Abstract
The paper investigates streamflow trends in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BH). Long-term (1961–2020) average annual and monthly streamflow trends were elicited on the basis of data from seven hydrological stations which are positioned on most of the largest rivers in BH. Trend disclosure was conducted by utilizing the Mann–Kendall (MK) test, the modified MK (mMK) test, and the Sen’s slope estimator (SSE). The decreasing trend in annual streamflows is present across all studied rivers in BH in the range from − 0.07 to − 0.84 m3/s/year. Significant negative tendencies in summer months (June, July, and August) streamflows were determined at almost all stations. July is the month in which significant negative trends were recorded at six out of seven stations (− 0.11 to − 0.66 m3/s/year). The insignificant negative tendency was, in general, present throughout the year, whereas negligibly positive trends were present during March and October at a couple of stations. The Rescaled Adjusted Partial Sums (RAPS) analysis revealed that 1981/1982 was the year when most hydrological stations started exhibiting negative streamflow tendencies. Our results point out that the water resources of BH require sustainable management and that this is one of the essential tasks for decision-makers at both the state and local levels Also, this study represents the starting point for further research in water resources, given that so far this is the first and most comprehensive long-term analysis of average streamflows at the national level of BH.
This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution.





Data availability
Not applicable.
References
Adam JC, Haddeland I, Su F, Lettenmaier DP (2007) Simulation of reservoir influences on annual and seasonal streamflow changes for the Lena, Yenisei and Ob’ rivers. J Geophys Res 112:D24114. https://doi.org/10.1029/2007JD008525
Alifujiang Y, Abuduwaili J, Ge Y (2021) Trend analysis of annual and seasonal river runoff by using innovative trend analysis with significant test. Water 13:95. https://doi.org/10.3390/w13010095
Apsīte E, Nikodemus O, Brūmelis G, Lagzdiņš A, Elferts D, Rendenieks Z, Klints L (2017) Impact of climate variability, drainage and land-cover changes on hemiboreal streamflow. Hydrol Sci J 62:2558–2570. https://doi.org/10.1080/02626667.2017.1393821
Balistrocchi M, Tomirotti M, Muraca A, Ranzi R (2021) Hydroclimatic variability and land cover transformations in the central Italian Alps. Water 13:963. https://doi.org/10.3390/w13070963
Birsan M-V (2015) Trends in monthly natural streamflow in Romania and linkages to atmospheric circulation in the north atlantic. Water Resour Manag 29:305–3313. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11269-015-0999-6
Burić D, Ducić V, Doderović M (2016) Poplave u Crnoj Gori krajem 2010. godine sa osvrtom na kolebanje proticaja Morače. Glasnik Odjeljenja Prirodnih Nauka CANU 21:47–64
Canchala T, Cerón WL, Francés F, Carvajal-Escobar Y, Andreoli RV, Kayano MT, Alfonso-Morales W, Caicedo-Bravo E, de Souza RAF (2020) Streamflow variability in Colombian pacific basins and their teleconnections with climate indices. Water 12:526. https://doi.org/10.3390/w12020526
Chen Y, Li Z, Fan Y, Wang H, Deng H (2015) Progress and prospects of climate change impacts on hydrology in the arid region of northwest China. Environ Res 139:11–19. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envres.2014.12.029
Cherkauer KA, Bowling LC, Byun K, Chaubey I, Chin N, Ficklin DL, Hamlet AF, Kines SJ, Lee CI, Neupane R, Pignotti GW, Rahman S, Singh S, Femeena PV, Williamson TN (2021) Climate change impacts and strategies for adaptation for water resource management in Indiana. Clim Change 165:21. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10584-021-02979-4
