Coastal areas are the most vulnerable to the effects of climate change that
has affected the Earth in recent decades. This thesis aims to better
understand the physical aspects of the vulnerability of the Municipalities of Grand-Popo and
Ouidah, coastal areas exposed to climate change and its effects.
The data used concern climatological statistics, planimetric data
and field information. Climate changes have been demonstrated by the use
of the rainfall index, linear regression and the detection of breakdowns in stationarity
by the Petitt (1979) and Heghinian (1977) test. The cartographic approach that combines image
processing and the tracking method with rainfall information were also
used.
From the work carried out, it appears that the rains are irregular followed by deficit years and seasonal changes with a break in the stationarity
of the rainfall series in 1970 in
Ouidah and in 1975 in Grand-Popo. As for temperature, there is a more
pronounced upward trend in minimum temperatures with “moderate” and “moderate-strong” winds according
to the Beaufort scale (1802). The municipalities of Grand-Popo and Ouidah are vulnerable and
exposed to flooding. The analysis of field data through cartographic processing made it
possible to characterize the progress of the sea, which is estimated at 28-33 m in Djègbadji and 32-48 m in Djondji.