Rainfall intensity and groundwater recharge: empirical evidence from the Upper Nile Basin

Owor, Michael; Taylor, Richard G.; Tindimugaya, Callist; Mwesigwa, David

doi:10.1088/1748-9326/4/3/035009

Cited by 164 publications

(138 citation statements)

References 21 publications

(35 reference statements)

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“…Most studies appear to focus on either tropical regions or arid/semi-arid regions. For example, Owor et al (2009) …”

Section: Rechargementioning

confidence: 99%

“…According to numerous climate change projections from global climate models (GCMs), the proportion of infrequent, extreme (heavy) precipitation events is anticipated to increase in the 21 st century (Taylor et al, 2013b;IPCC, 2012;Owor et al, 2009;Pall et al, 2007). While increases in global mean precipitation are constrained by the energy budget (the ability of the troposphere to radiate away latent heat released by precipitation), increases in extreme precipitation are controlled by the availability of atmospheric moisture (Allen and Ingram, 2002).…”

Section: Heavy Rainfall and Climatementioning

confidence: 99%

“…While increases in global mean precipitation are constrained by the energy budget (the ability of the troposphere to radiate away latent heat released by precipitation), increases in extreme precipitation are controlled by the availability of atmospheric moisture (Allen and Ingram, 2002). The availability of atmospheric moisture, which is inferred from the direct relationship between temperature and vapor pressure in the Clausius-Clapeyron relation, is expected to increase at a rate of approximately 6.5% K -1 (Owor et al, 2009;Pall et al, 2007;Allen and Ingram, 2002). This is expected to lead to an increase in heavy precipitation events at a faster rate than mean precipitation, although projections vary by latitude (Allen and Ingram, 2002).…”

Section: Heavy Rainfall and Climatementioning

confidence: 99%

“…Future climate change projections suggest that groundwater recharge will change in the 21 st century (Taylor et al, 2013b; Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), 2012; Owor et al, 2009;Pall et al, 2007). Temperate areas already receiving large amounts of precipitation are expected to become slightly wetter and the proportion of heavy rainfall events is anticipated to increase (Taylor et al, 2013a;IPCC, 2012).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Response of a fractured bedrock aquifer to recharge from heavy rainfall events

Rathay

Allen

Kirste

2018

Journal of Hydrology

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The response of a fractured bedrock aquifer in a temperate region (Gulf Islands, British Columbia) to heavy rainfall events is characterized. Of the 14 provincial observation wells with hourly groundwater level data, wells with shallow water levels showed pronounced responses to heavy rain events, a lag less than 12 hours, and a strong correlation to all rain events. Rises in groundwater level at Well 125 appear to be better related to all rain events than exclusively heavy rain during summer, and decrease as the rainfall intensity increases. Thermal infrared images and δ 18 O and δ 2 H composition for precipitation and seepage indicate an increase in seepage in the late fall and winter.Solution of the Green-Ampt equation for rainfall events of varying magnitude suggest that an increase in winter rainfall intensity leads to more surface ponding and overland flow. The projected occurrence of more heavy rain events in the future may result in lower net recharge.

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“…Most studies appear to focus on either tropical regions or arid/semi-arid regions. For example, Owor et al (2009) …”

Section: Rechargementioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Heavy Rainfall and Climatementioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Heavy Rainfall and Climatementioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Response of a fractured bedrock aquifer to recharge from heavy rainfall events

Rathay

Allen

Kirste

2018

Journal of Hydrology

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“…We caution that the continental-scale lumped-parameter approach provides only a crude approximation of the water budget and is possible at the cost of several simplifications: (a) ignoring preferential flow into the soil, fractured rock, saprolite (Neumann, 2005;Beven and Germann, 2013), and karst regions (Hartmann et al, 2014); (b) not considering the role of macroporosity (Owor et al, 2009;Taylor et al, 2013); (c) missing proper soil-hydraulic properties pertaining to datasets related to specific Tropical and Equatorial zones in Africa (Minasny and Hartemink, 2011); (d) missing information on land-use changes (urbanization, deforestation) in Africa (Githui et al, 2009;Baker and Miller, 2013); (e) lacking records of water pumping and the role of human consumption of water; and (f) ignoring focused recharge via leakage from surface waters (ephemeral streams, wetlands, or lakes).…”

