Impact of sunspot activity on the rainfall patterns over Eastern Africa: a case study of Sudan and South Sudan

Abstract

Abstract The relation between sunspots and rainfall patterns is still obscure in Africa, especially for Sudan and South Sudan. This research explores the response of rainfall to solar activity in eastern regions of Africa, with a case study in Sudan and South Sudan. Rainfall varies with time; therefore, skillful monitoring, predicting, and early warning of rainfall events is indispensable. Severe climatic events, such as droughts and floods, are critical factors in planning and managing all socioeconomic activities. Similar trends for the sunspot activity (sunspot number and sunspot groups) changes and rainfall variations for different stations in East Africa during the years 1910–2018 were not found. Correlation analysis carried out for the above period indicated a weak negative correlation between the total rainfall and the average number of sunspots over the long-term scale for selected stations in Sudan and South Sudan. The overall result of the paper indicated no significant relationship between sunspot numbers and rainfall in temporal and spatial scales in Sudan and South Sudan.