Hostname: page-component-7c8c6479df-p566r Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-03-27T23:21:25.650Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Spatial reconstruction of semi-quantitative precipitation fields over Africa during the nineteenth century from documentary evidence and gauge data

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 May 2012

Abstract

The article presents a newly created precipitation data set for the African continent and describes the methodology used in its creation. It is based on a combination of proxy data and rain gauge records. The data set is semi-quantitative, with a “wetness” index of − 3 to + 3 to describe the quality of the rainy season. It covers the period AD 1801 to 1900 and includes data for 90 geographical regions of the continent. The results underscore a multi-decadal period of aridity early in the nineteenth century.

Type
Articles
Copyright
University of Washington

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Footnotes

1 Current affiliation: Dept. of Earth and Planetary Sciences, Johns Hopkins University, 3400 N. Charles Street, 301 Olin Hall, Baltimore, MD 21218, USA.

References

Barth, H. Travels and Discoveries in North and Central Africa (1849–1855). (1859). Cass, 3 volumes, New York Google Scholar
Bergonzini, L. Bilans hydriques du lacs (Kivu, Tanganyika, Rukwa, et Nyassa) du Rift l’est africain. Musée Royal de l’Afrique-Central, Tervuren, Belgium. Annales Sciences Géologiques (1998). 183 pp.Google Scholar
Compo, G.P. et al. The Twentieth Century Reanalysis Project. Quarterly Journal of the Royal Meteorological Society 137, (2011). 128.Google Scholar
Fichtler, E., Trouet, V., Beeckman, H., Coppin, P., and Worbes, M. Climatic signals in tree rings of Burkea africana and Pterocarpus angolensis from semiarid forests in Namibia. Trees Structure and Function 18, (2004). 442451.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Grab, S.W., and Nash, D.J. Documentary evidence of climate4 variability during cold seasons in Lesotho, southern Africa, 1833–1900. Climate Dynamics 34, (2010). 473499.Google Scholar
Halfman, J.D., and Johnson, T.C. High-resolution record of cyclic climatic change during the past 4 ka from Lake Turkana. Geology 16, (1988). 496500.Google Scholar
Johnson, T.C., Brown, E.T., McManus, J., Barry, S., Barker, P., and Gasse, F. A high-resolution paleoclimate record spanning the past 25,000 years in southern East Africa. Science 296, 113–114 (2002). 131132.Google Scholar
Kelso, C., and Vogel, C. The climate of Namaqualand in the nineteenth century. Climatic Change 83, (2007). 357380.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lamb, H.H. Climate in the 1960s — changes in the world's wind circulation reflected in prevailing temperatures, rainfall patterns and levels of the African lakes. The Geographical Journal 132, (1966). 183212.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lebel, T., and Le Barbé, L. Rainfall monitoring during HAPEX-Sahel. 2. Point and areal estimation at the event and seasonal scales. Journal of Hydrology 188, (1997). 97122.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Marty, P. Poème historique d’Abou Bakr Ibn Hejab, le Dimani. Bull. Comm. Et. Hist. et Scient. AOF 4, (1921). 252263.Google Scholar
Monteil, V. Chroniques du Tichitt. Bull. Inst. Fond. Afr. Noire 1, (1939). 282313.Google Scholar
Nash, D.J. On the dry valleys of the Kalahari. Documentary evidence of environmental change in central southern Africa. The Geographical Journal 162, (1996). 154168.Google Scholar
Nash, D.J., and Endfield, G.H. A 19th century climate chronology for the Kalahari region of central southern Africa derived from missionary correspondence. International Journal of Climatology 22, (2002). 821841.Google Scholar
Nash, D.J., and Endfield, G.H. Historical flows in the dry valleys of the Kalahari identified from missionary correspondence. South African Journal of Science 98, (2002). 244248.Google Scholar
Nash, D.J., and Endfield, G.H. 'Splendid rains have fallen'. Links between El Niño and rainfall variability in the Kalahari, 1840–1900. Climatic Change 86, (2008). 257290.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nash, D.J., and Grab, S.W. “A sky of brass and burning winds." Documentary evidence of rainfall variability in the Kingdom of Lesotho, Southern Africa, 1824–1900. Climatic Change 101, (2010). 617653.Google Scholar
Neukom, R. et al. Multiproxy summer and winter surface air temperature field reconstructions for southern South America covering the past centuries. Climate Dynamics (2010). http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s00382-010-0793-3Google Scholar
Nicholson, S.E. Climatic variations in the Sahel and other African regions during the past five centuries. Journal of Arid Environments 1, (1978). 324.Google Scholar
Nicholson, S.E. The methodology of historical climate reconstruction and its application to Africa. The Journal of African History 20, No. 1 (1979). 3149.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nicholson, S.E. Saharan climates in historic times. Williams, M.A.J., and Faure, H. The Sahara and the Nile. (1980). A.A. Balkema, Rotterdam. 73200.Google Scholar
Nicholson, S.E. The historical climatology of Africa. Wigley, T.M.L., Ingram, M.J., and Farmer, G. Climate and History. (1981). Cambridge Press, 249270.Google Scholar
