Sota River

The Sota is a river of northern Benin flowing through the departments of Borgou and Alibori. It is a tributary of the Niger River and the Tassiné River is one of its tributaries. The river is approximately in length and covers a basin area of .

Geography

The Sota rises northeast of the town of Ndali in the Borgou Department. The river runs toward the north-north-east and empties into the Niger River at Malanville.

Rainfall

The annual precipitation has been recorded at several stations in the basin of the Sota:

• Segbana (center-east of the basin, near the Nigerian border): spread over 53 days.
• Kandi (center-west of the basin): , spread over 80 days
• Malanville (at the north end of the basin at the confluence with Niger): in 53 days

There is everywhere a large surplus rainfall from July to September (boreal summer), giving rise to violent floods, but the deficit is a severe dry season from December to April.

Hydrometry

The flow of the river has been observed for 40 years (1953–1992) at the hydro station in Couberi, located near its confluence with the Niger River at Malanville.

At Couberi, the average annual flow module or observed during this period was for an area taking into account . The monthly average flows observed from February to April are from , which is quite remarkable in Africa at its discretion, with other rivers in the region falling consistently enough to nearly dry up in the dry season. It is true that the level of rainfall of per year is very consistent. On the observation period of 40 years, the minimum monthly flow was while the maximum monthly flow amounted to which is more than the average flow of the Seine in Paris.

Average monthly flows of Sota (m³/s (cu ft/s)) measured at the hydrometric station Couberi. (Data calculated over 40 years)

<timeline> Colors=

 id:lightgrey value:gray(0.8)
 id:darkgrey  value:gray(0.3)
 id:sfondo value:rgb(1,1,1)
 id:barra value:rgb(0.6,0.8,0.9)

ImageSize = width:600 height:280 PlotArea = left:40 bottom:40 top:20 right:20 DateFormat = x.y Period = from:0 till:140 TimeAxis = orientation:vertical AlignBars = justify ScaleMajor = gridcolor:lightgrey increment:20 start:0 ScaleMinor = gridcolor:lightgrey increment:10 start:0 BackgroundColors = canvas:sfondo

BarData=

 bar:Jan text:Jan.
 bar:Feb text:Feb.
 bar:Mar text:March
 bar:Apr text:April
 bar:May text:May
 bar:Jun text:June
 bar:Jul text:July
 bar:Aug text:August
 bar:Sep text:Sept.
 bar:Oct text:Oct.
 bar:Nov text:Nov.
 bar:Dec text:Dec.

PlotData=

 color:barra width:30 align:left

 bar:Jan from:0 till: 4.6 
 bar:Feb from:0 till: 3.7 
 bar:Mar from:0 till: 3.9 
 bar:Apr from:0 till: 3.8 
 bar:May from:0 till: 6.4 
 bar:Jun from:0 till: 10.3 
 bar:Jul from:0 till: 26.1 
 bar:Aug from:0 till: 74.4 
 bar:Sep from:0 till: 139.6 
 bar:Oct from:0 till: 74.4 
 bar:Nov from:0 till: 16.0 
 bar:Dec from:0 till: 5.9 

PlotData=

 bar:Jan at: 4.6 fontsize:S text: 4.6 shift:(-10,5)
 bar:Feb at: 3.7 fontsize:S text: 3.7 shift:(-10,5)
 bar:Mar at: 3.9 fontsize:S text: 3.9 shift:(-10,5)
 bar:Apr at: 3.8 fontsize:S text: 3.8 shift:(-10,5)
 bar:May at: 6.4 fontsize:S text: 6.4 shift:(-10,5)
 bar:Jun at: 10.3 fontsize:S text: 10.3 shift:(-10,5)
 bar:Jul at: 26.1 fontsize:S text: 26.1 shift:(-10,5)
 bar:Aug at: 74.4 fontsize:S text: 74.4 shift:(-10,5)
 bar:Sep at: 139.6 fontsize:S text: 139.6 shift:(-10,5)
 bar:Oct at: 74.4 fontsize:S text: 74.4 shift:(-10,5)
 bar:Nov at: 16.0 fontsize:S text: 16.0 shift:(-10,5)
 bar:Dec at: 5.9 fontsize:S text: 5.9 shift:(-10,5)

</timeline>

External links

• www-naweb.iaea.org Template:In lang