1896-2006 Sahelian annual rainfall variability and runoff increase of Sahelian Rivers

Updated rainfall data to 2006 confirm that the Sahelian rainfall has increased since the end of the 1990s, but the annual average rainfall is still as low as during the drought of the 1970s. The decrease of rainfall is higher in the Northwest and lower in the Southeast Sahel. The increase of temperature over West Africa during the end of the 20th century induced an increase of Potential Evaporation, which might reduce the runoff. However, the joint effect of climate change and of human activities on land cover over more than three decades is responsible for an increase of the runoff coefficients of the West African Sahelian Rivers since the 1970s, despite the rainfall shortage during the same period, as revealed by the analysis of runoff from Mauritania, Burkina-Faso and Niger. The runoff coefficients have increased in regions with less than 750 mm of annual rainfall, under Sahelian and subdesertic climates, leading to increased flood peaks, occurring earlier in the season. Even if it is difficult to separate which part of this runoff coefficient increase is due to climate change alone or to human impact on land cover, the highest values are observed in the most inhabited areas, where land cover is dominated by cultivated areas. This climatic/human impact on land cover is so huge that it has changed since decades the hydrological regimes of the Sahelian Rivers, from the small watershed to the largest one, such as the Niger River at Niamey. © 2009 Académie des sciences.