Spatiotemporal variations in hydrological regimes within Central Africa during the XXth century

Laraque, Alain; Mahé, Gil; Orange, Didier; Marieu, Bertrand

doi:10.1016/s0022-1694(01)00340-7

Cited by 125 publications

(101 citation statements)

References 20 publications

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“…There have also been a number of studies of river water chemistry (Laraque et al 2001(Laraque et al , 2009, the geological origins of the basin (Daly et al 1992;Crosby et al 2010;Kadima et al 2011;Buiter et al 2012), remote-sensing-based studies of hydrology and vegetation distribution (Mayaux et al 2004;Vancutsem et al 2009;Bwangoy et al 2010;Jung et al 2010;Betbeder et al 2014;Lee et al 2015), and the contested origins of Lac Télé (Master 2010). None of these studies have taken account of the status of the Cuvette Centrale as a major peatland complex, but many of them are, with hindsight, relevant to understanding the system as a whole.…”

Section: Study Areamentioning

confidence: 99%

Congo Basin peatlands: threats and conservation priorities

Dargie

Lawson

Rayden

et al. 2018

Mitig Adapt Strateg Glob Change

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The recent publication of the first spatially explicit map of peatlands in the Cuvette Centrale, central Congo Basin, reveals it to be the most extensive tropical peatland complex, at ca. 145,500 km 2 . With an estimated 30.6 Pg of carbon stored in these peatlands, there are now questions about whether these carbon stocks are under threat and, if so, what can be done to protect them. Here, we analyse the potential threats to Congo Basin peat carbon stocks and identify knowledge gaps in relation to these threats, and to how the peatland systems might respond. Climate change emerges as a particularly pressing concern, given its potential to destabilise carbon stocks across the whole area. Socio-economic developments are increasing across central Africa and, whilst much of the peatland area is protected on paper by some form of conservation designation, the potential exists for hydrocarbon exploration, logging, plantations and other forms of disturbance to significantly damage the peatland ecosystems. The low level of human intervention at present suggests that the opportunity still exists to protect the peatlands in a largely intact state, possibly drawing on climate change mitigation

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Section: Study Areamentioning

confidence: 99%

Congo Basin peatlands: threats and conservation priorities

Dargie

Lawson

Rayden

et al. 2018

Mitig Adapt Strateg Glob Change

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“…The Congo River (previously known as the Zaire) is over 4375 km long and is considered to be the fifth longest river in the world and the second longest in Africa after the Nile River (IBP, 2015). Its discharge shows a composite variability because of the sum of its tributaries (Laraque et al, 2001). With an annual discharge of 5000 m 3 s −1 at its mouth, the Oubangui River is the sec- Broxton et al, 2014).…”

Section: Study Regionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Lagrangian perspective of the hydrological cycle in the Congo River basin

et al. 2017

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Abstract. The Lagrangian model FLEXPART is used to identify the moisture sources of the Congo River basin (CRB) and investigate their role in the hydrological cycle. This model allows us to track atmospheric parcels while calculating changes in the specific humidity through the budget of evaporation minus precipitation. This method permits the annual-scale identification of five continental and four oceanic principal regions that provide moisture to the CRB from both hemispheres over the course of the year. The most important is the CRB, which provides more than 50 % of the total atmospheric moisture contribution to precipitation over itself. Additionally, both the land that extends to the east of the CRB and the eastern equatorial South Atlantic Ocean are very important sources, while the Red Sea source is merely important in the (E − P ) budget over the CRB despite its high evaporation rate. The moisture-sink patterns over the CRB in air masses that were tracked forward in time from all the sources follow the latitudinal rainfall migration and are mostly highly correlated with the pattern of the precipitation rate, ensuring a link between them. In wet (dry) years, the contribution of moisture to precipitation from the CRB over itself increases (decreases). Despite the enhanced evaporative conditions over the basin during dry years, the vertically integrated moisture flux (VIMF) divergence inhibits precipitation and suggests the transport of moisture from the CRB to remote regions.

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“…The discharge and the surface water extent agree well in the seasonal and interannual cycles but have a maximum correlation of only 0.53, with the inundation preceding the discharge with a lag of 1 month. Laraque et al [2001] reports that during the 1990s, the Congo River discharge dropped to the lowest level of the last century; however, for the period 1993-2004 no significant changes are observed in the total surface water extent or the river discharge. Note that the decrease in river discharge from 1999 to 2003 is not observed in the surface water extent data set.…”

Section: Comparisons With Other Large River Basinsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Interannual variability of surface water extent at the global scale, 1993–2004

et al. 2010

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[1] Land surface waters play a primary role in the global water cycle and climate. As a consequence, there is a widespread demand for accurate and long-term quantitative observations of their distribution over the whole globe. This study presents the first global data set that quantifies the monthly distribution of surface water extent at ∼25 km sampling intervals over 12 years (1993)(1994)(1995)(1996)(1997)(1998)(1999)(2000)(2001)(2002)(2003)(2004). These estimates, generated from complementary multiple-satellite observations, including passive (Special Sensor Microwave Imager) and active (ERS scatterometer) microwaves along with visible and near-infrared imagery (advanced very high-resolution radiometer; AVHRR), were first developed over 1993-2000. The ERS encountered technical problems in 2001 and the processing scheme had to be adapted to extend the time series. Here we investigate and discuss the adjustments of the methodology, compare the various options, and show that the data set can be extended with good confidence beyond 2000, using ERS and AVHRR mean monthly climatologies. In addition to a large seasonal and interannual variability, the new results show a slight overall decrease in global inundated area between 1993 and 2004, representing an ∼5.7% reduction of the mean annual maximum in 12 years. The decrease is mainly observed in the tropics during the 1990s. Over inland water bodies and large river basins, we assess the variability of the surface water extent against related variables such as in situ river discharges, altimeter-derived and in situ river/floodplain water level heights, and precipitation estimates. This new 12 year data set of global surface water extent represents an unprecedented source of information for future hydrological or methane modeling.

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Spatiotemporal variations in hydrological regimes within Central Africa during the XXth century

Cited by 125 publications

References 20 publications

Congo Basin peatlands: threats and conservation priorities

Congo Basin peatlands: threats and conservation priorities

A Lagrangian perspective of the hydrological cycle in the Congo River basin

Interannual variability of surface water extent at the global scale, 1993–2004

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