2.4.1
West African hydro-climatic features
The climate of West Africa is controlled by the West African Monsoon. The rainfall belt roughly follows the seasonal migration of the position of the In- tertropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ). During the boreal winter (December-
February), the rainfall belt is located over the Gulf of Guinea at around 4◦N.
It moves northward during the spring and reaches its northernmost position during boreal summer (June-September). At the regional scale, it implies that the hydro-eco-climatic features vary along a roughly north/south gradi- ent. The mean annual rainfall amount decreases from south to north, ranging
from over 1500 mm near the southern Guinean coast (≈ 5◦N) to less than
250 mm over the lower Saharan desert limit (> 18◦N).
The Sudano-Guinean and Sahelian regions are distinguished by their mean annual rainfall: the Sudano-Guinean region extends between the 1300 mm and 750 mm isohyetal lines and the Sahel between 750 mm and 250 mm. The regions have different seasonal rainfall cycles during the monsoon period (bimodal for the Sudano-Guinean region and unimodal signal for the Sahel), but are both characterized by a main rainfall peak in boreal summer and a dry season in boreal winter. The two regions are also differentiated by their respective vegetation: dense vegetation featuring tree savannah, woodland, and tropical forest for the Sudano-Guinean region (Bodian et al., 2016a); dry savannah and sparse bush in the Sahel.
These contrasts influence the dominant hydrological processes character- izing the two regions. The Sahelian hydrology is distinguished by the preva- lence of Hortonian overland flow (Horton, 1933). In the event of precipitation, runoff is produced once the infiltration capacity of the soil is reached. As a
consequence, runoff production is driven by the hydro-dynamic properties of soils at the surface. The excess rainfall then runs off into the drainage net- work. Groundwater flow plays a minor role in the contribution to streamflow, if any. Due to this, river basins located in the Sahelian region are more sen- sitive to changes in fine-scale rainfall intensity (Vischel and Lebel, 2007). To the south, on the other hand, the Sudano-Guinean catchments have primar- ily Hewlettian hydrological processes (Cappus, 1960; Hewlett, 1961; Hewlett and Hibbert, 1967). Both surface and subsurface flow contribute to stream- flow due to the elevated hydraulic conductivity of soils (Descroix et al., 2009). Under the same climatic evolution, river basins in the Sudano-Guinean zone may be less responsive to changes in rainfall intensity than in Sahelian river basins (Gascon et al., 2015).
2.4.2
Study catchments and datasets
Our analysis of changes in extreme flows is based on data available on two contrasted hydro-systems in West Africa: the upper reaches of the Senegal River located within the Sudano-Guinean region, and the middle reaches of the Niger River located within the Sahelian region. Table 2.1 overviews the data selection for the study, and Figure 2.1 displays a map of their locations.
Table 2.1: Annual maxima (AMAX) data used in the study.
Subbasin Station Area (km2) Years Gaps Missing
years Senegal River
Bafing Bafing Makana 21290 1961-2015 0.00% None
Bafing Daka Saidou 15700 1954-2015 4.84% 1956, 1958,
2009
Bakoye Oualia 84700 1955-2015 1.64% 1982
Fal´em´e Gourbassi 17100 1954-2015 1.61% 2013
Fal´em´e Kidira 28900 1951-2015 23.10%
1960, 1963, 1965-68, 1970, 1972-73, 1978, 1980-82, 1986, 2010 Senegal Kayes 157400 1951-2015 3.08% 2011, 2013 Senegal Bakel 218000 1950-2015 1.52% 2009 Niger River
Niger Sahelian Niger River 125000 1953-2012 0.00% None
Dargol Kakassi 6940 1957-2015 16.90%
1961, 1989, 1994, 1996-97,
1999, 2000, 2002, 2004-05 Sirba Garbe Kourou 38750 1956-2015 10.00% 1959, 1960-61,
2000, 2004-05
Gorouol Alcongui 44850 1957-2015 16.90%
1960, 1990, 1993, 1996-99,
Ansongo Niamey Alcongui Garbe Kourou Kakassi Bafing Makana Daka Saidou Gourbassi Kidira
Bakel Kayes Oualia
Figure 2.1: Map of stations used in the study with their respective drainage basins (Boyer et al., 2006; Kahle and Wickham, 2013).
