Assessments of Climate Indices on the Characterization of Extreme Rainfall in Senegal

Abstract

In recent years, Senegal has experienced a considerable increase in extreme events. The context of climate change, we conducted this study to characterize the extreme rainfall events in Senegal through nine (9) indices of extreme precipitation calculated, using R software (Rclimdex) for the period 1950 to 2010 on several stations. These analyses show that the annual precipitation totals describe a decreasing trend. However, a return of these accumulations have been noted in 1999 in almost all stations of rainfall in Senegal. The extreme rainfall indices show also a linear decreasing trend over the period 1950 to 2010, with the exception of consecutive dry days (CDD). However, non-linear trend analysis (Loess curve) shows increasing trends in rainfall indices over the last decades (from 1991), except for consecutive dry days (CDD) and extremely wet days (R99p) which show a decreasing trend over the last decade.