Date of Award

1-1-2012

Language

English

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

College/School/Department

Department of Atmospheric and Environmental Sciences

Content Description

1 online resource (vii, 215 pages) : illustrations (some color), color map.

Dissertation/Thesis Chair

Christopher D. Thorncroft

Committee Members

Christopher D. Thorncroft, Karen I. Mohr, David R. Fitzjarrald, John Molinari

Keywords

Extreme events, Kelvin waves, Rainfall, Streamflow, Trend, Variability, Rain and rainfall, Rainfall frequencies

Subject Categories

Atmospheric Sciences

Abstract

The objective of this research is to investigate the variability of rainfall and streamflow over Ghana. Analyses of rainfall shows larger daily variability and maxima amounts in the southern coastal belt than in either the middle or northern parts of the country. The high variability in rainfall at the coast is associated with sea surface temperatures (SSTs) changes over the Guinea coast. This is related to the evolution of the cold tongue over the Atlantic during the rainfall season. The results indicate that the extreme rainfall events occur as single events, but there are occasions when they occur sequentially, and some of these events could continue for more than 5 days. We note that the average SSTs over the equatorial Atlantic favor the occurrence of extreme rainfall over the coastal and middle belt, while relatively cold SSTs favor the occurrence of extreme rainfall events in the northern belt.

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