IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jlands/v12y2023i2p355-d1049358.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Interactions between Climate and Land Cover Change over West Africa

Author

Listed:
  • Eric Mensah Mortey

    (Doctoral Research Program in Climate Change and Energy (DRP-CCE) of the West African Science Service Center on Climate Change and Adapted Land Use (WASCAL), Université Abdou Moumouni, Niamey P.O. Box 10662, Niger
    Earth Observation Research and Innovation Centre (EORIC), University of Energy and Natural Resources, Sunyani P.O. Box 214, Ghana)

  • Thompson Annor

    (Department Meteorology and Climate Science, Private Mail Bag, University Post Office, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), Kumasi P.O. Box PMB, Ghana)

  • Joël Arnault

    (Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, Institute of Meteorology and Climate Research, 82467 Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany
    Institute of Geography, University of Augsburg, 86135 Augsburg, Germany)

  • Maman Maarouhi Inoussa

    (Faculty of Sciences and Technics, Université Abdou Moumouni, Niamey P.O. Box 10662, Niger)

  • Saïdou Madougou

    (Ecole Normale Superieure, Université Abdou Moumouni, Niamey P.O. Box 10963, Niger)

  • Harald Kunstmann

    (Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, Institute of Meteorology and Climate Research, 82467 Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany
    Institute of Geography, University of Augsburg, 86135 Augsburg, Germany)

  • Emmanuel Kwesi Nyantakyi

    (Earth Observation Research and Innovation Centre (EORIC), University of Energy and Natural Resources, Sunyani P.O. Box 214, Ghana)

Abstract

Climate–land interaction over West Africa has often been assessed using climate simulations, although the model-based approach suffers from the limitations of climate models for the region. In this paper, an alternative method based on the analysis of historical land cover data and standardized climatic indices is used to investigate climate–land interactions, in order to establish climatic conditions and their corresponding land cover area changes. The annual variation in land cover area changes and climatic changes are first estimated separately and then linked using various spatiotemporal scales. The results show that incidences of land cover change result from abrupt changes in climatic conditions. Interannual changes of −1.0–1.0 °C, 0–1.5 °C, and −0.5–0.5 °C, and up to ± 50 mm changes in precipitation and climatic water balance, lead to 45,039–52,133 km 2 , 20,935–22,127 km 2 , and approximately 32,000 km 2 changes, respectively, while a ± 0.5 °C and ± 20 mm change represents normal climate conditions with changes below 20,000 km 2 . Conversely, conversions of cropland, forest, grassland, and shrubland are the main land cover change types affecting the climate. The results offer a basis for the re-evaluation of land cover change and climate information used in regional climate models simulating land–climate interactions over West Africa.

Suggested Citation

  • Eric Mensah Mortey & Thompson Annor & Joël Arnault & Maman Maarouhi Inoussa & Saïdou Madougou & Harald Kunstmann & Emmanuel Kwesi Nyantakyi, 2023. "Interactions between Climate and Land Cover Change over West Africa," Land, MDPI, vol. 12(2), pages 1-27, January.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jlands:v:12:y:2023:i:2:p:355-:d:1049358
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2073-445X/12/2/355/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2073-445X/12/2/355/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Gokhan Yildirim & Ataur Rahman, 2022. "Homogeneity and trend analysis of rainfall and droughts over Southeast Australia," Natural Hazards: Journal of the International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, Springer;International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, vol. 112(2), pages 1657-1683, June.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Diana Šarauskienė & Darius Jakimavičius & Aldona Jurgelėnaitė & Jūratė Kriaučiūnienė, 2024. "Warming Climate-Induced Changes in Lithuanian River Ice Phenology," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 16(2), pages 1-18, January.
    2. Wangyuyang Zhai & Zhoufeng Wang & Youcan Feng & Lijun Xue & Zhenjie Ma & Lin Tian & Hongliang Sun, 2023. "Developing the Actual Precipitation Probability Distribution Based on the Complete Daily Series," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(17), pages 1-19, August.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jlands:v:12:y:2023:i:2:p:355-:d:1049358. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.