Analysis of hydrometeorological variables over the transboundary Komadugu-Yobe basin, West Africa

Abstract

Spatiotemporal trends in daily observed precipitation, river discharge, maximum and minimum temperature data were investigated between 1971 and 2013 in the Komadugu-Yobe basin. Significant change points in time series are corrected using Adapted Caussinus-Mestre Algorithm for homogenizing Networks of Temperature series algorithm. Mann-Kendall test and Sen's slope are used to estimate the trend and its magnitude at dry, wet and annual season time scales, respectively. Preliminary results show an increasing trend of the observed variables. There is a latitudinal increase (decrease) in the basin temperature (precipitation) from lower to higher latitudes. The minimum temperature (0.05 degrees C/year) increases faster than the maximum temperature (0.03 degrees C/year). Overall, the percentage changes in minimum temperature range between 3 and 10% while that of maximum temperature ranges between 1 and 3%. Due to precipitation dependence on regional characteristics, the highest percentage change was recorded in precipitation with values between -5 and 97%. In all time scales, river discharge and precipitation have strong positive correlations while the correlation between river discharge and temperature is negative. It is imperative to advocate and support positive developmental practices as well as establishing necessary mitigation measures to cope with the effects of climate in the basin. Show more