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Analysis of rainfall variability (1916-1996) at Lubumbashi (Congo-Kinshasa) relative to some atmospheric (southern oscillation) and oceanic (El Niño/El Niña) circulation indicators Volume 10, issue 4, Décembre 1999

Author
Département de géographie, Université de Lubumbashi, République démocratique du Congo. Adresse actuelle : Université de Montréal, 5955, 25e avenue, app. 04, Montréal, Québec H1T3L3, Canada.
  • Page(s) : 245-52
  • Published in: 2000

Annual precipitation records for the 1916-1996 period were analysed using a moving weighted average. The results highlighted the following sequence of climatic periods: – a generally dry period which started before 1916 and ended in the early 1940s; – a generally wet period from the mid-1940s to the early 1980s; – an ongoing dry period since the early 1980s. According to a Mann-Kendall test analysis, this sequence of wet and dry periods did not involve a significant deviation from the mean of the precipitation series. This means that the series was stationary. Analysis of the relationship between monthly and seasonal precipitations and some atmospheric (southern oscillation) and oceanic (El Niño/El Niña) circulation indicators revealed that these precipitations were significantly correlated with the southern oscillation index in November and December, i.e. the first two months of the rainy season.