Dry spell analysis and maize yields for two semi-arid locations in east Africa

Barron, Jennie; Rockström, Johan; Gichuki, FN; Hatibu, N.

doi:10.1016/s0168-1923(03)00037-6

Cited by 307 publications

(226 citation statements)

References 13 publications

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“…Several studies (Barron et al 2003;Graef and Haigis 2001;Vischel and Lebel 2007) have demonstrated that the annual Fig. 5 Taylor diagram of the rainy season onset at the ten stations for the five models.…”

Section: Rainfall Intensity and Number Of Rain Daysmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Each point represents the annual average of the daily rainfall over the ten stations of the monsoon . In order to define these dry spells, rainfall thresholds need to be given in order to avoid interrupting the sequence with events that produce too little rainfall to be significant for agriculture or water resources (Barron et al 2003;Modarres 2010). Sivakumar (1992) showed from a study of dry spells with five rainfall thresholds (1,5,10,20, 25 mm/day) that the dry spell length and frequency at a given station depend on the rainfall threshold, the number of dry spells of less than 5 days decrease with rainfall thresholds while the number of dry spells more than 15 days increase.…”

Section: Frequency and Duration Of Dry Spellsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Characterization of the rainy season in Burkina Faso and it’s representation by regional climate models

et al. 2012

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West African monsoon is one of the most challenging climate components to model. Five regional climate models (RCMs) were run over the West African region with two lateral boundary conditions, ERA-Interim re-analysis and simulations from two general circulation models (GCMs). Two sets of daily rainfall data were generated from these boundary conditions. These simulated rainfall data are analyzed here in comparison to daily rainfall data collected over a network of ten synoptic stations in Burkina Faso from 1990 to 2004. The analyses are based on a description of the rainy season throughout a number of it's characteristics. It was found that the two sets of rainfall data produced with the two driving data present significant biases. The RCMs generally produce too frequent low rainfall values (between 0.1 and 5 mm/ day) and too high extreme rainfalls (more than twice the observed values). The high frequency of low rainfall events in the RCMs induces shorter dry spells at the rainfall thresholds of 0.1-1 mm/day. Altogether, there are large disagreements between the models on the simulate season duration and the annual rainfall amounts but most striking are their differences in representing the distribution of rainfall intensity. It is remarkable that these conclusions are valid whether the RCMs are driven by re-analysis or GCMs. In none of the analyzed rainy season characteristics, a significant improvement of their representation can be found when the RCM is forced by the re-analysis, indicating that these deficiencies are intrinsic to the models.

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Section: Rainfall Intensity and Number Of Rain Daysmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Frequency and Duration Of Dry Spellsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Characterization of the rainy season in Burkina Faso and it’s representation by regional climate models

et al. 2012

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“…Moreover, Simane and Struick (1993) reported that the amount of rainfall its distribution in a given season is critical for crop production. Uneven distribution of rainfall could lead crops to different degrees of dry spells without significant reductions in total rainfall (Barron et al, 2003). A number of studies have been conducted in Ethiopia on climate characterization such as number of rainy days, length of growing period, onset and offset of seasonal and annual rainfall.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Dry spell length analysis for crop production using Markov-Chain model in Eastern Hararghe, Ethiopia

Sorecha

Bayissa

2017

J.Degrade.Min.Land Manage.

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Abstract:The information on the length of dry spells could be used for deciding a particular crop or variety, supplementary irrigation water demand and for others agricultural activities. The study was conducted in three districts: Babile, Haramaya and Kersa, eastern Hararghe, Ethiopia. The aim of the study was to analyze dry spell lengths and its implications on crop production in eastern Hararghe, so as to minimize unexpected damage due to long dry spells and to have effective and efficient planning for farming communities.Thirty years of rainfall data for each district were collected form National Meteorological Agency of Ethiopia. Data quality control has been done prior to analysis. Markov-Chain model were employed to analyze the collected data. The result of the study revealed that dry spells were highly hitting Babile district comparing to the other two districts. The probability of dry spell lengths of 5 and 7 days in Babile district was found to be about 99 and 80%, respectively.Whereas, in Haramaya district, the probability of dry spell length of 5 days was found to be 80% during 181(Days of the Year) DOY, then it falls to below 50 % by 221DOY. Moreover, the probability of the occurrences of dry spells of 10, 15, and 20 days were below 5% in Haramaya district during the main rainy season. The study also investigated that in Kersa district, the probability of occurrences of the dry spell lengths of 5, 7, 10, 15, and 20 days were estimated to fall below 30%, showing that the area was better in crop production as compared to the rest districts. The annual rainfalls in all the districts were decreasing as per the trend line and variable in all the districts: Babile, Haramaya and Kersa districts, having the CV values of, 41, 34 and 31%, respectively.Information regarding dry spell length analysis has to be well understoodat grass root levels to ensure food security via lifesaving irrigation schemes or any other options. Keywords: crop production, dry spells, Ethiopia, Markov-chain modelTo cite this article: Sorecha, E.M. and Bayissa, B. 2017. Dry spell length analysis for crop production using Markov-Chain model in Eastern Hararghe, Ethiopia. J. Degrade. Min. Land Manage. 4(4): 891-897,

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“…In Kenya, sub-surface water dams are constructed for stock watering and irrigation with height 2-5 m, and width of 30 m (Barron et al, 2003). In his findings, Suk (2012) found that thickness of the alluvial layer affects the storage capacity largely.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Water harvesting: Groundwater storage reservoir in Wadi Ishe, Jordan

Hamaideh¹,

Hoetzl²,

Raggad³

2017

Sci. Res. Essays

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Wadi Ishe pilot project is a trial project set to illustrate the recharge of runoff and storage in an artificial groundwater reservoir to minimize evaporation losses and as a substitute of water supply for rural arid areas that could be used for stock watering and some agricultural activities. The HEC-Hydrologic modeling System was used to estimate the runoff potential. The model in the research will provide possibilities for the simulation of precipitation-runoff procedures. The hydrographs shows a 10 years return period with a total yearly precipitation of 44 mm and total loss of 35.3 mm gave a total runoff of 8.7 mm. The total precipitation volume for the years 2000-2010 within the catchment area was approximately 36.14 Mm³. Designed to intercept the groundwater flow in connection with a flood in the Wadi Ishe basin, an underground dam was constructed from the base of the wadi channel all the way up to the surface (about 3 m height). A well was incorporated upstream of the barrier to extract the stored water from the underground reservoir. The porosity of the refilled reservoir test section was calculated to be 20-23%. The annual storage of the subsurface reservoir is approximately around 300 m³/year, where there is an average of 5 annual rain events in that area. In the catchment area another 11 potential sites were identified using the site selection criteria that was developed. Those sites once implemented using this technique would make a clear difference in water availability and enhance development around Wadi Madoneh. With this study the in different regions of the world already applied technique of groundwater dams could be first time also effectively implemented in small arid wadi catchments by using an adapted improved new technology by combining harvesting and artificial recharge effects.

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Dry spell analysis and maize yields for two semi-arid locations in east Africa

Cited by 307 publications

References 13 publications

Characterization of the rainy season in Burkina Faso and it’s representation by regional climate models

Characterization of the rainy season in Burkina Faso and it’s representation by regional climate models

Dry spell length analysis for crop production using Markov-Chain model in Eastern Hararghe, Ethiopia

Water harvesting: Groundwater storage reservoir in Wadi Ishe, Jordan

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