Increasing River Flows in the Sahel?

Despite the drought observed since 1968 in most of the West African Sahel, runoff and rivers discharges have been increasing in the same region. This trend is related with land use change rather than climate change. This paper aims to describe the regional extension of such a phenomenon and to demon...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Water (Basel) 2010-06, Vol.2 (2), p.170-199
Main Authors: Amogu, Okechukwu, Descroix, Luc, Yéro, Kadidiatou Souley, Le Breton, Eric, Mamadou, Ibrahim, Ali, Abdou, Vischel, Théo, Bader, Jean-Claude, Moussa, Ibrahim Bouzou, Gautier, Emmanuèle, Boubkraoui, Stéphane, Belleudy, Philippe
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Biomass
Climatology
Continental interfaces, environment
Drought
Earth Sciences
Electronic mail systems
Hydrology
Land use
Rain
Rivers
Sciences of the Universe
Trends
Vegetation
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Summary:Despite the drought observed since 1968 in most of the West African Sahel, runoff and rivers discharges have been increasing in the same region. This trend is related with land use change rather than climate change. This paper aims to describe the regional extension of such a phenomenon and to demonstrate that the increase in runoff is observed from the point scale up to the regional scale. It highlights the opposition of functioning between a Sahelian zone, where the Sahel’s paradox applies, and the Sudanian and Guinean areas, where runoff has been logically decreasing with the rainfall. The current trend is evidenced using experimental runoff plots and discharge data from the local to the regional scales.
ISSN:2073-4441
2073-4441
DOI:10.3390/w2020170