Water accounting under climate change in the transboundary Volta River Basin with a spatially calibrated hydrological model

Sustainable water management requires evidence-based information on the current and future states of water resources. This study presents a comprehensive modelling framework that integrates the fully distributed mesoscale Hydrologic Model (mHM) and climate change scenarios with the Water Accounting...

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Autores principales: Dembélé, Moctar, Salvadore, E., Zwart, Sander J., Ceperley, N., Mariethoz, G., Schaefli, B.
Formato: Journal Article
Lenguaje:Inglés
Publicado: Elsevier 2023
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://hdl.handle.net/10568/131983
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author Dembélé, Moctar
Salvadore, E.
Zwart, Sander J.
Ceperley, N.
Mariethoz, G.
Schaefli, B.
author_browse Ceperley, N.
Dembélé, Moctar
Mariethoz, G.
Salvadore, E.
Schaefli, B.
Zwart, Sander J.
author_facet Dembélé, Moctar
Salvadore, E.
Zwart, Sander J.
Ceperley, N.
Mariethoz, G.
Schaefli, B.
author_sort Dembélé, Moctar
collection Repository of Agricultural Research Outputs (CGSpace)
description Sustainable water management requires evidence-based information on the current and future states of water resources. This study presents a comprehensive modelling framework that integrates the fully distributed mesoscale Hydrologic Model (mHM) and climate change scenarios with the Water Accounting Plus (WA+) tool to anticipate future water resource challenges and provide mitigation measures in the transboundary Volta River basin (VRB) in West Africa. The mHM model is forced with a large ensemble of climate change projection data from CORDEX-Africa. Outputs from mHM are used as inputs to the WA+ framework to report on water flows and consumption over the historical baseline period 1991–2020 and the near-term future 2021–2050 at the basin scale, and also across spatial domains including four climatic zones, four sub-basins and six riparian countries. The long-term multi-model ensemble mean of the net inflow to the basin is found to be 419 km3 /year with an inter-annual variability of 11% and is projected to slightly increase in the near-term future (2021–2050). However, evaporation consumes most of the net inflow, with only 8% remaining as runoff. About 4 km3 /year of water is currently used for man-made activities. Only 45% of the available water is beneficially consumed, with the agricultural sector representing 34% of the beneficial water consumption. Water availability is projected to increase in the future due to the increase in rainfall, along with higher inter-model and inter-annual variabilities, thereby highlighting the need for adaptation strategies. These findings and the proposed climate-resilient land and water management strategies can help optimize the water-energy-food-ecosystem nexus and support evidence-based decisions and policy-making for sustainable water management in the VRB.
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spelling CGSpace1319832025-10-26T12:54:33Z Water accounting under climate change in the transboundary Volta River Basin with a spatially calibrated hydrological model Dembélé, Moctar Salvadore, E. Zwart, Sander J. Ceperley, N. Mariethoz, G. Schaefli, B. water accounting climate change transboundary waters river basins hydrological modelling water balance water resources water management sustainability water availability water use climate models evaporation land cover land use runoff climatic zones Sustainable water management requires evidence-based information on the current and future states of water resources. This study presents a comprehensive modelling framework that integrates the fully distributed mesoscale Hydrologic Model (mHM) and climate change scenarios with the Water Accounting Plus (WA+) tool to anticipate future water resource challenges and provide mitigation measures in the transboundary Volta River basin (VRB) in West Africa. The mHM model is forced with a large ensemble of climate change projection data from CORDEX-Africa. Outputs from mHM are used as inputs to the WA+ framework to report on water flows and consumption over the historical baseline period 1991–2020 and the near-term future 2021–2050 at the basin scale, and also across spatial domains including four climatic zones, four sub-basins and six riparian countries. The long-term multi-model ensemble mean of the net inflow to the basin is found to be 419 km3 /year with an inter-annual variability of 11% and is projected to slightly increase in the near-term future (2021–2050). However, evaporation consumes most of the net inflow, with only 8% remaining as runoff. About 4 km3 /year of water is currently used for man-made activities. Only 45% of the available water is beneficially consumed, with the agricultural sector representing 34% of the beneficial water consumption. Water availability is projected to increase in the future due to the increase in rainfall, along with higher inter-model and inter-annual variabilities, thereby highlighting the need for adaptation strategies. These findings and the proposed climate-resilient land and water management strategies can help optimize the water-energy-food-ecosystem nexus and support evidence-based decisions and policy-making for sustainable water management in the VRB. 2023-11 2023-09-25T03:04:16Z 2023-09-25T03:04:16Z Journal Article https://hdl.handle.net/10568/131983 en Open Access Elsevier Dembele, Moctar; Salvadore, E.; Zwart, Sander; Ceperley, N.; Mariethoz, G.; Schaefli, B. 2023. Water accounting under climate change in the transboundary Volta River Basin with a spatially calibrated hydrological model. Journal of Hydrology, 626(Part A):130092. (Online first) [doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhydrol.2023.130092]
spellingShingle water accounting
climate change
transboundary waters
river basins
hydrological modelling
water balance
water resources
water management
sustainability
water availability
water use
climate models
evaporation
land cover
land use
runoff
climatic zones
Dembélé, Moctar
Salvadore, E.
Zwart, Sander J.
Ceperley, N.
Mariethoz, G.
Schaefli, B.
Water accounting under climate change in the transboundary Volta River Basin with a spatially calibrated hydrological model
title Water accounting under climate change in the transboundary Volta River Basin with a spatially calibrated hydrological model
title_full Water accounting under climate change in the transboundary Volta River Basin with a spatially calibrated hydrological model
title_fullStr Water accounting under climate change in the transboundary Volta River Basin with a spatially calibrated hydrological model
title_full_unstemmed Water accounting under climate change in the transboundary Volta River Basin with a spatially calibrated hydrological model
title_short Water accounting under climate change in the transboundary Volta River Basin with a spatially calibrated hydrological model
title_sort water accounting under climate change in the transboundary volta river basin with a spatially calibrated hydrological model
topic water accounting
climate change
transboundary waters
river basins
hydrological modelling
water balance
water resources
water management
sustainability
water availability
water use
climate models
evaporation
land cover
land use
runoff
climatic zones
url https://hdl.handle.net/10568/131983
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