Evaluation of the Climate Forecast System Reanalysis Weather Data for Watershed Modeling in Upper Awash Basin, Ethiopia

Abstract

Availability of reliable meteorological data for watershed modeling is one of the considerable challenges in the Awash River Basin in Ethiopia. To overcome this challenge, the Climate Forecast System Reanalysis (CFSR) global weather data was evaluated and compared with the limited conventional weather data available in the Upper Awash Basin. The main objective of this study was to search for an optional data source for hydrological modeling, instead of using the limited available data, and for data-scarce areas of the basin. The Soil and Water Assessment Tool model was used to compare the performance of the two weather datasets at simulating monthly streamflow. For calibration, validation, and uncertainty analysis, the sequential uncertainty fitting algorithm was used. The model evaluation statistics showed that the CFSR global weather data performed similarly to the conventional weather data for simulating the observed streamflow at Melka Kunture. At Keleta, where the conventional data is scarce, the CFSR performed better. The CFSR performance at the two sub-basins indicated that it performed better for the large sub-basin, Melka Kunture. Generally, the CFSR weather data are a good addition to the dataset for areas where no reliable weather data exists for hydrological modeling in the basin. The precipitation data of the CFSR are slightly higher than that of the conventional data, which also resulted in a relatively higher water balance components.

Water Resources Allocation Systems under Irrigation Expansion and Climate Change Scenario in Awash River Basin of Ethiopia

“…Normally, warmer and wetter scenarios of the Awash River Basin are expected to increase the river discharge substantially and could serve to alleviate current local water shortages. The results of this study are consistent with other findings, such as [27,30,34,35]. The WEAP model in this study could not model reservoir water quality and cannot account for stream attenuation.…”

“…Adeba et al (2015), also tried to assess the water scarcity of the basin using the SWAT model [25]. Similarly, Mesfin et al (2018), modeled the upper Awash River Basin using the SWAT model to evaluate the climate forecast system reanalysis weather data for watershed modeling [27]. Karimi, P., et al (2015) [28], investigated the spatial evapotranspiration, rainfall, and land use data in water accounting that focused on the impact of the error in remote sensing measurements on water accounting and information provided to policymakers.…”

Identification of Potential Locations for Run-of-River Hydropower Plants Using a GIS-Based Procedure

“…The CFRS weather data (as mentioned in Section 2) were used as input. The reliability of the CFRS dataset in SWAT calibration and applications has been widely discussed in previous studies [36][37][38].…”

How Can We Represent Seasonal Land Use Dynamics in SWAT and SWAT+ Models for African Cultivated Catchments?

“…Other weather parameters (wind speed, solar radiation, and humidity) were simulated by using an inbuilt weather generator in SWAT and SWAT+ models. The Climate Forecast System Reanalysis (CFSR) data [40,41], at a horizontal resolution of about 38 km, from 1979 to 2013, at a daily time step, were used in the SWAT weather generator, which has proved to be a valuable dataset in African data-scarce basins [42]. Due to the unavailability of several observed climate parameters, the Hargreaves method [43], which is temperature based, was selected to calculate the potential evapotranspiration.…”