TREND OF RAINFALL OVER NEARLY HALF A CENTURY IN NORTH AFRICA

The results of different studies referring to evolution of precipitations show that, on a worldwide scale, the climatic change appears as an intensification of precipitations and a recurrence of extreme events (more noticeable during the last decennia). These studies also show an increase of precipitations in equatorial areas and at Poles, at the expense of Mediterranean and of dry and temperate tropical areas. Nowadays, Mediterranean area is considered as a hot spot area of climate change. The impact of this change and the high human pressure on the environment would result in a shortage of water for about 290 million people. The aim of this paper is to analyze rainfall variability in a wide area of North Africa (from the Morocco in the west up to Tunisia in the east). This study is undertaken for a period of nearly half a century. The rainfall data were collected from 35 meteorological stations. To analyze the time series signal in time and space, graphical method of information processing (MGCTI) was used.