Ćulafić GLJ, Mitrović L, Golijanin J (2017) Uticaj klimatskih promjena na vodni režim u slivu Lima. In Jojić D (ed) Zbornik radova povodom obilježavanja 20 godina rada Prirodno-matematičkog fakulteta Univerziteta u Banjoj Luci. Prirodno-matematički fakultet, Banja Luka, pp 141–147
Dai A (2016) Historical and future changes in streamflow and continental runoff: a review. Geophys Monogr Ser. https://doi.org/10.1002/9781118971772.ch2
Danilovich I, Zhuravlev S, Kurochkina L, Groisman P (2019) The past and future estimates of climate and streamflow changes in the western Dvina river basin. Front Earth Sci 7:204. https://doi.org/10.3389/feart.2019.00204
Dimkić D (2018) Observed climate and hydrologic changes in serbia—what has changed in the last ten years. Proceedings 2:616. https://doi.org/10.3390/proceedings2110616
Diop L, Yaseen ZM, Bodian A, Djaman K, Brown L (2018) Trend analysis of streamflow with different time scales: a case study of the upper Senegal River. ISH J Hydraul Eng 24:105–114. https://doi.org/10.1080/09715010.2017.1333045
Döll P, Schmied HM (2012) How is the impact of climate change on river flow regimes related to the impact on mean annual runoff? A global-scale analysis. Environ Res Lett 7:014037. https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/7/1/014037
Douville H, Raghavan K, Renwick J, Allan RP, Arias PA, Barlow M, Cerezo-Mota R, Cherchi A, Gan TY, Gergis J, Jiang D, Khan A, Pokam Mba W, Rosenfeld D, Tierney J, Zolina O (2021) Water cycle changes. In: Masson-Delmotte VP, Zhai A, Pirani SL, Connors C, Péan S, Berger N, Caud Y, Chen L, Goldfarb MI, Gomis M, Huang K, Leitzell E, Lonnoy JBR, Matthews TK, Maycock T, Waterfield O, Yelekçi R, Yu and B. Zhou (eds) Climate change 2021: the physical science basis. Contribution of Working Group I to the Sixth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge and New York, pp 1055–1210
Drašković B, Ponosov A, Zhernakova N, Gutalj M, Miletić B (2020) Land cover types and changes in land use in Republic of Srpska (Bosnia and Herzegovina) over the period 2000–2018. J Geogr Inst Cvijic 70:81–88. https://doi.org/10.2298/IJGI2001081D
Drašković B, Gutalj M, Stjepanović S, Miletić B (2021) Estimating recent forest losses in Bosnia and Herzegovina by using the Copernicus and Corine land cover databases. Šumarski List 145:581–589. https://doi.org/10.31298/sl.145.11-12.7
Ducić V, Burić D, Trbić G, Cupać R (2014) Analysis of precipitation and draughts on BiH territory based upon standardized precipitation index (SPI). Herald 18:53–70. https://doi.org/10.7251/HER1814053D
Ðurin B, Raič M, Sušilović P (2022) Application of the RAPS method of time series analysis to the assessment of grout curtain performance in Karst—a case study of the hydro energy power plant (HEPP) Mostar Dam in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Hydrology 9:192. https://doi.org/10.3390/hydrology9110192
Gabrecht J, Fernandez GP (1994) Visualization of trends and fluctuations in climatic records. Water Resour Bull 30:297–306. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1752-1688.1994.tb03292.x
Gnjato S (2018) Analysis of the water discharge at the Sana river. Herald 22:103–116. https://doi.org/10.7251/HER2218103G
Gnjato S, Popov T, Adžić D, Ivanišević M, Trbić G, Bajić D (2021) Influence of climate change on river discharges over the Sava river watershed in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Idöjárás 125:449–462. https://doi.org/10.28974/idojaras.2021.3.5
Gnjato S, Popov T, Ivanišević M, Trbić G (2019) Climate change impact on river discharges in Bosnia and Herzegovina: a case study of the lower vrbas river basin. In Leal Filho W, Trbic G, Filipovic D (eds) Climate change adaptation in eastern Europe. Climate Change Management, Springer, Cham, pp 79–92. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-03383-5_6
Gnjato S (2022) Climate change impact on river discharges in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Dissertation, University of Belgrade
