Study of the Spatio-Temporal Variability of Rainfall in the Northern Region of Senegal

摘要

Senegal is a country of the Sahel. In this region, most of the populations live from agro-pastoral activities. The northern zone of Senegal is strongly influenced by river cultures. And the dynamics of the Senegal River are dependent on rainfall. The rainfall in the area is very closely linked to the dynamics of the atmosphere. The study of the spatio-temporal variability of rainfall in the northern region of Senegal requires quality rainfall observation data. It includes the Ferlo and the Senegal River valley, in particular the regions of Louga (department of Linguère included), Saint-Louis (departments of Dagana and Podor included) and Matam. These stations have been defined since Le Borgne (1988). The difficulty of having quality rain observation data can be resolved by using more accessible and good quality satellite data. Using satellite data, namely MSWEP, CRU, TAMSAT, ARC and PERSIANN, we showed the return of precipitation that appeared in 2000 and the unimodal cycle of precipitation in our study area. These data were validated using the correlation coefficient, the bias, the RMSE and the Nash index with observation data from the Regional Study Center for the Improvement of Adaptation to Drought (CERASS). The CRU data is then retained. Thus, this study made it possible to show the zonal distribution of rainfall in the northern zone of Senegal.