Hydro-climatic trends in the Abay/Upper Blue Nile basin, Ethiopia

Tekleab, Sirak; Mohamed, Yasir A.; Uhlenbrook, Stefan

doi:10.1016/j.pce.2013.04.017

Cited by 116 publications

(96 citation statements)

References 49 publications

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“…The trend results on precipitations agree with the literature on neighbouring catchments of the Blue Nile (e.g. Tesemma et al, 2010;Gebremichael et al, 2013;Tekleab et al, 2013).…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 91%

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Investigation of the long-term variations in hydro-climatology of the Dinder and Rahad basins and its implications on ecosystems of the Dinder National Park, Sudan

Hassaballah

Mohamed

Uhlenbrook

2016

Preprint

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Abstract. Hydro-climatic variability plays a pivotal role in structuring the biophysical environment of riverine and floodplain ecosystems. Variability is natural, but can also be enhanced by anthropogenic interventions. Alterations of hydro-climatic variables can have significant impacts on the ecohydrological functions of rivers and related ecosystems. Loss of biodiversity 15 and degradation of ecosystems have caused increasing concern about the current situation of the Dinder and Rahad River basins (D&R), particularly the ecosystems of the Dinder National Park (DNP). However the causes are not yet fully understood.Conservation of the DNP ecosystems for direct and indirect human benefit is one of major challenges facing the country. This paper examines the long-term variations of streamflow, rainfall and temperature over the D&R and its implications on DNP ecosystems. Statistical tests of Mann-Kendall (MK) and Pettitt were used. The analysis was carried out for twelve 20 precipitation, one temperature, and two streamflow gauging stations over different time periods. Streamflow characteristics of magnitude, duration, timing, frequency and rate of change in flow that likely impact the ecological functions of the ecosystem of the DNP, were analysed using the Indicators of Hydrologic Alterations (IHA).The MK test showed statistically significant increasing trends of temperature. The mean annual and monthly mean precipitation showed no significant change. Streamflow of the Rahad River showed a significant increasing trend in annual 25and monthly means at Al-Hawata station, while no significant trend in Dinder River flows at Al-Gewisi station could be observed. However, the Dinder river showed significant decreasing trend in maximum annual and monthly mean and maximum flow during August (month of high flow), and increasing trend during November (month of low flow). The IHA analysis indicated that the Rahad River flow was coupled with significant upward alterations in some of the hydrological indicators. In contrast, the Dinder River flow was coupled with significant downward alterations. This alterations in Dinder 30 river flow are likely affect the ecosystems in DNP negatively. Alterations in magnitude and duration of the annual flood peaks Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci. Discuss., doi:10.5194/hess-2016Discuss., doi:10.5194/hess- -407, 2016 Manuscript under review for journal Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci. 2 that reduce the amount of water flowing to the river-floodplain, may diminish the production of native flora and fauna, and animal migration that may be linked to floodplain inundation.

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“…The trend results on precipitations agree with the literature on neighbouring catchments of the Blue Nile (e.g. Tesemma et al, 2010;Gebremichael et al, 2013;Tekleab et al, 2013).…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 91%

“…Since the Upper Blue Nile basin is neighbouring the D&R, similarities of catchment characteristics could be expected. Tekleab et al (2013), studied the trends of rainfall, temperature and streamflow within the Abbay/Upper Blue Nile basin. The results showed statistically significant Hydrol.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Investigation of the long-term variations in hydro-climatology of the Dinder and Rahad basins and its implications on ecosystems of the Dinder National Park, Sudan

Hassaballah

Mohamed

Uhlenbrook

2016

Preprint

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“…Erosion and sedimentation are challenging problems that are increasingly difficult to solve with the intensification of land use (Cerdà, Imeson, & Poesen, ; Erkossa, Wudneh, Desalegn, & Taye, ). In the Ethiopian highlands with rapid population growth, sediment concentrations have been increasing (Gebremicael, Mohamed, Betrie, van der Zaag, & Teferi, ; Mekonnen, Keesstra, Baartman, Ritsema, & Melesse, ; Steenhuis et al, ; Tesemma, Mohamed, & Steenhuis, ) without a significant precipitation increase in the past 40 years (Conway, ; El Kenawy et al, ; Kim & Kaluarachchi, ; Nyssen et al, ; Seleshi & Demaree, ; Tekleab, Mohamed, & Uhlenbrook, ; Tesemma et al, ). Measures are being taken to reduce erosion but only in a few cases have they been checked for their effectiveness (Dagnew et al, ; Mekonnen et al, ; Walling, ; Walter, Steenhuis, & Haith, ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Modeling discharge and sediment concentrations after landscape interventions in a humid monsoon climate: The Anjeni watershed in the highlands of Ethiopia

