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Chapter 2 - Climate: Rainfall Seasonality

from Part I - The Physical Cradle: Land Forms, Geology, Climate, Hydrology and Soils

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 September 2021

Norman Owen-Smith
Norman Owen-Smith
Affiliation:
University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg
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Summary

This chapter describes seasonal variation in rainfall in different regions of Africa and explains why Africa is prevalently drier than other continents. It emphasises how regional rainfall relates to movements of the Intertropical Convergence Zone. Dry season conditions span cooler months when most plant growth ceases. Rainfall fluctuates widely between years as well as shifting geometry of the Earth’s orbit and rotation. Declining levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere promoted global cooling and intensified aridity.

Keywords

dry seasonsrain-shadowsintertropical convergence zoneorbital cyclesclimatogramsglacial extremes.
Type
Chapter
Information
Only in Africa
The Ecology of Human Evolution
 , pp. 14 - 28
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2021

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References

Suggested Further Reading

Burke, K; Gunnell, Y. (2008) The African erosion surface: a continental-scale synthesis of geomorphology, tectonics, and environmental change over the past 180 million years. Geological Society of America Memoirs 201:1–66.Google Scholar
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Levin, NE. (2015) Environment and climate of early human evolution. Annual Review of Earth and Planetary Sciences 43:405–429.Google Scholar
Sepulchre, P, et al. (2006) Tectonic uplift and Eastern Africa aridification. Science 313:1419–1423.Google Scholar

References

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