Influence of climate on seasonal rainfall patterns in the upper watershed of Senegal
Climate variability, particularly rainfall in West Africa in general and in the Sahel-Saharan region in particular, is well established. However, variables related to rainfall such as the frequencies of rain days and the durations of wet seasons have generally been very little studied. This study aims to investigate the influence of climatic events on seasonal rainfall patterns in the upper watershed of the Senegal River. Firstly, this involves the characterization of the overall situation from an analysis of the air temperature, the relative humidity of the air and the variation of rainfall indexes, and secondly the comparison of normal monthly rainfall over the period 1955-2014 in order to identify the behaviour of seasonal rain patterns in the context of climate variability. The conclusion is that air temperature and relative humidity are factors in the temporal variability of seasonal rainfall patterns in the upper watershed of the Senegal River.