The water balance of an exceptionally wet catchment area in West Africa

Abstract

Precipitation, evaporation and runoff data for a small catchment in the exceptionally wet Freetown peninsula region of Sierra Leone, West Africa, are described and analysed. Both long and short term precipitation and runoff rates are shown to be far higher than those normally associated with West Africa, a flood discharge of 23.000 m 3sec −1km −2 being a particularly notable event. The study confirms that this is one of the wettest areas in Africa.