Open AccessSpatial variability of rainfall regions in West Africa during the 20th century
Author(s) -
Yepdo Djomou Zéphirin,
Monkam David,
Lenouo André
Publication year - 2008
Publication title -
atmospheric science letters
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.951
H-Index - 45
ISSN - 1530-261X
DOI - 10.1002/asl.202
Subject(s) - precipitation , period (music) , geography , climatology , physical geography , wetland , environmental science , geology , meteorology , ecology , biology , physics , acoustics
Four regions spread in five areas are identified in West Africa for the base period 1901–1940. Trends have a magnitude of up to 1.5 K per century, with a decreasing of the precipitation since the year 1970. The application of a segment of 15 years with overlap going from 1901 to 1940 (P0), and 1961 to 1998 (P4) throughout the periods 1916–1955 (P1), 1931–1970 (P2) and 1946–1985 (P3), shows important spatiotemporal modifications of rainfall regions south of 15°N. From P0 to P4, the surface of semiarid land doubles while wetland is reduced to half. Copyright © 2008 Royal Meteorological Society