Two Centuries of Africa Rainfall and Links to the Global Oceans

This paper presents an analysis of historical gauge records for Africa. These are regionally-averaged series covering between 125 and 160 years. The analyses are based on roughly 3000 Africa stations Emphasis is on describing the decadal scale variability, but the questions of drivers of this variability and regime changes are also considered. Those topics are examined for four major sectors of the African continent: the Sahel, the Guinea Coast, the Congo Basin, and East Africa. Findings include a major regime change for the Sahel and Guinea Coast around 1968, decadal scale shifts in drivers of variability for East Africa, very diverse controls across the Congo Basin.

This paper presents an analysis of historical gauge records for Africa. These are regionally-averaged series covering between 125 and 160 years. The analyses are based on roughly 3000 Africa stations Emphasis is on describing the decadal scale variability, but the questions of drivers of this variability and regime changes are also considered. Those topics are examined for four major sectors of the African continent: the Sahel, the Guinea Coast, the Congo Basin, and East Africa. Findings include a major regime change for the Sahel and Guinea Coast around 1968, decadal scale shifts in drivers of variability for East Africa, very diverse controls across the Congo Basin.