Abstract
Hydrological extremes can be influenced by climatic inputs (e.g., rainfall), but are controlled by topographical and anthropogenic factors. Note that the combined effect of topography and land use/cover on hydrological extremes is not fully explored and requires further research. This study considered five watersheds in the Baro River basin with varying topographic and land use/cover combinations to investigate the integrated impacts of topography and land use/cover on the hydrological extremes. The selected watersheds were classified as forest-dominated (i.e., Uka, Sor, and Gumero watersheds) and agriculturally dominated (i.e., Meti and Keto watersheds), as well as flat-to-gently sloped watersheds (Uka and Gumero) and moderate-to-sloped watersheds (Sor, Meti, and Keto). Google Earth Engine (GEE) was used to analyze the land-use/land-cover change from 1990 to 2018, and the topographical variables were quantified using the GIS tool. Finally, the elasticity approach was used to estimate the sensitivity of low and peak flow to the individual and combined impacts of land use/cover and topography. Generally, the results revealed that both low and peak flows were more sensitive to sloped watersheds with forest land-cover types, with elasticity’s of 0–2.6% for low flow and 0–4.6% for peak flow, respectively.
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Data availability
The datasets generated and analyzed during the current study are not publicly available, but are available upon reasonable request from the corresponding author.
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Acknowledgements
The authors would like to thank the National Meteorological Agency (NMA) and the Ministry of Water of Ethiopia for providing hydro-meteorological data. The authors would also like to express our sincere gratitude to the Africa Center of Excellence for Water Management at Addis Ababa University for the support to conduct this research.
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This work was financially supported by the Africa Center of Excellence for Water Management, Addis Ababa University, Ethiopia.
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S. M.: conceptualization, data curation and analysis, formula analysis and methodology, writing original draft, writing review, and editing. T. T and G. T.: editing and supervision. A. H: editing, reviewing, and final proofing.
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Kassaye, S.M., Tadesse, T., Tegegne, G. et al. Integrated impact of land use/cover and topography on hydrological extremes in the Baro River Basin. Environ Earth Sci 83, 49 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12665-023-11378-0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12665-023-11378-0