Characteristics of Lake Chad Level Variability and Links to ENSO, Precipitation, and River Discharge

Table 1

Correlations between rainfall (in northern and southern parts of the LCB), Chari River discharge, lake level (at Kalom and Kindjeria), and ENSO in matrix form (∗ and + denote significance at 99.5% and 95% confidence levels, respectively).

Variable	ENSO	Precipitation in LCB (south)	Lake level at Kalom	Chari River Discharge	Precipitation in LCB (north)	Lake level at Kindjeria
ENSO	1	−0.31^+	−0.14	−0.12	−0.13	−0.31^+
Precipitation in LCB (South)	−0.31^+	1	0.09	0.76^∗	0.65^∗	0.05
Lake level at Kalom	−0.14	0.09	1	0.31^∗	0.10	0.66^∗
Chari River discharge	−0.12	0.76^∗	0.31^+	1	0.58^∗	0.39^∗
Precipitation in LCB (North)	−0.13	0.65^∗	0.10	0.58^∗	1	−0.00
Lake level at Kindjeria	−0.31^+	0.05	0.66^∗	0.39^∗	−0.00	1