@article{fdi:010037717,
  title = {{A}ssessing the water balance in the {S}ahel: {I}mpact of small scale rainfall variability on runoff - {P}art 1: {R}ainfall variability analysis},
  author = {{B}alme, {M}aud and {V}ischel, {T}h{\'e}o and {L}ebel, {T}hierry and {P}eugeot, {C}hristophe and {G}alle, {S}ylvie},
  editor = {},
  language = {{ENG}},
  abstract = {{T}he mesoscale variability of the {S}ahelian rainfall is analysed from a series of 30 high time resolution rainfall series covering 13 years and a 110 x 160 km(2) area in the region of {N}iamey. {I}t is shown that the convective scale variability is strongly influencing the spatial pattern of rainfields at larger time and spatial scales. {T}his means that a proper assessment of the rainfall patterns at the mesoscale in the {S}ahel requires raingauge networks with a sufficient density to allow sampling this convective scale variability. {T}his is usually not the case with operational networks whose density is in the order of 1-2 gauges per 10,000 km(2). {C}omputations carried out. here show that the areal rainfall estimation error increases from 3% to 16% at the annual scale and from 21% to 113% at the event scale when the number of stations over a 100 x 100 km2 area decreases from 12 to 1. {W}hile being highly variable in space, the {S}ahelian rainfall is also highly intermittent in time. {A}n analysis of the series of tipping bucket times leads to compute that 50% of the annual rain falls in less than 4 h with intensities larger than 35 mm/h. {A}real rainfall statistics are compared to point rainfall statistics for event accumulated rainfall. {T}he implication of these results for studying the influence of rainfall intermittency on runoff is discussed in a final section, as an introduction to a companion paper.},
  keywords = {rainfall variability ; areal rainfall ; rainfall estimation error ; rainfall intensities ; intermittency ; {S}ahel},
  booktitle = {},
  journal = {{J}ournal of {H}ydrology},
  volume = {331},
  numero = {1-2},
  pages = {336--348},
  ISSN = {0022-1694},
  year = {2006},
  DOI = {10.1016/j.jhydrol.2006.05.020},
  URL = {https://www.documentation.ird.fr/hor/fdi:010037717},
}