AN INDICATION OF CLIMATIC-CHANGE AS SEEN FROM THE RAINFALL DATA OF A MAURITANIAN STATION

Daily precipitation amounts from the meteorological station at Kaedi (Mauritania) are available since 1904, the country's longest record. The series constitutes an excellent tool for studying variations in the precipitation climate. Analysis of the annual precipitation amounts reveals the existence of a statistically highly significant downward trend which started in the sixties and is still continuing at present. It was further found that the entire reference period 1904-1988 needs, for reasons of data stationarity, to be split into two parts, corresponding respectively to the periods 1904-1967 and 1968-1988, the year 1967 being estimated as the change-point. The latter period corresponds to the "drought" which has prevailed over the Sahel region since 1968. The jump disclosed in the hydroclimatic system is indicative of the existence of multiple stable climate regimes.