IJAER

International Journal of Agriculture and Environmental Research™

ISSN 2455-6939

Title:
VARIABILITY OF TEMPERATURE, PRECIPITATION AND POTENTIAL EVAPOTRANSPIRATION TIME SERIES ANALYSIS IN REPUBLIC OF BENIN

Authors:
Femi E. Hounnou, Houinsou Dedehouanou

Abstract:
Long-term temperature and precipitation trends are two of the major determinants of climate variability at geographic scale. This study aims to determine past trends in climatic parameters in different regions of Benin. Six stations throughout Benin provided daily records of precipitation, potential evapotranspiration, minimum and maximum temperatures. Those records were used for the detection of probable trends. Time series data (1960-2016) of mean daily maximum and minimum temperature, mean daily precipitation and potential evapotranspiration were analyzed. Descriptive statistics, graphs and test of comparison were used in order to demonstrate possible trends or differences. The results indicate that the minimum and maximum temperatures have increased at all region of Benin. Likewise, precipitation during the same period revealed a decreasing trend. In addition, the annual precipitation analysis showed disparate coefficients of variation according to the stations explaining the abnormal distribution with large discrepancies among years. The comparison of the mean state of the minimum and maximum temperatures between the periods 1960-1988 and 1989-2016 exhibited a significant difference at five stations. About potential evapotranspiration, the mean difference indicated the shortage through five stations, but significant only at one station. However, there was no difference between the two periods with respect to average annual precipitation.

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