et al. 2017

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Increasing population and intensification of agriculture increase erosion rates and often result in severe land degradation and sedimentation of reservoirs. Finding effective management practices to counteract the increasing sediment load is becoming increasingly urgent especially in the Ethiopian highlands where the construction of the hydroelectric Grand Renaissance Dam on the Blue Nile is underway. In this paper, we examine the results of 9 years of a watershed experiment in which discharge and sediment losses were observed in the 113 ha Anjeni watershed of the Blue Nile Basin. The study period encompasses conditions before, during, and after the installation of graded Fanya‐Juu (“throw uphill” bunds) soil and water conservation practices (SWCP), which had the ultimate goal of creating terraces. We use a saturation‐excess runoff model named the parameter‐efficient distributed model as a mathematical construct to relate rainfall with discharge and sediment losses at the outlet. The parameter‐efficient distributed model is based on landscape units in which the excess rainfall becomes direct runoff or infiltrates based on topographic position or hardpan characteristics. Deviations in this rainfall–discharge–sediment loss relationship are ascribed to the changes in infiltration characteristics caused by SWCPs on the hillslopes. With this technique, we found that in the Anjeni basin, the Fanya‐Juu SWCPs are only effective in increasing the infiltration and thereby reducing the direct runoff and sediment concentrations in the first 5 years. At the end of the 9‐year observation period, the direct runoff and sediment concentrations were barely reduced compared to the levels before SWCP were installed. In addition, we found that the model structure based on landscape units was able to represent the varying runoff and erosion processes during the 9 years well by varying mainly the portion of degraded land (and thereby representing the effectiveness of the Fanya‐Juu to reduce runoff by increasing infiltration).

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“…Studying water budget variables, such as precipitation (P), evapotranspiration (ET), streamflow and terrestrial water storage (TWS), provides improved understanding of water resources under a changing climate system Tekleab et al, 2013;Berhane et al, 2014). In the Ethiopian portion of the Blue Nile basin (i.e.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Upper Blue Nile basin water budget from a multi-model perspective

Jung

Getirana

Policelli

et al. 2017

Journal of Hydrology

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a b s t r a c tImproved understanding of the water balance in the Blue Nile is of critical importance because of increasingly frequent hydroclimatic extremes under a changing climate. The intercomparison and evaluation of multiple land surface models (LSMs) associated with different meteorological forcing and precipitation datasets can offer a moderate range of water budget variable estimates. In this context, two LSMs, Noah version 3.3 (Noah3.3) and Catchment LSM version Fortuna 2.5 (CLSMF2.5) coupled with the Hydrological Modeling and Analysis Platform (HyMAP) river routing scheme are used to produce hydrological estimates over the region. The two LSMs were forced with different combinations of two reanalysis-based meteorological datasets from the Modern-Era Retrospective analysis for Research and Applications datasets (i.e., MERRA-Land and MERRA-2) and three observation-based precipitation datasets, generating a total of 16 experiments. Modeled evapotranspiration (ET), streamflow, and terrestrial water storage estimates were evaluated against the Atmosphere-Land Exchange Inverse (ALEXI) ET, insitu streamflow observations, and NASA Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE) products, respectively. Results show that CLSMF2.5 provided better representation of the water budget variables than Noah3.3 in terms of Nash-Sutcliffe coefficient when considering all meteorological forcing datasets and precipitation datasets. The model experiments forced with observation-based products, the Climate Hazards group Infrared Precipitation with Stations (CHIRPS) and the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) Multi-Satellite Precipitation Analysis (TMPA), outperform those run with MERRA-Land and MERRA-2 precipitation. The results presented in this paper would suggest that the Famine Early Warning Systems Network (FEWS NET) Land Data Assimilation System incorporate CLSMF2.5 and HyMAP routing scheme to better represent the water balance in this region.

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Hydro-climatic trends in the Abay/Upper Blue Nile basin, Ethiopia

Cited by 116 publications

References 49 publications

Investigation of the long-term variations in hydro-climatology of the Dinder and Rahad basins and its implications on ecosystems of the Dinder National Park, Sudan

Investigation of the long-term variations in hydro-climatology of the Dinder and Rahad basins and its implications on ecosystems of the Dinder National Park, Sudan

Modeling discharge and sediment concentrations after landscape interventions in a humid monsoon climate: The Anjeni watershed in the highlands of Ethiopia

Upper Blue Nile basin water budget from a multi-model perspective

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