Browsing by Author "Lebel, T."
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Item Rainfall variability at regional and local scales in the Ouémé upper valley in Benin(International Journal of Science and Advanced Technology, 2012-06) Lawin, Emmanuel Agnidé; Afouda, A.; Oguntunde, Phillip G.; Gosset, M.; Lebel, T.In West Africa, many climatic simulations show that significant changes to deal with will be exacerbation of climatic extremes (droughts, floods etc.). In the case of the Ouémé Upper Valley region where agricultural activities are essentially dependent on precipitations, it’s important to analyze impacts of climate fluctuations on the rainfall pattern. Two spatial scales have been considered to access the rainfall pattern variability in that region: especially the regional one and the local one. A seasonal rainfall analysis has been made with observed or regionalized daily rainfall data for 1950-2005 period. Dry and wet composite analysis of the rainfall signal shows that the pluviometric shortage of dry years is amplified after the “monsoon onset”. On the same way, dry years are characterized by early monsoon withdrawal which might have started since 1970. Furthermore, the years after 1970 show a shift lag in rainfall. The length of these lags depends on spatial scale. Rainfall maximum are earlier observed. The early monsoon withdrawal and the shift lag in rainfall revealed should have several consequences on agricultural production, especially on some crops yield.