Top > JDR > Downscaled Climate Change Projections for Wa District in the ...

single-dr.php

JDR Vol.9 No.4 pp. 422-431
(2014)
doi: 10.20965/jdr.2014.p0422

Paper:

Views over last 60 days: 507

Downscaled Climate Change Projections for Wa District in the Savanna Zone of Ghana

Emmanuel Tachie-Obeng*1, Bruce Hewitson*2, Edwin Akonno Gyasi*3,
Mark Kofi Abekoe*4, and George Owusu*3

*1Environmental Protection Agency, Post Office Box M326, Accra Ghana

*2CSAG ENGEO Department, University of Cape Town, South Africa

*3Department of Geography and Resources, University of Ghana, Ghana

*4Department of Soil Science, University of Ghana, Ghana

Received:
March 26, 2014
Accepted:
July 20, 2014
Published:
August 1, 2014
Creative Commons License
Keywords:
climate-projected climate scenario, Ghana, rainfall, temperature
Abstract
The possibility of future climate change in Ghana has received much attention due to repeated droughts and floods over the last decades. The savanna zone which is described as the food basket of Ghana is highly susceptible to climate change impact. Scenarios from 20-year time slices of the near future – 2046-2065 – and the far future – 2081-2100 – climate change meant to help guide policy remain a challenge. Empirical downscaling performed at the local-scale of Wa District in the savanna zone of Ghana under the IPCC A2 SRES emissions scenario showed evidence of probable climate change with mean annual temperatures expected to increase over an estimated range of 1.5°C to 2.3°C in the near future, with number of cool nights becoming less frequent, especially during the Harmattan1 period. The dry season is expected to be warmer than the wet season, with high inter-annual variations projected in both maximum (Tmax) and minimum (Tmin) temperatures. Given an average of 1 day of Tmax > 40°C per month in the control period of 1961-2000, the number of hot days is expected to increase to 12 by 2046-2065. An increase in total rainfall is projected with possible shifts in distribution toward the end of the year, with a slight increase in rainfall during the dry season and an increase of rainfall at the onset and toward the end of the wet season. However, a decrease in June rainfall is projected in the wet season. The objective of this paper is to improve the understanding of future climate as a guide to local level medium-term development plans of effective adaptation options for Wa district in the savanna zone of Ghana.
Cite this article as:
E. Tachie-Obeng, B. Hewitson, E. Gyasi, M. Abekoe, and G. Owusu, “Downscaled Climate Change Projections for Wa District in the Savanna Zone of Ghana,” J. Disaster Res., Vol.9 No.4, pp. 422-431, 2014.
Data files:
References
  1. [1] F. J. Meza and D. Silva, “Dynamic adaptation of maize and wheat production to climate change,” Climatic Change, Vol.94, pp. 143-156, 2009.
  2. [2] G. Yohe, “Thought on 100 volumes of climate change,” Climate Change, Vol.100, pp. 11-14, 2010.
  3. [3] IPCC, “Summary for Policymakers,” in: “Climate Change 2013: The Physical Science Basis. Contribution of Working Group I to the Fifth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, T. F. Stocker, D. Qin, G.-K. Plattner, M. Tignor, S. K. Allen, J. Boschung, A. Nauels, Y. Xia, V. Bex, and P. M. Midgley (Eds.), Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, United Kingdom and New York, NY, USA.
  4. [4] E. Tachie-Obeng, E. Gyasi, and S. Adiku, “Effective Adaptation Options to Climate Change Impact in Ghana: for present and possible climate-projected climate change,” Lambert Academic publishing, Germany, p. 267, 2012.
  5. [5] A. Giannini et al., “A global perspective on African Climate,” Climatic Change, Vol.90, pp. 359-383, 2008.
  6. [6] EPA, “Ghana’s Second National Communication to the UNFCCC,” EPA, Editor, Accra, p. 173, 2011.
  7. [7] E. K. Penlap et al., “Downscaling of GCM scenarios to assess precipitation changes in the little rainy season (March-June) in Cameroon,” Climate Change, Vol.26, pp. 85-96, 2004.
  8. [8] B. C. Hewitson and R. G. Crane, “Consensus between GCM climate change projections with empirical downscaling: precipitation downscaling over South Africa,” International Journal of Climatology, Vol.26, pp. 1315-1337, 2006.
  9. [9] IPCC, “Summary for Policymakers,” Emissions Scenarios, A Special Report of IPCC Working Group III, 27pp., IPCC, 2000.
  10. [10] Y. Opoku-Ankomah and I. Cordery, “Atlantic Sea Surface temperatures and rainfall variability in Ghana,” J. Climate, Vol.7, pp. 551-558, 1994.
  11. [11] S. G. K. Adiku and R. C. Stone, “Using the Southern Oscillation Index for improving rainfall prediction and agricultural water management in Ghana,” Agricultural Water Management, Vol.29, pp. 85-100, 1995.
  12. [12] EPA, “Ghana’s Initial National Communication, under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change,” EPA, Accra, Ghana, p. 160, 2000.
  13. [13] S. G. K. Adiku et al., “Farmers’ response to seasonal rainfall variability effect on groundnut production in the Akatsi District of Ghana,” Accra, 2007.
  14. [14] IPCC, “Climate Change 1995: Impact, Adaptations, and Mitigation of Climate Change: Scientific-Technical Analyses,” Contribution of Working Group II to the Second Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, R. T. Watson, M. C. Zinyowera, and R. H. Moss (Eds.), Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, United Kingdom and New York, NY, USA, 1996.
  15. [15] C. J. Willmott et al., “Statistics for the evaluation and comparison of models,” J. Geophysics Resources, Vol.90, pp. 8995-9005, 1985.
  16. [16] P. B. I. Akponikpè et al., “Use of the APSIM model in long term simulation to support decision making regarding nitrogen management for pearl millet in the Sahel,” European Journal for Agronomy, Vol.32, pp. 144-154, 2010.

Creative Commons License  This article is published under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 Internationa License.

*This site is desgined based on HTML5 and CSS3 for modern browsers, e.g. Chrome, Firefox, Safari, Edge, Opera.

Last updated on Dec. 13, 2024