Abstract. During the Boreal summer, the monsoon season that takes place in West Africa is accompanied by low stratus clouds over land, that stretch from the Guinean coast several hundred kilometers inland. These clouds form during the night and dissipate during the following day. Inherently linked with the diurnal cycle of monsoon flow, those clouds still remain poorly documented and understood.Moreover, numerical climate and weather models lack fine quantitative documentation of cloud macrophysical characteristics and the dynamical and thermodynamical structures occupying the lowest troposphere. The Dynamics–Aerosol–Chemistry–Cloud Interactions in West Africa (DACCIWA) field experiment, which took place in summer 2016, addresses this knowledge gap. Low level atmospheric dynamics and low-level cloud macrophysical properties are analyzed using in-situ and remote sensing continuous measurements collected from 20 June to 30 July at Savè, Benin, roughly 180 km from the coast. The macrophysical characteristics of the stratus clouds are deduced from a ceilometer, an infrared cloud camera and cloud radar. Onset times, evolution, dissipation times, base heights and thickness are evaluated. The Data from a UHF (Ultra High Frequency) wind profiler, a microwave radiometer and an energy balance station are used to quantify the occurrence and characteristics of the monsoon flow, the nocturnal low-level jet and the cold air mass inflow propagating northwards from the coast of the Gulf of Guinea. The results show that these dynamical structures are very regularly observed during the entire 41-day documented period. Monsoon flow is observed 100 % of the time. The so-called maritime inflow and the nocturnal low level jet are also systematic features in this area. According to monsoon flow conditions, the maritime inflow reaches Savè around 18:00–19:00 UTC on average: this timing is correlated with the strength of the monsoon flow. This time of arrival is close to the time range of the nocturnal low level jet settlement. As a result, these phenomena are difficult to distinguish at the Savè site. The low level jet occurs every night, except during rain events, and is associated 65 % of the time with low stratus clouds. Stratus cloud form between 22:00 UTC and 06:00 UTC at an elevation close to the nocturnal low level jet core height. The cloud base height, 310 ± 30 m above ground level (a.g.l.) is rather stationary during the night and remains below the jet core height. The cloud top height, at 640 ± 100 m a.g.l., is typically found above the jet core. The nocturnal low level jet, low level clouds, monsoon flow and maritime inflow reveal significant day-to-day variability during the summer. Distributions of strength, depth, onset time, break up time, etc. are quantified here.;