Gocic M, Trajkovic S (2013) Analysis of changes in meteorological variables using Mann-Kendall and Sen’s slope estimator statistical tests in Serbia. Glob Planet Change 100:172–182. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gloplacha.2012.10.014
Gudmundsson L, Seneviratne SI, Zhang X (2017) Anthropogenic climate change detected in European renewable freshwater resources. Nat Clim Change 7:813–816. https://doi.org/10.1038/nclimate3416
Gudmundsson L, Leonard M, Do HX, Westra S, Seneviratne SI (2019) Observed trends in global indicators of mean and extreme streamflow. Geophys Res Lett 46:756–766. https://doi.org/10.1029/2018GL079725
Hadžić E, Drešković N (2014) Analysis of the impact of temperature and precipitation fluctuations on river flow in the Sarajevo valley. Vodoprivreda 46:65–75
Hannaford J (2015) Climate-driven changes in UK river flows: a review of the evidence. Prog Phys Geogr 39:29–48. https://doi.org/10.1177/0309133314536755
Heerspink BP, Kendall AD, Coe MT, Hyndman DW (2020) Trends in streamflow, evapotranspiration, and groundwater storage across the Amazon Basin linked to changing precipitation and land cover. J Hydrol Reg Stud 32:100755. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ejrh.2020.100755
International Energy Agency (2023) Hydropower Data Explorer. https://www.iea.org/data-and-statistics/data-tools/hydropower-data-explorer Accessed 8 January 2023
Ji L, Duan K (2019) What is the main driving force of hydrological cycle variations in the semi-arid and semi-humid Weihe River Basin, China? Sci Total Environ 684:254–264. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2019.05.333
Kędra M (2020) Regional response to global warming: water temperature trends in semi-natural mountain river systems. Water 12:283. https://doi.org/10.3390/w12010283
Kendall MG (1975) Rank correlation methods. Griffin, London
Khoi DN, Nguyen VT, Sam TT, Phung NK, Bay NT (2019) Responses of river discharge and sediment load to climate change in the transboundary Mekong River Basin. Water Environ J 34:367–380. https://doi.org/10.1111/wej.12534
Langović M, Manojlović S, Čvorović Z (2017) Trends of mean annual river discharges in the zapadna morava river basin. Bull Serb Geogr Soc 97:19–45. https://doi.org/10.2298/GSGD1702019L
Leščešen I, Šraj M, Pantelić M, Dolinaj D (2021) Assessing the impact of climate on annual and seasonal discharges at the Sremska Mitrovica station on the Sava River, Serbia. Water Supply 22:195–207. https://doi.org/10.2166/ws.2021.277
Liu W, Shi C, Zhou Y (2021) Trends and attribution of runoff changes in the upper and middle reaches of the Yellow River in China. J Hydro-Environ Res 37:57–66. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jher.2021.05.002
Mann HB (1945) Nonparametric tests against trend. Econometrica 13:245. https://doi.org/10.2307/1907187
Martić Bursać NM, Radovanović MM, Radivojević AR, Ivanović RD, Stričević LS, Gocić MJ, Golubović NM, Bursać BL (2022) Observed climate changes in the Toplica river valley—trend analysis of temperature, precipitation and river discharge. Idöjárás 126:403–423. https://doi.org/10.28974/idojaras.2022.3.8
Masseroni D, Camici S, Cislaghi A, Vacchiano G, Massari C, Brocca L (2020) The 63-year changes in annual streamflow volumes across Europe with a focus on the Mediterranean basin. Hydrol Earth Syst Sci 25:5589–5601. https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-25-5589-2021
Mentzafou A, Dimitriou E, Papadopoulos A (2015) Long-term hydrologic trends in the main greek rivers: a statistical approach. In: Skoulikidis N, Dimitriou E, Karaouzas I (eds) The rivers of Greece. The handbook of environmental chemistry. Springer, Berlin, pp 129–165
Mezger G, De Stefano L, González del Tánago MG (2022) Analysis of the evolution of climatic and hydrological variables in the Tagus river basin. Spain Water 14:818. https://doi.org/10.3390/w14050818
