Characterization of meteorological drought at various time scales in the Lobo watershed, Côte d'Ivoire

Drought and desertification phenomena that affected many African countries south of the Sahara have not spared Côte d'Ivoire, especially since the 1970s (Goula et al. 2006). These phenomena have resulted in major climatic disruptions, including a significant decrease in rainfall in various regions of the country and particularly in the Lobo catchment area, which is an area with high agricultural activity (Yao 2015). Like other regions of the country, it is experiencing climatic disturbances caused by the deterioration of climatic parameters, including precipitation and temperature. For example, monitoring meteorological drought using the Standardized Precipitation Index (SPI) at various time scales is a vital and important element in assessing drought risk (Gumus and Algin 2017; Oloruntade et al. 2017). As some global change scenarios indicate that the occurrence and impact of droughts are likely to increase in the coming years (IPCC 2013), it is essential to be able to analyse drought weather sequences in order to propose mitigation or adaptation measures to populations if necessary.