No abstract

Abstract. Roseires Reservoir, located on the Blue Nile River in Sudan, is the first trap to the sediments coming from the vast upper river catchment in Ethiopia, which suffers from high erosion and desertification problems. The reservoir has already lost more than one-third of its storage capacity due to sedimentation in the last four decades. Appropriate management of the eroded soils in the upper basin could mitigate this problem. In order to do that, the areas providing the highest sediment volumes to the river have to be identified, since they should have priority with respect to the application of erosion control practices. This requires studying the sedimentation record inside Roseires Reservoir in order to assess when and how much sediment is deposited and to identify its source. This paper deals with the identification of deposition time and soil stratification inside the reservoir, based on historical bathymetric data, numerical modelling and newly acquired soil data. The remoteness of the study area and the extreme climate result in coring campaigns being expensive and difficult. Therefore, these activities need to be optimised and coring locations selected beforehand. This was done by combining bathymetric data and the results of a depth-averaged morphodynamic model recording the vertical stratification in sediment deposits. The model allowed for recognising the areas that are potentially subject to neither net erosion nor bar migration during the lifespan of the reservoir. Verification of these results was carried out by analysing sediment stratification from the data collected during the subsequent field campaign.

Abstract. Roseires Reservoir, located on the Blue Nile River, in Sudan, is the first trap to the sediments coming from the upper catchment in Ethiopia, which suffers from high erosion and desertification problems. The reservoir lost already more than one third of its storage capacity due to sedimentation in the last four decades. Appropriate management of the eroded area in the upper basin could mitigate this problem. In order to do that, the areas providing the highest sediment volumes to the river have to be identified, since they should have priority with respect to the application of erosion control practices. This requires studying the sedimentation record inside Roseires Reservoir, with the aim of identifying when and how much sediment from a certain area is deposited. The identification of deposition time is derived from soil stratification inside the reservoir. This requires expensive coring campaigns that need to be optimized. The most promising sampling coring areas were therefore selected beforehand by combining bathymetric data and the results of a depth-averaged morphodynamic model able to record vertical stratification in sediment deposits. The model allowed recognising the areas that are potentially neither subject to net erosion nor to bar migration during the life span of the reservoir. Verification of these results was carried out by analysing sediment stratification from the data collected in subsequent field campaign.

The water resource of the Blue Nile River in north Africa is under increasing pressure due to rapid population growth and economic development. The situation is aggravated by a lack of coordinated management and governance, partly caused by incomplete knowledge of the water supplies, uses and needs. Proper water management is particularly important now, considering the recently completed and planned mega dams on the Blue Nile River network. This paper reports on the construction of a one-dimensional hydrodynamic model covering the entire Blue Nile River system, from Lake Tana to the confluence with the White Nile, with the aim of quantifying water availability throughout the year, for different conditions. The work included an extensive field measurement campaign along the Blue River and its tributaries, both in Ethiopia and Sudan. Calibrated and validated with independent datasets, the model was used to quantify water uses in the period 2008-2010, which were then compared with the official figures. The results show that the dry season is characterised by extra water losses that should be taken into account when quantifying water needs, especially during the filling up phase of new reservoirs.