Minea I, Boicu D, Chelariu O-E (2020) Detection of groundwater levels trends using innovative trend analysis method in temperate climatic conditions. Water 12:2129. https://doi.org/10.3390/w12082129
Modarres R, da Silva VR (2007) Rainfall trends in arid and semi-arid regions of Iran. J Arid Environ 70:344–355. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jaridenv.2006.12.024
Moon W, Hannachi A (2021) River Nile discharge, the Pacific Ocean and world climate—a seasonal synchronization perspective. Tellus A Dyn Meteorol Oceanogr 73:1–12. https://doi.org/10.1080/16000870.2021.1947551
Myronidis D, Ioannou K, Fotakis D, Dörflinger D (2018) Streamflow and hydrological drought trend analysis and forecasting in Cyprus. Water Resour Manag 32:1759–1776. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11269-018-1902-z
Novotny EV, Stefan HG (2007) Stream flow in Minnesota: indicator of climate change. J Hydrol 334:319–333. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhydrol.2006.10.011
Oblak J, Kobold M, Šraj M (2021) The influence of climate change on discharge fluctuations in Slovenian rivers. Acta Geogr Slov 61:155–169. https://doi.org/10.3986/AGS.9942
Önöz B, Bayazit M (2012) Block bootstrap for Mann-Kendall trend test of serially dependent data. Hydrol Process 26:3552–3560. https://doi.org/10.1002/hyp.8438
Orešić D, Čanjevac I, Maradin M (2017) Changes in discharge regimes in the middle course of the Sava River in the 1931–2010 period. Prace Geograf 151:93–119. https://doi.org/10.4467/20833113PG.17.024.8036
Papadaki C, Dimitriou E (2017) River flow alterations caused by intense anthropogenic uses and future climate variability implications in the Balkans. Hydrology 8:7. https://doi.org/10.3390/hydrology8010007
Patakamuri SK, Muthiah K, Sridhar V (2020) Long-term homogeneity, trend, and change-point analysis of rainfall in the arid district of Ananthapuramu, Andhra Pradesh state. India Water 12:211. https://doi.org/10.3390/w12010211
Pavlić K, Kovač Z, Jurlina T (2017) Trend analysis of mean and high flows in response to climate warming—evidence from karstic catchments in Croatia. Geofizika 34:157−175 https://doi.org/10.15233/gfz.2017.34.11
Peña-Angulo D, Vicente-Serrano SM, Domínguez-Castro F, Lorenzo-Lacruz J, Murphy C, Hannaford J, Allan RP, Tramblay Y, Reig-Gracia F, El Kenawy A (2022) The complex and spatially diverse patterns of hydrological droughts across Europe. Water Resour Res 58:e2022. https://doi.org/10.1029/2022WR031976
Pešić AM (2019) Water regime and discharges trends of the rivers in the Šumadija Region (Serbia). In Mavroski K (ed) Proceedings of the International Scientific Symposium “New Trends in Geography”. Macedonian Geographical Society, Ohrid, pp 3–13
Pingale SM, Khare D, Jat MK, Adamowski J (2014) Spatial and temporal trends of mean and extreme rainfall and temperature for the 33 urban centers of the arid and semi-arid state of Rajasthan, India. Atmos Res 138:73–90. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.atmosres.2013.10.024
Piniewski M, Marcinkowski P, Kundzewicz ZW (2018) Trend detection in river flow indices in Poland. Acta Geophys 66:347–360. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11600-018-0116-3
Popov T, Gnjato S, Trbić G (2019a) Changes in precipitation over the East Herzegovina region. Bull Serbian Geogr Soc 99:29–44. https://doi.org/10.2298/GSGD1201123B
Popov T, Gnjato S, Trbić G (2019b) Extreme temperature and precipitation months in the east Herzegovina region. Herald 23:73–94. https://doi.org/10.7251/HER1923073P
Radevski I, Gorin S, Taleska M, Dimitrovska O (2018) Natural regime of streamflow trends in Macedonia. Geografie 123:1–20. https://doi.org/10.37040/geografie2018123010001
Sabzevari AA, Zarenistanak M, Tabari H, Moghimi S (2015) Evaluation of precipitation and river discharge variations over southwestern Iran during recent decades. J Earth Syst Sci 124:335–352. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12040-015-0549-x
