Evolution of Surface Hydrology in the Sahelo-Sudanian Strip: An Updated Review
Date
2017Author
Descroix, LucGuichard, Françoise
Grippa, Manuela
Lambert, Laurent A.
Panthou, Gérémy
Mahé, Gil
Gal, Laetitia
Dardel, Cécile
Quantin, Guillaume
Kergoat, Laurent
Bouaïta, Yasmin
Hiernaux, Pierre
Vischel, Théo
Pellarin, Thierry
Faty, Bakary
Wilcox, Catherine
Abdou, Moussa Malam
Mamadou, Ibrahim
Vandervaere, Jean-Pierre
Diongue-Niang, Aïda
Ndiaye, Ousmane
Sané, Youssouph
Dacosta, Honoré
Gosset, Marielle
Cassé, Claire
Sultan, Benjamin
Barry, Aliou
Amogu, Okechukwu
Nka Nnomo, Bernadette
Barry, Alseny
Paturel, Jean-Emmanuel
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Metadata
Show full item recordAbstract
In the West African Sahel, two paradoxical hydrological behaviors have occurred during the last five decades. The first paradox was observed during the 1968–1990s ‘Great Drought’ period, during which runoff significantly increased. The second paradox appeared during the subsequent period of rainfall recovery (i.e., since the 1990s), during which the runoff coefficient continued to increase despite the general re-greening of the Sahel. This paper reviews and synthesizes the literature on the drivers of these paradoxical behaviors, focusing on recent works in the West African Sahelo/Sudanian strip, and upscaling the hydrological processes through an analysis of recent data from two representative areas of this region. This paper helps better determine the respective roles played by Land Use/Land Cover Changes (LULCC), the evolution of rainfall intensity and the occurrence of extreme rainfall events in these hydrological paradoxes. Both the literature review and recent data converge in indicating that the first Sahelian hydrological paradox was mostly driven by LULCC, while the second paradox has been caused by both LULCC and climate evolution, mainly the recent increase in rainfall intensity.
DOI/handle
http://hdl.handle.net/10576/6774Collections
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