MSc thesis submitted by Moses Duguru

MSc thesis submitted by Moses Duguru

January 5, 2016

MSc_Moses_Duguru_Global_Change_Ecology_orgMoses Duguru, MSc student at the Global Change Ecology study program just handed in his thesis. He worked on climate patterns in West-Central Africa. Global climate has been warming rapidly since the beginning of the 20th century due to the emission of green house gases, inevitably altering the character of local and regional climate systems in the world, particularly the western parts of Africa. The main objective of this study is to analyse trends in 5 precipitation indices, based on daily data from 31 meteorological data stations. The 31 stations from which data was analysed in this study were from Togo, Benin, Ivory Coast, Gabon, Central African Republic and Congo for the time range of 1950-1980. RClimdex software was used to process the magnitude of precipitation while the trend was determined using Mann-Kendalls test at (90%) p < 0.1 significance level. 93% of stations studied showed negative(decreasing) rainfall trends for precipitation total (PRCPTOT), 95th percentile(R95P) and 99th percentile (R99P) rainfall showed 67% and 61.29% of stations with negative trends of precipitation respectively, consecutive dry days(CDD) was positive (increasing) in 61.29% of stations while consecutive wet days (CWD) was negative (decreasing) in 67.74% of the 31 stations. This study shows that the magnitudes of the precipitation was predominantly negative(decreasing) rainfall trends from 1950-1980 in most of the stations, thereby indicating an evidence of coupling effects of a warmer climate and regional precipitation. These precipitation negative trends and magnitude has various effects on society and ecosystems within the scope of climate change in Western Africa.

you may also like:

Exploring Drought and Fire Impacts on African Savanna Vegetation

Exploring Drought and Fire Impacts on African Savanna Vegetation

In the past weeks, our research team has been preparing for a unique field experiment investigating how drought and fire influence African savanna vegetation. The work is part of the PhD by Luisa Pflumm, she is supported by our PhD student Antonio Castaneda and his...

Field work in Africa for Fire Mapping

Field work in Africa for Fire Mapping

Our UAS research group is currently out in the field collecting a wide range of environmental data. Fieldwork isn’t only about flying drones – it also involves hands-on problem-solving from coding to practical implications, from soldering and repairing to inventing...

Exploring the Desert: Farimah’s Internship at Gobabeb in Namibia

Exploring the Desert: Farimah’s Internship at Gobabeb in Namibia

We’re excited to share that our EAGLE MSc student, Farimah, is currently spending her internship at the renowned Gobabeb Namib Research Institute, nestled in the heart of the Namib Desert—one of the oldest and most unique desert ecosystems in the world. Farimah’s...