Sudanian tributaries of the Senegal River
The second largest river in West Africa is the Senegal River. The Sene-
gal River drains a basin of approximately 300,000 km2 (Rochette et al.,
1974), found within the borders of four countries which are (from upstream to downstream): Guinea, Mali, Senegal, and Mauritania. It is formed by the confluence of three affluents that take their sources from the Fouta Djal-
lon highlands in Guinea: the Bafing, the Bakoye, and the Fal´em´e. Due to
the delayed contribution of groundwater, the annual flood peak occurs a few weeks later than in Sahelian Niger (Figure 2.2), whose seasonal hydrological signal follows that of precipitation more closely.
Figure 2.2: Average seasonal signal for the Bafing Makana station in the Senegal River basin (blue) and the Sahelian Niger River (red). Period of record: 1961- 2012. The flood peak has a smoother descent and occurs a few weeks later in the Senegal River basin due to the contribution of groundwater.
Seven stations whose major contributions come from within the Sudano- Guinean region are analyzed for the Senegal River (including the Bafing,
Fal´em´e, and Bakoye affluents), covering a total drainage area of 218,000
km2. Globally from upstream to downstream, the stations are as follows:
The Bafing at Daka Saidou (1954-2015, 15,700 km2) and Bafing Makana
(1961-2015, 21,290 km2); the Fal´em´e at Gourbassi (1954-2015, 17,100 km2)
and Kidira (1951-2015, 28,900 km2); the Bakoye at Oualia (1955-2015, 84,700
km2), and the Senegal at Kayes (1951-2015, 157,400 km2) and Bakel (1950-
2015, 218,000 km2). The last two (Kayes and Bakel) are located downstream
of the Manantali dam whose construction was completed in 1988. The Bakel station’s catchment area includes those of all other stations studied, and represents the quantity of water that flows into the downstream valley.
Sahelian tributaries of the Niger River
With a drainage area of 2,170,500 km2, the Niger is the largest river in West
Africa, although only around 1,400,000 km2 of its surface is estimated to
effectively contribute runoff to the Niger River (Tarhule et al., 2015). It originates in the Fouta Djallon highlands in Guinea (Andersen and Golitzen, 2005). After spreading to form an inland delta in Mali, it reconverges and continues its course through the Sahelian region in Niger, crossing Benin and Nigeria before arriving at its outlet in the Gulf of Guinea. For the present study, analysis within the Niger basin focuses on the drainage area responsible for the Sahelian floods of the Niger River (Descroix et al., 2012;
Cass´e et al., 2016) that discharges its flows downstream of Ansongo and
upstream of Niamey (Figure 2.1), an effective drainage area of 125,000 km2.
An aggregated data set extracted from the difference between the Niger River streamflow series at Niamey and Ansongo during the local Sahelian rainy
season (1953-2012 – see Cass´e et al., 2016, for more details) represents this
area for the subsequent analysis. This data series is hereafter referred to as the Sahelian Niger River (SNR) series. Figure 2.2 shows the average seasonal signal of the SNR series.
The left bank of the Niger River within this catchment is largely en- dorheic. It only contributes to the Niger River during heavy rain events which generate small rivers that sporadically reach the main Niger River bed, although some evidence suggests that endorheic rupture is increasing in recent years (Mamadou et al., 2015).
The right bank of the Niamey-Ansongo reach consists of three major catchments: the Gorouol, the Sirba, and the Dargol, which together cover a
total area of 90,540 km2. Three data series are studied for these catchments:
the Gorouol at Alcongui (1957-2015, 44,850 km2), the Sirba at Garbe Kourou
(1956-2015, 38,750 km2), and the Dargol at Kakassi (1957-2015, 6,940 km2).
All three rivers are intermittent and only flow during the rainy season, fol- lowing the general pattern seen in Figure 2.2.