dry over eastern Kenya) prevail in most experiments, several configurations simulate the regional climate with reasonable accuracy.

Cette étude examine les capacités du modèle Advanced Weather Research Forecast (WRF) à simuler les champs saisonniers de précipitations et la dynamique atmosphérique associée en Afrique australe pendant le cœur de la saison des pluies d'été sud-africaines, de décembre 1993 à février 1994. Sa sensibilité à la paramétrisation physique est aussi analysée en termes de quantités précipitées et de types de pluie. WRF simule convenablement les principales structures pluviométriques saisonnières, notamment les Zones de Convergence Inter-Tropicale et Sud Indienne, bien que les pluies y soient sous-estimées, et le gradient ouest-est observé de la région tropicale en Afrique du Sud. Les régions où le modèle simule le plus de pluies, en particulier sur les reliefs, sont celles où la convergence d'humidité et la vitesse verticale moyenne couche sont les plus fortes. Les quantités précipitées et le type de convection sont davantage dépendants de la paramétrisation de la convection que de celles de la couche limite et de la microphysique. Parmi les tests effectués, le schéma de convection Grell s'avère être le plus performant, simulant à la fois des quantités précipitées comparables aux observations en Afrique du Sud et des systèmes pluviogènes convectifs cohérents avec la saison simulée.

The role of the Madden-Julian Oscillation ("MJO") on rainfall variability in Sub-Saharan Africa is examined, based on daily rain-gauge records and the NCEP-DOE AMIP-II reanalyses. The convective and dynamical signal associated with the MJO is extracted using two differing methodologies, the BMRC daily indices (Wheeler & Hendon 2004) on the one hand, and a Local Mode Analysis ("LMA", Goulet & Duvel 2000) on the other hand. The temporal variability of the MJO (in terms of period, amplitude, seasonality and location of the convective anomalies) is first analysed. Though the overall amplitude of the signal is not related to El Niño, the oscillations occurring under El Niño (La Niña) conditions tend to be shorter (longer). Surface conditions such as sea surface temperature and the seasonal cycle in the Tropics are two features that play a predominant role on the location of the associated convective clusters. The response of the African rainfall to the MJO is then examined for 3 distinct regional indices. The rainy season(s) is (are) in each case significantly triggered. In Equatorial East Africa Kenya and northern Tanzania) the Highlands show the succession of a dry and a humid phase over the MJO cycle. The associated rain-causing mechanisms mainly involve deep convection. In the eastern plains and on the coast, the peak of rainfall is out-of-phase and results from a strengthening of the trade winds over the Indian basin. A significant influence of the MJO is also detected over Southern Africa (south of 15°S) and depends on an intraseasonal modulation of the SW Indian Ocean heights. Anticyclonic circulations over Tropical Africa favour northerly anomalies that advect moisture over the region from the tropical Indian Ocean. Over West Africa, the MJO is responsible of recurrent dry conditions, alternating with a weak wet phase. The latter does not seem to result from deep convection only. The case of the East African Long Rains (March through May) is finally considered to investigate scale interactions depending on the MJO. At the "shorter" timescales, the diurnal cycle of convection is modified, from one phase of the MJO to another. The onset of the rains and the extremely wet events are also strongly locked on the intraseasonal cycle. At the "longer" timescales, a significant fraction of the interannual variability of the Long Rains is statistically related to the MJO seasonal amplitude during the corresponding trimester. The MJO therefore "adds" rainfall over East Africa, rather than simply enhancing the differences between the humid and the wet phases of the Long Rains.; Le rôle de l'Oscillation de Madden-Julian ("MJO") sur la variabilité pluviométrique de l'Afrique Subsaharienne est ici examiné, à l'aide de relevés pluviométriques quotidiens et des réanalyses NCEP-DOE AMIP-II. Le signal convectif et dynamique associé à la MJO est extrait à l'aide de deux méthodes statistiques, les indices journaliers du BMRC (Wheeler & Hendon 2004) et une analyse en modes locaux ("LMA", Goulet & Duvel 2000). Dans un premier temps, la variabilité temporelle de l'oscillation est abordée à l'échelle de la ceinture tropicale (période, amplitude, saisonnalité, localisation des anomalies convectives). Si l'amplitude globale du signal n'apparaît pas reliée à El Niño, les oscillations se produisant lors des années El Niño (La Niña) tendent à être plus courtes (longues). Les conditions de surface (dont les température de surface marine) et le cycle annuel sont également des paramètres influant fortement sur la localisation des anomalies convectives les plus marquées associées à la MJO. Dans un second temps, la réponse de la pluviométrie à la MJO est examinée dans 3 ensembles régionaux de l'Afrique Subsaharienne. Dans les 3 cas examinés, la (les) saison(s) des pluies est (sont) significativement affectée(s). Sur l'Afrique de l'Est Equatoriale (Kenya, nord de la Tanzanie), les Hautes Terres d'Afrique montrent l'alternance d'une phase humide et d'une phase sèche au cours du cycle de la MJO. Les mécanismes pluviogènes font intervenir essentiellement la convection atmosphérique profonde. Sur les Basses Terres de l'est en revanche, et sur les plaines littorales, le pic de pluie est enregistré en opposition de phase par rapport aux Hautes Terres, et est relié à un renforcement des alizés depuis l'océan Indien. Une influence significative est également trouvée en Afrique Australe (sud de 15°S), et résulte d'un renforcement de l'anticyclone des Mascareignes, qui favorise via une circulation anticyclonique sur l'Afrique, un apport d'humidité sur la région depuis l'océan Indien tropical. Sur l'Afrique de l'Ouest enfin, la MJO est avant tout impliquée dans une baisse récurrente de la pluviométrie, et très secondairement seulement dans une amplification des cumuls journaliers. Cette dernière ne semble pas résulter uniquement de processus convectifs. L'exemple des Long Rains d'Afrique de l'Est (mars à mai) est ensuite utilisé pour explorer les interactions d'échelle dont la MJO est à l'origine. Aux pas de temps "courts", le cycle diurne de la convection est sensiblement modifié d'une phase de la MJO à l'autre ; les dates de démarrage de la saison des pluies et les évènements pluviométriques exceptionnels montrent également un calage très bon sur la phase de la MJO. Aux pas de temps "longs", une partie significative de la variabilité interannuelle des Long Rains est statistiquement corrélée à l'amplitude saisonnière moyenne de la MJO, qui semble dont rajouter régulièrement de la pluie sur la région plutôt que d'amplifier seulement les écarts entre les phases les plus humides et les plus sèches.