Changes in the Water Balance of Bosnia and Herzegovina as a Result of Climate Change

Abstract

The analysis of meteorological data from the period 1961-2014 show the rise in the mean annual temperature in the entire territory of Bosnia and Herzegovina. The changes are more pronounced in the central-hilly part of the country. The increase in annual air temperature ranges from 0.4 to 1.0°C per decade, whereas temperature increases during vegetation period were up to 1.2°C per decade. Additionally, increases in air temperature over the last fourteen years are even more pronounced. Changed distribution of precipitation, significant variations and the increasing soil moisture deficit during vegetation period (April-September) are also evident in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The increase in air temperature combined with changes in the distribution of precipitation has resulted in a change of evapotranspiration and annual water balance. The main objective of this study was to determine and compare the severity of changes in mean annual water balance components between different regions in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Monthly weather data from 26 weather stations in Bosnia and Herzegovina, for the time period of 50 years (1967-2016) were used to determine and analyze impact of climate change on the following water balance components: temperature, precipitation, reference evapotranspiration, actual evapotranspiration, total runoff, soil moisture deficit and amount of snow. The results indicate that climate change has a substantial effect on the all water balance components. Air temperature (0.21-0.7 o C per decade), reference evapotranspiration (0.61-42.81 mm per decade) and soil moisture deficit (1.35-27.71 mm per decade) show an increasing trend over the entire territory of Bosnia and Herzegovina with the strongest increase in the northwest part of the country.

Geothermal Energy for Sustainable Agriculture: A Case Study Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina

“…Most of the area of Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) belongs to humid climate region (S. Čadro et al, 2017) and same situation is within the area around capital city of Sarajevo (Drešković & Mirić, 2013). As a result of climate change, the air temperature in BiH has risen in all regions and for all sessions (Popov et al, 2018), this is also true for Sarajevo area where this increase is about 0.37 o C per decade (Čadro, Uzunovic, et al, 2019;Trbic et al, 2017).…”

“…Based on the time period 1967 -2016 the average amount of annual precipitation in Sarajevo is found to be 938 mm, average air temperature 10.01 o C, relative humidity 71%, wind speed 1.63 m/s and insolation 4.96 h (Čadro, Uzunovic, et al, 2019). The following graph (Graph 1) shows the difference between air temperatures outside and inside the greenhouse, as well as the difference between the temperatures in lettuce vegetation period in 2020/21 and climatological normal for Butmir, Sarajevo.…”

“…Along with the increase in temperature, the frequency of occurrence of extremely low and extremely high temperatures has also increased (Čadro, Uzunovic, et al, 2019;Trbic et al, 2017).…”

Upgrading Maize Cultivation in Bosnia and Herzegovina from Rainfed to Irrigated Systems: Use of Remote Sensing Data and the Dual Crop Coefficient Approach to Estimate Evapotranspiration

“…Furthermore, a decrease of the number of days with snowfall is anticipated [4]. These changes can have a serious impact on the problem of drought and water deficit [5]. In terms of agricultural production, the greatest risks are droughts, followed by 2 spring frosts, autumn frosts, hail, and floods [6].…”

Dryland Pastoralism Climate Landscape and Food Security in the Suam River Basin of Kenya

“…To make it worse, drylands of Sub-Saharan Africa are constrained with limited production capacities since its main natural resources (land and water) are either degraded, scarce and overstretched by the demands of the growing human and animal populations. One way through which climate affects food security, is through its impacts on natural resources such as water and land which are essential in agricultural production (Čadro, Cherni-Čadro, & Žurovec, 2019;Bilali, Bassole, Dambo, & Berjan, 2020). Increased temperatures shift precipitation patterns contributing to unpredicted droughts and floods thus affecting land productivity in different seasons.…”