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Spatiotemporal Variability of Hydrological Variables of Dapo Watershed, Upper Blue Nile Basin, Ethiopia

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Landscape Dynamics, Soils and Hydrological Processes in Varied Climates

Part of the book series: Springer Geography ((SPRINGERGEOGR))

Abstract

This chapter discusses the results of an experimental hydrological study in Dapo watershed located at the head of the upper Blue Nile Basin in Ethiopia. Detailed spatial measurements of rainfall and soil moisture were conducted at five rain gauge stations and fifteen soil moisture stations of varying depths. It was observed that there is relatively higher consistency of rainfall data in four manual rain gauge stations. Spatial and temporal distribution of soil moisture (%) shows uniform pattern of distribution at different sample depths and most of the stations showed high degree of correlation between the station values. However, unlike the soil moisture, the groundwater level at three automatic monitoring stations showed relatively differing pattern of distribution as indicated by the low degree of correlation among station values. Measurements also showed that the baseflow contribution is greater than the direct runoff contribution at the outlet of the watershed indicating streamflow generation in the watershed dominated by subsurface flow.

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Acknowledgments

We would like to express our appreciation to the International Water Management Institute for providing the primary data and Diga research field data observers. Special thanks go to Diga catchment coordinator Mr. Tolera Megersa for providing the necessary material for the study. This chapter is part of the thesis work by the first author.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Faculty of Civil and Water Resources Engineering, Bahir Dar Institute of Technology, Bahir Dar University, P.O. Box 26, Bahir Dar, Ethiopia

    Mulatu L. Berihun

  2. Department of Earth and Environment, Florida International University, Florida, USA

    Assefa M. Melesse

  3. International Crops Research Institute for the Semi- Arid Tropics (ICRISAT), Bamako, Mali

    Birhanu Zemadim

Authors
  1. Mulatu L. Berihun
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  2. Assefa M. Melesse
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  3. Birhanu Zemadim
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Mulatu L. Berihun .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Earth & Environment, Florida International University, Miami, Florida, USA

    Assefa M. Melesse

  2. South Florida Water Management District, West Palm Beach, Florida, USA

    Wossenu Abtew

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Berihun, M.L., Melesse, A.M., Zemadim, B. (2016). Spatiotemporal Variability of Hydrological Variables of Dapo Watershed, Upper Blue Nile Basin, Ethiopia. In: Melesse, A., Abtew, W. (eds) Landscape Dynamics, Soils and Hydrological Processes in Varied Climates. Springer Geography. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-18787-7_8

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