Montagnes d'Afrique Tropicale : marqueurs de la variabilité climatique ou isolats climatiques ?

International audience Tropical mountains are often seen as beacons of past and present-day climate change. However, do they actually reflect interannual and decadal-scale climatic variability of the surrounding areas ? At the scale of Africa South of the Sahara, an analysis of the 1941-2000 rainfall variability shows that spatial coherence is seldom modified by relief. Examples are presented in which mountain climates are even indicators of large-scale atmospheric dynamics and climate variability.