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Streamflow Changes in Upper Blue Nile Basin

This study analyzes streamflow changes in the Upper Blue Nile River Basin using the Budyko framework and elasticity method across 95 watersheds. It finds that precipitation has a greater impact on streamflow changes compared to potential evapotranspiration, with 68% of watersheds experiencing increased streamflow due to climate and watershed variations. The research highlights the need for sustainable water resource management, particularly in the Eastern and Southern regions of the basin.

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yaikob Abriham
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4 views2 pages

Streamflow Changes in Upper Blue Nile Basin

This study analyzes streamflow changes in the Upper Blue Nile River Basin using the Budyko framework and elasticity method across 95 watersheds. It finds that precipitation has a greater impact on streamflow changes compared to potential evapotranspiration, with 68% of watersheds experiencing increased streamflow due to climate and watershed variations. The research highlights the need for sustainable water resource management, particularly in the Eastern and Southern regions of the basin.

Uploaded by

yaikob Abriham
Copyright
© All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Attribution Analysis of Streamflow Changes in The Upper Blue Nile River

Basin Using a Top-Down Modeling Framework

Sintayehu A. Abebe1*, Tianling Qin2, Denghua Yan2

1
Hydraulic and Water Resources Engineering Department, Debre Markos University Institute of
Technology, Debre Markos, Ethiopia

2
State Key Laboratory of Simulation and Regulation of Water Cycle in River Basin, China Institute
of Water Resources and Hydropower Research, Beijing, China

*Contact information:

E-mail: sentaddis@[Link];

Phone number: +251912729728

Presenter’s name: Sintayehu Adefires Abebe (Ph.D.)


Abstract

This study applied the Budyko framework and elasticity method to quantify the relative
contribution of climate and watershed characteristics to streamflow changes in 95 watersheds in
the Upper Blue Nile River Basin (UBNRB). The Water and Energy Processes (WEP) model is
successfully verified and used to simulate the streamflow and potential evapotranspiration of the
watersheds. The study period was divided into the base (1983-1998) and change (1999-2018)
periods based on Pettitt's test to assess the changes in streamflow. Precipitation shows moderate
fluctuation during the study period (1983-2018) with an increasing trend. However, potential
evapotranspiration exhibits very low fluctuation leading to a lower contribution in affecting
streamflow changes than precipitation. The watershed characteristics coefficient (ω) decreases
overall during the study period. Nearly 81% of the UBNRB watersheds have aridity index values
between 0.6 and 1.1, indicating humid conditions. Those watersheds with higher aridity index and
lower ω were more sensitive to streamflow change. Streamflow of UBNRB tends to increase more
due to watershed characteristics changes than due to climate variations. Nearly 68% of the
watersheds show an increase in streamflow during the change period due to the combined action
of climate and watershed characteristics variation. Overall, the Eastern and Southern source
regions and the Northwestern lowlands of the basin are highly affected by climate and watershed
alterations. These areas need more attention to sustainably manage the basin's water resources.

Keywords: Streamflow sensitivity; Budyko framework; Attribution analysis; Blue Nile River

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