Investigating the Role of the Cuvette Centrale in the Hydrology of the Congo River Basin

Datok, Pankyes; Fabre, Clément; Sauvage, Sabine; N’kaya, Guy D. Moukandi; Paris, Adrien; Santos, Vanessa dos; Laraque, Alain; Sánchez‐Pérez, José‐Miguel

doi:10.1002/9781119657002.ch14

Cited by 6 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 83 publications

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“…Despite being the second-largest river system in the world, in terms of both the drainage area and discharge to the ocean, the Congo River basin (CRB)'s SWS still remains widely unknown. The CRB still hosts extensive floodplains and wetlands such as the well-known Cuvette Centrale region, which stores a large amount of freshwater, playing a crucial role in the sediment dynamics of the river and in the global carbon storage (Datok et al, 2022;Biddulph et al, 2021). Crowley et al (2006) estimated terrestrial (surface plus ground) water storage within the Congo basin for the period of April 2002 to May 2006 using GRACE satellite gravity data.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A long-term monthly surface water storage dataset for the Congo basin from 1992 to 2015

Kitambo

Papa

Paris

et al. 2023

Earth Syst. Sci. Data

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Abstract. The spatio-temporal variation of surface water storage (SWS) in the Congo River basin (CRB), the second-largest watershed in the world, remains widely unknown. In this study, satellite-derived observations are combined to estimate SWS dynamics at the CRB and sub-basin scales over 1992–2015. Two methods are employed. The first one combines surface water extent (SWE) from the Global Inundation Extent from Multi-Satellite (GIEMS-2) dataset and the long-term satellite-derived surface water height from multi-mission radar altimetry. The second one, based on the hypsometric curve approach, combines SWE from GIEMS-2 with topographic data from four global digital elevation models (DEMs), namely the Terra Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer (ASTER), Advanced Land Observing Satellite (ALOS), Multi-Error-Removed Improved Terrain (MERIT), and Forest And Buildings removed Copernicus DEM (FABDEM). The results provide SWS variations at monthly time steps from 1992 to 2015 characterized by a strong seasonal and interannual variability with an annual mean amplitude of ∼101±23 km3. The Middle Congo sub-basin shows a higher mean annual amplitude (∼71±15 km3). The comparison of SWS derived from the two methods and four DEMs shows an overall fair agreement. The SWS estimates are assessed against satellite precipitation data and in situ river discharge and, in general, a relatively fair agreement is found between the three hydrological variables at the basin and sub-basin scales (linear correlation coefficient >0.5). We further characterize the spatial distribution of the major drought that occurred across the basin at the end of 2005 and in early 2006. The SWS estimates clearly reveal the widespread spatial distribution of this severe event (∼40 % deficit as compared to their long-term average), in accordance with the large negative anomaly observed in precipitation over that period. This new SWS long-term dataset over the Congo River basin is an unprecedented new source of information for improving our comprehension of hydrological and biogeochemical cycles in the basin. As the datasets used in our study are available globally, our study opens opportunities to further develop satellite-derived SWS estimates at the global scale. The dataset of the CRB's SWS and the related Python code to run the reproducibility of the hypsometric curve approach dataset of SWS are respectively available for download at https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo. 7299823 and https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.8011607 (Kitambo et al., 2022b, 2023).

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A long-term monthly surface water storage dataset for the Congo basin from 1992 to 2015

Kitambo

Papa

Paris

et al. 2023

Earth Syst. Sci. Data

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“…Other studies that have quantified the performance of various satellite products over the CRB include Camberlin et al (2019), Becker et al (2014Becker et al ( , 2018, and Crowley et al (2006). Datok et al (2022) investigated Cuvette Centrale's role in CRB's hydrology.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Spatial-Temporal Evaluation of Satellite-Derived Rainfall Estimations for Water Resources Applications in the Upper Congo River Basin

