Analysing rainfall and runoff patterns over the Niger River in Mali, West Africa

Abstract

The Niger River plays an important role for all riparian countries, especially Mali because many irrigated areas use this resource for their daily activities. Climate change, leading to a reduction in rainfall, may have a negative impact on the Niger River. Therefore, it is useful for researchers to study this natural resource to address climate risks. The main goal of this current study is to characterize the river flow with the evolution of rainfall over the Niger River at the scale of Mali. To achieve this objective, hydroclimatic data were collected and analyzed. The statistical method was applied for the analysis and interpretation of the collected data. The results show that there is a weak correlation between rainfall and river flow for all four stations considered. From 1980 to 2020, the overall results show a slight increase in the hydroclimatic parameters. But for the recent 10 years (2007 -2016), it is clear that the trend changed by decreasing the rainfall and discharge. This decrease in the climatic parameters affects negatively all economic sectors in the study area.