1661985 2015 Working PapersThe publications in this series record the work and thinking of IWMI researchers, and knowledge that the Institute's scientific management feels is worthy of documenting. This series will ensure that scientific data and other information gathered or prepared as a part of the research work of the Institute are recorded and referenced. Working Papers could include project reports, case studies, conference or workshop proceedings, discussion papers or reports on progress of research, country-specific research reports, monographs, etc. Working Papers may be copublished, by IWMI and partner organizations.Although most of the reports are published by IWMI staff and their collaborators, we welcome contributions from others. Each report is reviewed internally by IWMI staff. The reports are published and distributed both in hard copy and electronically (www.iwmi.org) and where possible all data and analyses will be available as separate downloadable files. Reports may be copied freely and cited with due acknowledgment. About IWMIIWMI's mission is to provide evidence-based solutions to sustainably manage water and land resources for food security, people's livelihoods and the environment. IWMI works in partnership with governments, civil society and the private sector to develop scalable agricultural water management solutions that have a tangible impact on poverty reduction, food security and ecosystem health. IWMI Working Paper 166 Water Resources Assessment of the Volta River Basin

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The rapid increase of information and accessibility in recent years has activated a paradigm shift in algorithm design for artificial intelligence. Recently, deep learning (a surrogate of Machine Learning) have won several contests in pattern recognition and machine learning. This review comprehensively summarises relevant studies, much of it from prior state-of-the-art techniques. This paper also discusses the motivations and principles regarding learning algorithms for deep architectures.

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Aquatic invasive weeds affect hydrological, ecological, and socio-economic activities on freshwater ecosystems. On the Lower Volta River (LVR) of Ghana, invasive aquatic weeds have been known to be nuisance to fishing, navigation, aquaculture, hydropower production and other agricultural practices in the area. While information on the spatial and temporal distribution of aquatic weeds would be beneficial in improving weed management and control measures on the river, such information is very scanty. Also, these aquatic weeds are also biomass resources, that can be transformed to bioenergy. Thus, this study evaluated the spatial and temporal variations of aquatic weeds on the Lower Volta River, and assessed their potential biomass for bioenergy production.Random Forest (RF) algorithm and Landsat images were used to map the distribution of the weeds in 1975, 2003, and 2020, respectively. Accuracy assessment results showed mean Overall Accuracy (OA) of 83.44% and mean User Accuracy (UA) of 79.24%. The results indicated that as of 1975, aquatic weeds covered only 1495 ha and appeared in some specific locations such as Kpong and Ada. However, by 2003, the weeds had spread to most parts of the river covering 5600 ha, which was an increase of approximately 4-fold within a period of 28 years. The area covered by the weeds, however declined by 1505 ha between 2003 and 2020. Thus, in 2020, water hyacinth covered about 36% of the aquatic weeds relative to 28% in 2003. The results showed that, the quantity of the water hyacinth biomass per unit area was 21.5 kg/m 2 . This result can also be used as the basis for resource assessment as well as determination of its viability for bioenergy production and strategies for its modern utilisation. The conversion of water hyacinth into bioenergy remains one of the best aquatic weed management strategies that must be adopted in LVR.

Lake Volta is the world's largest man-made lake by surface area, and the fourth largest by water volume. Located completely within Ghana, it has a surface area of about 8502 km 2 (3283 square miles). Like many other lakes on the African continent, Lake Volta is a major natural resource for Ghana, storing water for the operation of the hydroelectric dam, water supply for domestic, agricultural and industrial purposes, habitat for diverse aquatic species, an avenue for recreational activities, means of navigation between the north and south parts of the country, and a climate modulator for the tropical region. The lake has experienced variable water level and surface area changes attributable to climate change and excessive water abstractions. Using histogram thresholding techniques, this study produced binary images and vector maps of the lake. Spatial extent mapping of the lake using Landsat TM 1990, ETM + 2000 and ETM + 2007 images indicated the lake experienced both increased and decreased surface area changes during the study period. The lake's surface area varied by about 197 km 2 between 1990 and 2007, with the water level fluctuating between AE7 m. Factors thought to be contributing to these changes include human factors (regulated flows, deforestation, increased water abstractions and pollution) as well as natural phenomenon (climate change, water run-off and subsequent sediment transport).

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