Rainfall Variability in West Africa during the Years 1950–90

Barbé, Luc Le; Lebel, Thierry; Tapsoba, Dominique

doi:10.1175/1520-0442(2002)015<0187:rviwad>2.0.co;2

Cited by 395 publications

(262 citation statements)

References 28 publications

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“…High population density, large growth rates and the dependence on rainfed agriculture make economies particularly vulnerable. The prominent West African average rainfall deficit of 180 mm in 1970s and 1980s relative to the 1950s and 1960s (Le Barbé et al 2002) resulted in severe famine and crop failure (Ben Mohamed et al 2002). The increase of precipitation since 1990 aggravated the intensities of floods in the region; Yabi and Afouda (2012) reported the disruption of agricultural activities during extreme rainfall years in Benin which swept out over 24 % of the state revenue from agriculture.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Hydro-climatic changes in the Niger basin and consistency of local perceptions

et al. 2014

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Since the 1970s, the Niger basin has been characterized by hydro-climatic changes which have significant impacts on local populations. These changes are not well documented as a result of a decreasing observation network for hydro-climatic data. Indigenous peoples' knowledge has increasingly been considered an important component in addressing these data gaps. We evaluated the consistency of indigenous perceptions and adaptive responses with rainfall and river discharge observations in the Niger basin. Socioeconomic data were collected from 239 households in 30 communities across two settlements in the Niger basin. Data on historical rainfall and river discharge from 1950 to 2010 were analyzed and the consistency with local perceptions was assessed. Generally, there was a high agreement between observations and perceptions, but impacts of climate change in the communities were dependent on social and environmental factors that can introduce differences in perception despite identical observations. Indigenous perceptions gave good indication of the most vulnerable sectors as well as communities who also displayed the greatest willingness to combat climate change. These results suggest that integration of indigenous perceptions into climate change science, especially in data scarce regions, is highly valuable.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Hydro-climatic changes in the Niger basin and consistency of local perceptions

et al. 2014

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“…However, the possibility of a cooler and wetter future climate is rarely considered in global climate change research, although rapid cooling events have occurred during the Holocene (Mayle and Cwynar 1995) and seasonal cooling is also frequently a part of the interannual variability of the climate (Brando et al 2010;Le Barbé et al 2002;Liang et al 2011). It is still not clear whether or not this opposite process (i.e., cooling) will have an effect on soil OM decomposition opposite to that of warming.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Different effects of warming and cooling on the decomposition of soil organic matter in warm–temperate oak forests: a reciprocal translocation experiment

et al. 2014

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A reciprocal soil monolith-transfer experiment was conducted along an altitude gradient to investigate the effect of climate change on soil carbon (C) processes in two warm-temperate oak forests in Baotianman Nature Reserve, Henan Province, China. Microclimate conditions, soil surface CO 2 flux, and labile organic C were measured for in-situ and transferred soils at both high and low-elevation sites. The soil temperature at 5 cm depth was, on average, 3.27°C warmer at the low-elevation site than at the high-elevation site. Net CO 2 flux (911 g C m -2 13 months -1 , 4.7 % of total C) of soil monoliths transferred from the high to the low-elevation site (simulating warming) was substantially (44 %) greater than for high-elevation soil monoliths incubated in situ (633 g C m -2 13 months -1 , 3.3 % of total C) during 13 months of incubation. Increased extractable organic C (K 2 SO 4 -C) supply with warming partly explained the increase of soil CO 2 flux. Simulated warming also significantly increased the temperature sensitivity (Q 10 values) of soil organic matter decomposition. The positive linear relationship between microbial metabolic quotient (qCO 2 ) and Q 10 suggests a connection between microbial population

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“…The peak position of the continental ITCZ over areas of maximum temperature in June and July was fully captured in PRES, PRESd1, and PRESd2 simulations. According to Reference [59], West Africa monsoon precipitation exhibits three distinct phases identified as the onset, peak, and cessation periods. The CRU observations of the historical climate identified the commencement of the onset period in April, and a vertical northward displacement of peak periods from 5 • N in May/June to 8 • N in August/September.…”

Section: Regcm4 Model Validationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Simulating the Impacts of Tree, C3, and C4 Plant Functional Types on the Future Climate of West Africa

Olusegun

Oguntunde

Gbobaniyi

2018

Climate

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This study investigates the future climatic impacts of different percentages of trees/shrubs, C4 and C3 plant functional types (PFTs) over the West Africa region. The ratio of co-existence among the different PFTs was done as a representation of agri-silviculture practices over the region. Nine sensitivity experiments of different percentages of trees/shrubs, and C4 and C3 PFTs were carried out with a regional climate model (RegCM4) driven by Global Climate Model (HADGEM2-ES) outputs. These experiments were carried out along the Guinea Savana zone of West Africa using both prescribed and dynamic vegetation options of the model. The model simulated the seasonal evolution of precipitation and temperature fields quite well, with correlations greater than 0.8, but exhibited cold and wet biases of about 1-2 • C and 1-4 mm/day, respectively. Widespread warming (1-3 • C) and drying (1-2 mm/day) is projected in the near future across most parts of West Africa all year round. The West African future climate change associated with the different percentages of trees/shrubs, and C4 and C3 PFTs varied with the vegetation state (prescribed or dynamic) and model domain sizes. The prescribed vegetation experiments induced cooling of about 0.5-2 • C in most areas along the designated agri-silviculture zone, except Liberia and Sierra Leone. Similarly, enhanced precipitation occurred over most parts of Ghana and coastal parts of Nigeria (0.5-3 mm/day). On the other hand, the dynamic vegetation option did not exhibit pronounced changes in temperature and precipitation, except with a larger domain size. This study suggests the implementation of agri-silviculture as a mitigation and adaptation land-use practice across West Africa if drought-tolerant crops and the deciduous trees are adopted.

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Rainfall Variability in West Africa during the Years 1950–90

Cited by 395 publications

References 28 publications

Hydro-climatic changes in the Niger basin and consistency of local perceptions

Hydro-climatic changes in the Niger basin and consistency of local perceptions

Different effects of warming and cooling on the decomposition of soil organic matter in warm–temperate oak forests: a reciprocal translocation experiment

Simulating the Impacts of Tree, C3, and C4 Plant Functional Types on the Future Climate of West Africa

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