Nicholson, S.E. Lake Chad and its relation to Sahelian climate history. The Sahara: Ecological Change and Early Economic History. (1981). 3560.Google Scholar
Nicholson, S.E. The spatial coherence of African rainfall anomalies. Interhemispheric teleconnections. Journal of Climate and Applied Meteorology 25, (1986). 13651381.2.0.CO;2>CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nicholson, S.E. An overview of African rainfall fluctuations of the last decade. Journal of Climate 6, (1993). 14631466.2.0.CO;2>CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nicholson, S.E. Environmental change within the historical period. Goudie, A.S., Adams, W.M., and Orme, A. The Physical Geography of Africa. (1996). Oxford University Press, Oxford. 6075.Google Scholar
Nicholson, S.E. Historical fluctuations of Lake Victoria and other lakes in the northern Rift Valley of East Africa. Lehman, J.T. Environmental Change and Response in East African Lakes. (1998). Kluwer, Dordrecht. 735.Google Scholar
Nicholson, S.E. Fluctuations of Rift Valley Lakes Malawi and Chilwa during historical times. A synthesis of geological, archaeological and historical information. Lehman, J.T. Environmental Change and Response in East African Lakes. (1998). Kluwer, Dordrecht. 207231.Google Scholar
Nicholson, S.E. Historical and modern fluctuations of Lakes Tanganyika and Rukwa and their relationship to rainfall variability. Climatic Change 41, (1999). 5371.Google Scholar
Nicholson, S.E. A semi-quantitative, regional precipitation data set for studying African climates of the nineteenth century, part I. Overview of the data set. Climatic Change 50, (2001). 317353.Google Scholar
Nicholson, S.E., and Yin, X. Rainfall conditions in equatorial East Africa during the nineteenth century as inferred from the record of Lake Victoria. Climatic Change 48, (2001). 387398.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nicholson, S.E., Yin, X., and Ba, M.B. On the feasibility of using a lake water balance model to infer rainfall. Hydrological Sciences Journal 45, (2000). 7595.Google Scholar
Nicolini, G., Tarchiani, V., Saurer, M., and Cherubini, P. Wood-growth zones in Acacia seyal Delile in the Keita Valley, Niger: is there any climatic signal?. Journal of Arid Environments 74, (2010). 355359.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pilskaln, C.H., and Johnson, T.C. Seasonal signals in Lake Malawi sediments. Limnology and Oceanography 36, (1991). 544557.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Plote, G. L’Afrique sahelienne se desseche-t-elle?. B. R. G. M., Orleans, France (1974). 61 pp.Google Scholar
Russell, J.M., Verschuren, D., and Eggermont, H. Spatial complexity of ‘Little Ice Age’ climate in East Africa: sedimentary records from two crater lake basins in western Uganda. The Holocene 17, (2007). 183193.Google Scholar
Shanahan, T.M. et al. The formation of biogeochemical laminations in Lake Bosumtwi, Ghana, and their usefulness as indicators of past environmental changes. Journal of Paleolimnology 40, (2008). 339355.Google Scholar
Shanahan, T.M. Coauthors Atlantic forcing of persistent drought in West Africa. Science 324, (2009). 377380.Google Scholar
Smerdon, J.E., Kaplan, A., Chang, D., and Evans, M.N. A pseudoproxy evaluation of the CCA and RegEM methods for reconstructing climate fields of the last millennium. Journal of Climate 24, (2011). 12851309.Google Scholar
Supan, A. Die Verteiliung des Niederschlags auf der festen Erdoerfläche. Petermanns Mitteilungen, Ergänzungsheft No. 124 (1898). 103 pp.Google Scholar
Therrell, M.D., Stahle, D.W., Ries, L.P., and Shugart, H.H. Tree-ring reconstructed rainfall variability in Zimbabwe. Climate Dynamics 26, (2006). 677685.Google Scholar
Touchan, R., Anchukaitis, K.J., Meko, D.M., Attalah, S., Baisan, C., and Aloui, A. Long term context for recent drought in northwestern Africa. Geophysical Research Letters 35, (2008). L13705 Google Scholar
Touchan, R., Anchukaitis, K.J., Meko, D.M., Sabir, M., Attalah, S., and Aloui, A. Spatiotemporal drought variability in northwestern Africa over the last nine centuries. Climate Dynamics 37, (2011). 237252.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Toussoun, O. Memoire sur l'histoire du Nil. Memoires a l'Institut d'Egypt vol. 18, (1925). 366404.Google Scholar
Trouet, V., Haneca, K., Coppin, P., and Beeckman, H. Tree ring analysis of Brachystegia spiciformis and Isoberlinia tomentosa. Evaluation of the enso-signal in the Miombo woodland of eastern Africa. IAWA Journal 22, (2001). 385399.Google Scholar
Vogel, C. A documentary-derived climatic chronology for South Africa. Climatic Change 14, (1989). 291308.Google Scholar
Woodruff, S.D. ICOADS Release 2.5. Extensions and enhancements to the surface marine meteorological archive. International Journal of Climatology 31, (2011). 951967.Google Scholar
Yin, X., and Nicholson, S.E. Interpreting annual rainfall from the levels of Lake Victoria. Journal of Hydrometeorology 3, (2002). 406416.2.0.CO;2>CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Zhang, Z., Mann, M., and Cook, E. Alternative methods of proxy-based climate field reconstruction: application to summer drought over the conterminous United States back to AD 1700 from tree-ring data. The Holocene 14, (2004). 502516.CrossRefGoogle Scholar