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Signature of teleconnection patterns in river discharge within the Niger Basin

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Abstract

Teleconnection patterns play critical roles in the climate of West Africa. However, their role in river dynamics within the Niger Basin has not been adequately investigated. In this study, the contribution and influence of four teleconnection patterns on river discharges at eight stations across the Niger basin were investigated using sensitivity analysis, mutual information and wavelet coherence. The objective of the study is to understand the influence of teleconnection patterns on the river discharge within the Niger Basin. Annual sensitivity of river discharges were found to be in the range 8–41%, 0.4–2.5%, 2.2–46.4%, and 26.0–62.8% for Dipole Mode Index (DMI), Southern Oscillation Index (SOI), Tropical North Atlantic (TNA), and Tropical South Atlantic (TSA) respectively. The nonlinear dependence, captured by mutual information measure, suggests that the interaction between SOI and river discharge within the Niger basin is nonlinear. Pronounced relationships between river discharge and teleconnection patterns were observed at the annual, sub-annual, and higher scale over various years using wavelet coherence analysis. The seasonal response of river discharge to teleconnection patterns across the region was observed to be heterogeneous.

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Data availability

The runoff data were downloaded from Global Runoff Data Centre (GRDC), while the large-scale oscillation data are from the Physical Sciences Laboratory. The python codes for data analyses are available on request.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Physics, Federal University of Akure, Akure, Ondo State, Nigeria

    Samuel Ogunjo

  2. Department of Geography, University of Ibadan, Ibadan, Nigeria

    Adeyemi Olusola

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  1. Samuel Ogunjo
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  2. Adeyemi Olusola
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Correspondence to Adeyemi Olusola.

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Responsible editor: Xinxin Xie.

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Ogunjo, S., Olusola, A. Signature of teleconnection patterns in river discharge within the Niger Basin. Meteorol Atmos Phys 134, 38 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00703-022-00876-8

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