Section: Model Limitationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Impact of climate indicators on continental‐scale potential groundwater recharge in Africa

Nasta

Gates

Wada

2016

Hydrological Processes

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In the last decades, human activity has been contributing to climate change that is closely associated with an increase in temperatures, increase in evaporation, intensification of extreme dry and wet rainfall events, and widespread melting of snow and ice. Understanding the intricate linkage between climate warming and the hydrological cycle is crucial for sustainable management of groundwater resources, especially in a vulnerable continent like Africa. This study investigates the relationship between climate-change drivers and potential groundwater recharge (PGR) patterns across Africa for a long-term record . Water-balance components were simulated by using the PCR-GLOBWB model and were reproduced in both gridded maps and latitudinal trends that vary in space with minima on the Tropics and maxima around the Equator. Statistical correlations between temperature, storm occurrences, drought, and PGR were examined in six climatic regions of Africa.Surprisingly, different effects of climate-change controls on PGR were detected as a function of latitude in the last three decades . Temporal trends observed in the Northern Hemisphere of Africa reveal that the increase in temperature is significantly correlated to the decline of PGR, especially in the Northern Equatorial Africa. The climate indicators considered in this study were unable to explain the alarming negative trend of PGR observed in the Sahelian region, even though the Standardized Precipitation-Evapotranspiration Index (SPEI) values report a 15% drought stress.On the other hand, increases in temperature have not been detected in the Southern Hemisphere of Africa, where increasing frequency of storm occurrences determine a rise of PGR, particularly in southern Africa. Time analysis highlights a strong seasonality effect while PGR is in-phase with rainfall patterns in the summer (Northern Hemisphere) and winter (Southern Hemisphere) and out-ofphase during the fall season. This study helps to elucidate the mechanism of the processes influencing groundwater resources in six climatic zones of Africa, even though modeling results need to be validated more extensively with direct measurements in future studies.

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Potential impacts of climate and environmental change on the stored water of Lake Victoria Basin and economic implications

Awange¹,

Anyah

Agola

et al. 2013

Water Resour. Res.

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[1] The changing climatic patterns and increasing human population within the Lake Victoria Basin (LVB), together with overexploitation of water for economic activities call for assessment of water management for the entire basin. This study focused on the analysis of a combination of available in situ climate data, Gravity Recovery And Climate Experiment (GRACE), Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) observations, and high resolution Regional Climate simulations during recent decade(s) to assess the water storage changes within LVB that may be linked to recent climatic variability/changes and anomalies. We employed trend analysis, principal component analysis (PCA), and temporal/spatial correlations to explore the associations and covariability among LVB stored water, rainfall variability, and large-scale forcings associated with El-Niño/Southern Oscillation (ENSO) and Indian Ocean Dipole (IOD). Potential economic impacts of human and climate-induced changes in LVB stored water are also explored. Overall, observed in situ rainfall from lake-shore stations showed a modest increasing trend during the recent decades. The dominant patterns of rainfall data from the TRMM satellite estimates suggest that the spatial and temporal distribution of precipitation have not changed much during the period of 1998-2012 over the basin consistent with in situ observations. However, GRACEderived water storage changes over LVB indicate an average decline of 38.2 mm/yr for [2003][2004][2005][2006], likely due to the extension of the Owen Fall/Nalubale dam, and an increase of 4.5 mm/yr over 2007-2013, likely due to two massive rainfalls in 2006-2007 and 2010-2011. The temporal correlations between rainfall and ENSO/IOD indices during the study period, based on TRMM and model simulations, suggest significant influence of large-scale forcing on LVB rainfall, and thus stored water. The contributions of ENSO and IOD on the amplitude of TRMM-rainfall and GRACE-derived water storage changes, for the period of [2003][2004][2005][2006][2007][2008][2009][2010][2011][2012][2013], are estimated to be 2.5 cm and 1.5 cm, respectively.

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Rainfall intensity and groundwater recharge: empirical evidence from the Upper Nile Basin

Cited by 164 publications

References 21 publications

Response of a fractured bedrock aquifer to recharge from heavy rainfall events

Response of a fractured bedrock aquifer to recharge from heavy rainfall events

Impact of climate indicators on continental‐scale potential groundwater recharge in Africa

Potential impacts of climate and environmental change on the stored water of Lake Victoria Basin and economic implications

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