摘要：Figures See all figures Authors Samuel Louvet , Bernard Fontaine , Pascal Roucou Centre de recherches de climatologie, Faculté des sciences Gabriel, 6, boulevard Gabriel, 21000 Dijon, France Key words: Africa, western, climate, rain Page(s) : 10001-3 Published in: 2005 In West Africa, rainfall rhythms and the onset of different rainy seasons depend mainly on the phase of the monsoon system. This study shows that this phase can be divided into four distinct subperiods or pauses, relatively fixed in time, during which the rains remain stable or even decrease. These pauses are followed by the rapidly increased precipitation of “active phases”. These results offer prospects for useful epidemiologic research on diseases, such as malaria, that are carried by vectors dependent on precipitation.
