Hydroclimatogical Changes and Impacts on Seasonal Regimes of African Equatorial Rivers

Abstract:

In recent decades, changes in the pattern of hydroclimatogical cycle have been observed with impacts on seasonal regimes of African equatorial rivers. This communication reports on studies carried out for a set of river basins in equatorial Africa, tributaries of the Atlantic Gulf of Guinea: the Ogooue River in Gabon, the Kouilou River in Congo, and the basins of South Cameroon. These rivers are compared to the Congo River. A new monthly gridded rainfall dataset, and streamflow from selected rivers where used in the analysis. The observed changes include changes in seasonal pattern of rainfall and changes in monthly streamflow regimes. The study shows a decrease of rainfall in the southern hemisphere during February to May since the end of the 80s, while the decrease is much more limited in the Northern hemisphere.

For the equatorial rivers, the March–June flood decreased steadily between the 70s and 80s, in correlation with a slight decrease of the rainfall between March and June, while the October–December flood showed no change. This trend was confirmed during the 2000s for the Ogooue River from updated times series, including a shift of the maximum in April instead of May. Locally, the dry season (July–September) disappeared on the coastal basin of the Kienke River at Kribi in Cameroon. It seems that these two months of July and August have become part of a ‘single’ large rainy season instead of separating the former two rainy seasons.

A slight decrease in seasonal rainfall together with a small change in the intra-seasonal rainfall distribution, most probably led to one of the biggest change in hydrological regimes in Equatorial Africa, which could be a clue to understanding climate change in the region. This rainfall change is different for the Congo River which large basins integrates various climatic forcings.