Editorial Type:
Article
Article Type:
Research Article

A Continental-Scale Classification of Rainfall Seasonality Regimes in Africa Based on Gridded Precipitation and Land Surface Temperature Products

Stefanie M. Herrmann Hydrospheric and Biospheric Sciences Laboratory, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, and Science Systems and Applications, Inc., Greenbelt, Maryland

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Karen I. Mohr Laboratory for Atmospheres, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Maryland

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Print Publication:
01 Dec 2011
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.1175/JAMC-D-11-024.1
Page(s):
2504–2513
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Abstract

A classification of rainfall seasonality regimes in Africa was derived from gridded rainfall and land surface temperature products. By adapting a method that goes back to Walter and Lieth’s approach of presenting climatic diagrams, relationships between estimated rainfall and temperature were used to determine the presence and pattern of humid, arid, and dry months. The temporal sequence of humid, arid, and dry months defined nonseasonal as well as single-, dual-, and multiple-wet-season regimes with one or more rainfall peaks per wet season. The use of gridded products resulted in a detailed, spatially continuous classification for the entire African continent at two different spatial resolutions, which compared well to local-scale studies based on station data. With its focus on rainfall patterns at fine spatial scales, this classification is complementary to coarser and more genetic classifications based on atmospheric driving forces. An analysis of the stability of the resulting seasonality regimes shows areas of relatively high year-to-year stability in the single-wet-season regimes and areas of lower year-to-year stability in the dual- and multiple-wet-season regimes as well as in transition zones.

Current affiliation: Office of Arid Land Studies, School of Natural Resources and the Environment, The University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona.

Corresponding author address: Karen I. Mohr, Laboratory for Atmospheres, Code 613.1, NASA/GSFC, Greenbelt, MD 20771. E-mail: karen.mohr-1@nasa.gov

Abstract

A classification of rainfall seasonality regimes in Africa was derived from gridded rainfall and land surface temperature products. By adapting a method that goes back to Walter and Lieth’s approach of presenting climatic diagrams, relationships between estimated rainfall and temperature were used to determine the presence and pattern of humid, arid, and dry months. The temporal sequence of humid, arid, and dry months defined nonseasonal as well as single-, dual-, and multiple-wet-season regimes with one or more rainfall peaks per wet season. The use of gridded products resulted in a detailed, spatially continuous classification for the entire African continent at two different spatial resolutions, which compared well to local-scale studies based on station data. With its focus on rainfall patterns at fine spatial scales, this classification is complementary to coarser and more genetic classifications based on atmospheric driving forces. An analysis of the stability of the resulting seasonality regimes shows areas of relatively high year-to-year stability in the single-wet-season regimes and areas of lower year-to-year stability in the dual- and multiple-wet-season regimes as well as in transition zones.

Current affiliation: Office of Arid Land Studies, School of Natural Resources and the Environment, The University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona.

Corresponding author address: Karen I. Mohr, Laboratory for Atmospheres, Code 613.1, NASA/GSFC, Greenbelt, MD 20771. E-mail: karen.mohr-1@nasa.gov
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Journal of Applied Meteorology and Climatology

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