Boluwade

2023

Preprint

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Satellite rainfall estimates are robust alternatives to gauge precipitation, especially in Africa, where several watersheds and regional water basins are poorly gauged or ungauged. In this study, six satellite precipitation products: the Climate Hazards Group Infrared Precipitation with Stations (CHIRPS); Tropical Applications of Meteorology Using Satellite and Ground-based Observations (TAMSAT); Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM); and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s new Integrated Multi-Satellite Retrievals for Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) early run (IMERG-ER), late run (IMERG-LR) and final run (IMERG-FR) are used to force a gauge-calibrated Soil & Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) model for the Congo River Basin, Central Africa. In this study, the National Centers for Environmental Prediction's Climate Forecast System Reanalysis (CFSR) calibrated version of the SWAT was used as the benchmark/reference while scenario versions will be created as configurations using each satellite product identified above. CFSR was used as an independent sample, to prevent bias towards any of the satellite products. The calibrated CFSR model captured and reproduced the hydrology (timing, peak flow & seasonality) of this basin using the average monthly discharge from Jan,1984- Dec,1991. Furthermore, the results show that TRMM, IMERG-FR, and CHIRPS captured the peak flows and correctly reproduced the seasonality and timing of the monthly discharges (Jan 2007- Dec 2010). In contrast, TAMSAT, IMERG-ER, and IMERG-LR overestimated the peak flows. These results show that some of these precipitation products must be bias corrected before being used for practical applications. The results of this study will be significant in integrated water resources management in the Congo River Basin and other regional river basins in Africa. Most important, the results obtained from this study has been hosted in a repository for free access to all interested in hydrology and water resources management in Africa

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“…Their characteristics are reported in Table 1. Hughes, 2014;Aloysius and Saiers, 2017;Munzimi et al, 2019;O'Loughlin et al, 2019;Paris et al, 2022;Datok et al, 2022). For example, Tshimanga and Hughes (2014) used a semi-distributed rainfall-runoff model to examine runoff generation processes and the impact of future climate and land use changes on water resources availability.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The model outputs showed a good consistency with the small number of available observations, yet with some notable inconsistencies in the mostly ungauged Cuvette Centrale region and in the southeastern lakes' subbasins. Datok et al (2022) used the Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) model to understand the role of the Cuvette Centrale region in water resources and ecological services. Their findings have highlighted the important regulatory function of the Cuvette Centrale region, which receives contributions from the upstream Congo River (33 %), effective precipitation inside the Cuvette Centrale region (31 %), and other tributaries (36 %).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A combined use of in situ and satellite-derived observations to characterize surface hydrology and its variability in the Congo River basin

Kitambo

Papa

Paris

et al. 2022

Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci.

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Abstract. The Congo River basin (CRB) is the second largest river system in the world, but its hydroclimatic characteristics remain relatively poorly known. Here, we jointly analyse a large record of in situ and satellite-derived observations, including a long-term time series of surface water height (SWH) from radar altimetry (a total of 2311 virtual stations) and surface water extent (SWE) from a multi-satellite technique, to characterize the CRB surface hydrology and its variability. First, we show that SWH from altimetry multi-missions agrees well with in situ water stage at various locations, with the root mean square deviation varying from 10 cm (with Sentinel-3A) to 75 cm (with European Remote Sensing satellite-2). SWE variability from multi-satellite observations also shows a plausible behaviour over a ∼25-year period when evaluated against in situ observations from the subbasin to basin scale. Both datasets help to better characterize the large spatial and temporal variability in hydrological patterns across the basin, with SWH exhibiting an annual amplitude of more than 5 m in the northern subbasins, while the Congo River main stream and Cuvette Centrale tributaries vary in smaller proportions (1.5 to 4.5 m). Furthermore, SWH and SWE help illustrate the spatial distribution and different timings of the CRB annual flood dynamic and how each subbasin and tributary contribute to the hydrological regime at the outlet of the basin (the Brazzaville/Kinshasa station), including its peculiar bimodal pattern. Across the basin, we estimate the time lag and water travel time to reach the Brazzaville/Kinshasa station to range from 0–1 month in its vicinity in downstream parts of the basin and up to 3 months in remote areas and small tributaries. Northern subbasins and the central Congo region contribute highly to the large peak in December–January, while the southern part of the basin supplies water to both hydrological peaks, in particular to the moderate one in April–May. The results are supported using in situ observations at several locations in the basin. Our results contribute to a better characterization of the hydrological variability in the CRB and represent an unprecedented source of information for hydrological modelling and to study hydrological processes over the region.

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Investigating the Role of the Cuvette Centrale in the Hydrology of the Congo River Basin

Cited by 6 publications

References 83 publications

A long-term monthly surface water storage dataset for the Congo basin from 1992 to 2015

A long-term monthly surface water storage dataset for the Congo basin from 1992 to 2015

Spatial-Temporal Evaluation of Satellite-Derived Rainfall Estimations for Water Resources Applications in the Upper Congo River Basin

A combined use of in situ and satellite-derived observations to characterize surface hydrology and its variability in the Congo River basin

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