The Hydrology of the Nile Basin

Sutcliffe, J. V.

doi:10.1007/978-1-4020-9726-3_17

Cited by 119 publications

(150 citation statements)

References 19 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

145

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Discharge from the Ethiopian Plateau trended downward between the mid-1950's and about 1985, with Blue Nile annual flow decreasing by about 30% (measured at Roseires Dam, above most modern abstractions) and at least that much in the River Atbara draining the northern Ethiopian Highlands (Sutcliffe and Parks 1999). These trends parallel the decreasing trends in Sahel rainfall (e.g.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 74%

“…Sutcliffe and Parks 1999). The record is nearly continuous from 621 to 1469 AD (1 year missing) and after that is patchy through the early 1800s (49% complete) and continuous from 1824 to 1921.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 98%

“…Approximately 85% of Nile flood season (AugustOctober) discharge arises from summer precipitation over the central and northern Ethiopian Highlands (drained by the Blue Nile and Atbara, respectively), with the remainder (White Nile) coming in approximately equal parts from a) the southern Ethiopian Highlands and b) farther south in central east Africa and Lake Victoria (Sutcliffe and Parks 1999), the MAXFL record has the potential to provide information about variability in the extent of the summer northward migration of the ITCZ when it reaches its northernmost position over the Ethiopian Highlands. A difficulty with the ''nilometer'' records is that siltation has caused the depth of the river bed in Cairo to change over time (''aggradation'';Hassan 1981).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

Support for global climate reorganization during the “Medieval Climate Anomaly”

et al. 2010

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Widely distributed proxy records indicate that the Medieval Climate Anomaly (MCA; *900-1350 AD) was characterized by coherent shifts in large-scale Northern Hemisphere atmospheric circulation patterns. Although cooler sea surface temperatures in the central and eastern equatorial Pacific can explain some aspects of medieval circulation changes, they are not sufficient to account for other notable features, including widespread aridity through the Eurasian sub-tropics, stronger winter westerlies across the North Atlantic and Western Europe, and shifts in monsoon rainfall patterns across Africa and South Asia. We present results from a full-physics coupled climate model showing that a slight warming of the tropical Indian and western Pacific Oceans relative to the other tropical ocean basins can induce a broad range of the medieval circulation and climate changes indicated by proxy data, including many of those not explained by a cooler tropical Pacific alone. Important aspects of the results resemble those from previous simulations examining the climatic response to the rapid Indian Ocean warming during the late twentieth century, and to results from climate warming simulations-especially in indicating an expansion of the Northern Hemisphere Hadley circulation. Notably, the pattern of tropical Indo-Pacific sea surface temperature (SST) change responsible for producing the proxy-model similarity in our results agrees well with MCA-LIA SST differences obtained in a recent proxy-based climate field reconstruction. Though much remains unclear, our results indicate that the MCA was characterized by an enhanced zonal Indo-Pacific SST gradient with resulting changes in Northern Hemisphere tropical and extra-tropical circulation patterns and hydroclimate regimes, linkages that may explain the coherent regional climate shifts indicated by proxy records from across the planet. The findings provide new perspectives on the nature and possible causes of the MCA-a remarkable, yet incompletely understood episode of Late Holocene climatic change.

show abstract

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 74%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 98%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Support for global climate reorganization during the “Medieval Climate Anomaly”

et al. 2010

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…The plains flood in an annual cycle related to the rainy season, with the associated local rainfall and increased river discharges leading to overbank spill (Sutcliffe & Parks, 1999). In the dry season, the soils dry out, which leads to heavy cracking.…”

Section: The Study Sitementioning

confidence: 99%

“…Penman (1963) computed evapotranspiration in the Sudd, Mohamed et al (2004) investigated Sudd actual evapotranspiration from remote sensing data, and Mohamed et al (2005) investigated the impact of the Sudd on the Nile hydroclimatology. Sutcliffe & Parks (1999) considered evapotranspiration with a value of 2150 mm/year. The influence of the area morphology on flooding was described by Petersen et al (2008) evaluating flooding conditions in local depressions.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Flooding and drying mechanisms of the seasonal Sudd flood plains along the Bahr el Jebel in southern Sudan

Petersen¹,

Fohrer

2010

Hydrological Sciences Journal

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The flooding and drying mechanisms of the seasonal flood plains of the Sudd swamps in southern Sudan are, while dependent on the river levels, influenced by a complex interaction between soil, vegetation, topography and seasonal trends in rainfall and evapotranspiration. Based on field measurements, these components have been assessed in detail and evaluated regarding their function in the seasonal cycle of flooding and drying. A detailed analysis of soil and evapotranspiration conditions, as well as the interaction with vegetation and meteorological conditions, has been conducted using field and laboratory experiments. Sources, processes, flow directions and the fate of the floodwaters on both the river-fed seasonal flood plains and the rain-fed grasslands have been established. The results show that river spill is responsible for flooding these areas while no return flow occurs, and drying is caused by evapotranspiration. Rainfall can only cause temporary flooding in extreme events.

show abstract

Comparison of prognostic and diagnostic surface flux modeling approaches over the Nile River basin

et al. 2014

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

[1] Regional evapotranspiration (ET) can be estimated using diagnostic remote sensing models, generally based on principles of energy balance closure, or with spatially distributed prognostic models that simultaneously balance both energy and water budgets over landscapes using predictive equations for land surface temperature and moisture states. Each modeling approach has complementary advantages and disadvantages, and in combination they can be used to obtain more accurate ET estimates over a variety of land and climate conditions, particularly for areas with limited ground truth data. In this study, energy and water flux estimates from diagnostic Atmosphere-Land Exchange (ALEXI) and prognostic Noah land surface models are compared over the Nile River basin between 2007 and 2011. A second remote sensing data set, generated with Penman-Monteith approach as implemented in the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) MOD16 ET product, is also included as a comparative technique. In general, spatial and temporal distributions of flux estimates from ALEXI and Noah are similar in regions where the climate is temperate and local rainfall is the primary source of water available for ET. However, the diagnostic ALEXI model is better able to retrieve ET signals not directly coupled with the local precipitation rates, for example, over irrigated agricultural areas or regions influenced by shallow water tables. These hydrologic features are not well represented by either Noah or MOD16. Evaluation of consistency between diagnostic and prognostic model estimates can provide useful information about relative product skill, particularly over regions where ground data are limited or nonexistent as in the Nile basin.

show abstract

The Hydrology of the Nile Basin

Cited by 119 publications

References 19 publications

Support for global climate reorganization during the “Medieval Climate Anomaly”

Support for global climate reorganization during the “Medieval Climate Anomaly”

Flooding and drying mechanisms of the seasonal Sudd flood plains along the Bahr el Jebel in southern Sudan

Comparison of prognostic and diagnostic surface flux modeling approaches over the Nile River basin

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About