*2.2. Data Used*

Both observation and projection data were used. Daily observed rainfall and temperature were collected from meteorological institutes of Benin and Togo (DMN, Direction de la Météorologie Nationale) for the period 1981–2010. That period is the current normal used for climatological analysis, and this study aims at taking it into account, as previous studies have already accounted for other normals [15,17,18]. As presented by Figure 1, rainfall data were collected at 24 rain gauges within and around Mono watershed (not farther than 25 km). As for temperature data, they were collected from three synoptic stations located in the watershed: Tabligbo, Atakpamé and Sokodé.

Projected data were provided by the regional climate model (RCM), REMO (Table 1). Rainfall and temperature data were extracted for the period 2018–2050 and under two representative concentration pathways: RCP4.5 (intermediate pathway) and RCP8.5 (most extreme pathway). Akinsanola et al. [19] have already noticed that REMO fairly simulates rainfall in West Africa and concluded that it can be used for future climate projections in the region. However, the use of a multi-model ensemble approach (more than one model) is recommended in order to better estimate the actual climate and improve the robustness of climate change projections [20–22].


**Table 1.** Characteristics of the regional climate model (RCM), REMO.

These data were accessed online (https://www.cordex.org) in the context of the Coordinated Regional Climate Downscaling Experiment (CORDEX) over Africa at 0.44◦ resolution.
