Spatiotemporal variability of West African rainfall. Part I: Regionalizations and Typings

Abstract

Space and time scales for analysis of the interannual variability of Sahelian rainfall are determined. Regionalizations of annual and monthly rainfall fields are performed in West Africa for the period 1948-78. Four coherent regions and a less coherent one are identified. Different type classifications derived from the regionalization results are built. The monthly type based on the rainfall anomaly signs north and south of 10°N suggests two major causes of the rainfall pattern variability, one resulting from an anomaly of rainfall amount and the other from a displacement of the intertropical convergence zone (ITCZ). The type based solely on the anomaly sign north of 10°N blends these factors and may give misleading analyses. The use of monthly rainfall fields over all of West Africa is then recommended.