Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
Figure 3.8
Precipitation regimes in West Africa
Although the movement of the ITCZ is
repeated season after season, it shows some
irregularity in its timing, and in the latitudinal
distance it covers each year. As a result, the
rainfall associated with it is never completely
reliable, and this is particularly so in those areas
close to the poleward limits of its travel (Musk
1983). In West Africa, for example, if the ITCZ
fails to reach its normal northern limits at about
20°N, the regions at that latitude will experience
drought. The greatest problems arise when such
dry years occur in groups. The population might
be able to survive one or two years of drought,
but a longer series has cumulative effects similar
to those in the 1960s and 1970s when consecutive
years of drought led to famine, malnutrition,