Sen PK (1968) Estimates of the regression coefficient based on Kendall’s Tau. J Am Sta Assoc 63:1379–1389. https://doi.org/10.1080/01621459.1968.10480934
Shi X, Qin T, Nie H, Weng B, He S (2019) Changes in major global river discharges directed into the ocean. Int J Environ Res Public Health 16:1469. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph16081469
Skålevåg A, Vormoor K (2021) Daily streamflow trends in Western versus Eastern Norway and their attribution to hydro-meteorological drivers. Hydrol Process 35:e14329. https://doi.org/10.1002/hyp.14329
Stefanović V, Beus V, Burlica Č, Dizdarević H, Vukorep I (1983) Ekološko-vegetacijska rejonizacija Bosne i Hercegovine. Šumarski fakultet, Sarajevo
Stuefer S, Yang D, Shiklomanov A (2013) Effect on streamflow regulation on mean annual discharge variability of the Yenisei River. In: Yang D, Marsh P, Gelfan A (eds) Cold regions hydrology in a changing climate. IAHS Press, Melbourne, pp 27–32
Su L, Miao C, Kong D, Duan Q, Lei X, Hou Q, Li H (2018) Long-term trends in global river flow and the causal relationships between river flow and ocean signals. J Hydrol 563:818–833. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhydrol.2018.06.058
Trbić G, Popov T, Gnjato S (2017) Analysis of air temperature trends in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Geogr Pannonica 21:68–84. https://doi.org/10.5937/GeoPan1702068T
Vidmar A, Globevnik L, Koprivšek M, Sečnik M, Zabret K, Đurović B, Anzeljc D, Kastelic J, Kobold M, Sušnik M, Borojevič D, Kupusović T, Kupusović E, Vihar A, Brilly M (2016) The Bosna river floods in May 2014. Nat Hazards Earth Syst Sci 16:2235–2246. https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-16-2235-2016
Wang Z, Ficklin DL, Zhang Y, Zhang M (2011) Impact of climate change on streamflow in the arid Shiyang River Basin of northwest China. Hydrol Process 26:2733–2744. https://doi.org/10.1002/hyp.8378
Yeh S-W, Song S-Y, Allan RP, An S-I, Shin J (2021) Contrasting response of hydrological cycle over land and ocean to a changing CO2 pathway. NPJ Clim Atmos Sci 4:53. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41612-021-00206-6
Yeste P, Dorador J, Martin-Rosales W, Molero E, Esteban-Parra MJ, Rueda FJ (2018) Climate-driven trends in the streamflow records of a reference hydrologic network in Southern Spain. J Hydrol 566:55–72. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhydrol.2018.08.063
Zakwan M, Ahmad Z (2021) Trend analysis of hydrological parameters of Ganga River. Arab J Geosci 14:163. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12517-021-06453-4
Funding
No funding was received for conducting this study.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Contributions
All authors have contributed to the study conception and design. Material preparation, data collection, and analysis were performed by all authors. The first draft of the manuscript was written by SG, TP, MI, and GT and all authors commented on the previous versions of the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.
Corresponding author
Ethics declarations
Conflict of interest
The authors have no financial or non-financial interests to disclose.
Additional information
Publisher's Note
Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
Rights and permissions
Springer Nature or its licensor (e.g. a society or other partner) holds exclusive rights to this article under a publishing agreement with the author(s) or other rightsholder(s); author self-archiving of the accepted manuscript version of this article is solely governed by the terms of such publishing agreement and applicable law.
About this article
Cite this article
Gnjato, S., Popov, T., Ivanišević, M. et al. Long-term streamflow trends in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BH). Environ Earth Sci 82, 356 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12665-023-11040-9
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12665-023-11040-9