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Evaluation of Global Water Resources Reanalysis Runoff Products for Local Water Resources Applications: Case Study-Upper Blue Nile Basin of Ethiopia

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Abstract

The increasing availability of global observation datasets, both from in situ and remote sensors, and advancements in earth system models and data assimilation algorithms have generated a number of water resources reanalysis products that are available at global scale and high spatial and temporal resolutions. These products hold great potential for water resources applications, but their levels of uncertainty need to be evaluated at local scale. In this work, we evaluate the runoff product from two multi-model global water resources reanalyses (WRRs), available at 0.5° (WRR1) and 0.25° (WRR2) grid resolutions, which were produced within the framework of a European Union project (eartH2Observe) in the upper Blue Nile basin. Analysis indicates that the recently released WRR2 UniK product exhibits consistently better performance statistics than the earlier coarser-resolution WRR1 and the rest of the WRR2 products at all ranges of temporal and spatial scale evaluated. Streamflow simulations based on gauged rainfall forcing and the locally set hydrological model CREST outperforms all the other products, including UniK. Global hydrological products can be a data source for various water resources planning and management applications in data-scarce areas of Africa. This study cautions against using available global hydrological products without prior uncertainty evaluation.

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Acknowledgments

This work is supported by the EU-funded eartH2Observe (ENVE.2013.6.3-3) project. The authors would like to thank the Ethiopian Ministry of Water, Irrigation, and Electricity for the updated observed river runoff data. This study is coordinated by Addis Ababa University, School of Civil and Environmental Engineering.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Addis Ababa University, Institute of Technology, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

    Haileyesus Belay Lakew, Semu Ayalew Moges & Dereje Hailu Asfaw

  2. Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Connecticut, Storrs, CT, USA

    Semu Ayalew Moges, Emmanouil N. Anagnostou & Efthymios I. Nikolopoulos

Authors
  1. Haileyesus Belay Lakew
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  2. Semu Ayalew Moges
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  3. Emmanouil N. Anagnostou
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  4. Efthymios I. Nikolopoulos
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  5. Dereje Hailu Asfaw
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Correspondence to Haileyesus Belay Lakew.

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Lakew, H.B., Moges, S.A., Anagnostou, E.N. et al. Evaluation of Global Water Resources Reanalysis Runoff Products for Local Water Resources Applications: Case Study-Upper Blue Nile Basin of Ethiopia. Water Resour Manage 34, 2157–2177 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11269-019-2190-y

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11269-019-2190-y

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