Open AccessContrasted land‐surface processes along the West African rainfall gradient
Author(s) -
Séguis L.,
Boulain N.,
Cappelaere B.,
Cohard J.M.,
Favreau G.,
Galle S.,
Guyot A.,
Hiernaux P.,
Mougin É.,
Peugeot C.,
Ramier D.,
Seghieri J.,
Timouk F.,
Demarez V.,
Demarty J.,
Descroix L.,
Descloitres M.,
Grippa M.,
Guichard F.,
Kamagaté B.,
Kergoat L.,
Lebel T.,
Le Dantec V.,
Le Lay M.,
Massuel S.,
Trichon V.
Publication year - 2011
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.327
Subject(s) - surface runoff , environmental science , sensible heat , latent heat , streamflow , hydrology (agriculture) , climatology , water resources , period (music) , atmospheric sciences , geography , geology , meteorology , drainage basin , ecology , physics , cartography , geotechnical engineering , acoustics , biology
We review the main results of land‐surface studies obtained in the three sites of the long‐term observing system AMMA‐CATCH. Runoff in the Sahel enhances the variability of energy partitioning between non‐infiltrative areas where sensible heat is dominant and infiltrative areas where soil water availability increases the latent flux. In terms of water resources, an increase in runoff over the past 50 years, already reported for the exoreic Sahel, was revealed in the endoreic Sahel. In the Sudanian domain, the subsurface origin of streamflow could explain its decrease over the same period. Copyright © 2011 Royal Meteorological Society