Hydroclimatic variability in Tomi at Sibut, Gribingui at Kaga-Bandoro and Fafa at Bouca basins, in the Central African Republic

Abstract

The research of ruptures on rainfall and discharge serial data from 1950 to 1995 of three small catchments (from 2000 to 6000 km2) of the Central African Republic, at the boundary between Chad and Congo basins, has shown a high spatial variability. The rupture observed in 1970 at the subcontinental scale, which started the drought period in West and Central Africa, is observed only on the Northward basin, the driest. Then it was difficult to compare the hydroclimatic periods from a basin to another one. However, all the studied basins have shown a degradation of the hydrological regime from the end of the 1980s onward, with a severe level since the end of 1980s. The depletion coefficients have the same range for the 3 studied basins than for the Ubangi River basin, widening the drought impact.