Analysis of the spatial and temporal variability of direct rainfall in Lake Tana, Ethiopia

Abstract The Blue Nile’s source, Lake Tana, is the biggest lake in Ethiopia and offers multiple services to local, regional, and international communities. The first step to effectively, efficiently, and sustainably utilizing the services that the lake may provide is to understand its water balance...

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Main Authors: Getasew Derso Eshete, Asmamaw N. Asitatikie, Habtamu Nega Almnewu, Amanuel Zewdu Belew
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: SpringerOpen 2022-08-01
Series:Applied Water Science
Subjects:
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.1007/s13201-022-01749-6
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author Getasew Derso Eshete
Asmamaw N. Asitatikie
Habtamu Nega Almnewu
Amanuel Zewdu Belew
author_facet Getasew Derso Eshete
Asmamaw N. Asitatikie
Habtamu Nega Almnewu
Amanuel Zewdu Belew
author_sort Getasew Derso Eshete
collection DOAJ
description Abstract The Blue Nile’s source, Lake Tana, is the biggest lake in Ethiopia and offers multiple services to local, regional, and international communities. The first step to effectively, efficiently, and sustainably utilizing the services that the lake may provide is to understand its water balance using accurate estimations of its water balance parameters, including direct rainfall. Direct rainfall to Lake Tana is one of the most important water balance terms of the Lake that needs a precise estimate. This study tries to analyze the spatial and temporal variability of direct rainfall to the Lake and estimate the mean annual and mean monthly direct rainfall amount to the lake using sufficient data and appropriate methodologies. 30 years (1986–2015) monthly and mean annual data from 13 meteorological stations were collected and used to analyses the spatial and temporal variability. Spatial and statistical tools were used for data processing, analysis, and presentation. Five interpolation techniques:- Thiessen polygon, spline, isohyetal, inverse distance weighting, and Kriging were considered and their performances were assessed and compared using evaluation criteria. The results indicate that the Isohytal method is slightly better than the other four methods and it is also easy to implement in a geographic information system (GIS) with Geostatic Analysis in ArcGIS. Further, the analysis has shown that the mean annual direct rainfall to Lake Tana is 1313.43 mm with a standard deviation of 259.01. Besides, it has been seen that there is a significant spatial and temporal variability of direct rainfall on Lake Tana. In terms of spatial variability, the Lake gets maximum direct rainfall in its southeastern part with an annual mean value of 1720 mm and a minimum value in its northwest parts with an annual mean value of 860 mm. In terms of Temporal variability, maximum direct rainfall is estimated in July as 374.11 mm in the Summer season and the minimum is less than 12.3 mm depth in December, January, February, and March in Winter.
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spelling doaj.art-4e1bc76aa02b4885a8df1455c7239e312022-12-22T02:15:08ZengSpringerOpenApplied Water Science2190-54872190-54952022-08-0112911710.1007/s13201-022-01749-6Analysis of the spatial and temporal variability of direct rainfall in Lake Tana, EthiopiaGetasew Derso Eshete0Asmamaw N. Asitatikie1Habtamu Nega Almnewu2Amanuel Zewdu Belew3Department of Engineering Hydrology, Amhara Regional State Abbay Construction OfficeHydraulic and Water Resources Engineering Department, Debre Tabor UniversityHydraulic and Water Resources Engineering Department, Debre Tabor UniversityHydraulic and Water Resources Engineering Department, Debre Tabor UniversityAbstract The Blue Nile’s source, Lake Tana, is the biggest lake in Ethiopia and offers multiple services to local, regional, and international communities. The first step to effectively, efficiently, and sustainably utilizing the services that the lake may provide is to understand its water balance using accurate estimations of its water balance parameters, including direct rainfall. Direct rainfall to Lake Tana is one of the most important water balance terms of the Lake that needs a precise estimate. This study tries to analyze the spatial and temporal variability of direct rainfall to the Lake and estimate the mean annual and mean monthly direct rainfall amount to the lake using sufficient data and appropriate methodologies. 30 years (1986–2015) monthly and mean annual data from 13 meteorological stations were collected and used to analyses the spatial and temporal variability. Spatial and statistical tools were used for data processing, analysis, and presentation. Five interpolation techniques:- Thiessen polygon, spline, isohyetal, inverse distance weighting, and Kriging were considered and their performances were assessed and compared using evaluation criteria. The results indicate that the Isohytal method is slightly better than the other four methods and it is also easy to implement in a geographic information system (GIS) with Geostatic Analysis in ArcGIS. Further, the analysis has shown that the mean annual direct rainfall to Lake Tana is 1313.43 mm with a standard deviation of 259.01. Besides, it has been seen that there is a significant spatial and temporal variability of direct rainfall on Lake Tana. In terms of spatial variability, the Lake gets maximum direct rainfall in its southeastern part with an annual mean value of 1720 mm and a minimum value in its northwest parts with an annual mean value of 860 mm. In terms of Temporal variability, maximum direct rainfall is estimated in July as 374.11 mm in the Summer season and the minimum is less than 12.3 mm depth in December, January, February, and March in Winter.https://doi.org/10.1007/s13201-022-01749-6Lake TanaDirect rainfall depthSpatial and temporal variabilityMean annual rainfall
spellingShingle Getasew Derso Eshete
Asmamaw N. Asitatikie
Habtamu Nega Almnewu
Amanuel Zewdu Belew
Analysis of the spatial and temporal variability of direct rainfall in Lake Tana, Ethiopia
Applied Water Science
Lake Tana
Direct rainfall depth
Spatial and temporal variability
Mean annual rainfall
title Analysis of the spatial and temporal variability of direct rainfall in Lake Tana, Ethiopia
title_full Analysis of the spatial and temporal variability of direct rainfall in Lake Tana, Ethiopia
title_fullStr Analysis of the spatial and temporal variability of direct rainfall in Lake Tana, Ethiopia
title_full_unstemmed Analysis of the spatial and temporal variability of direct rainfall in Lake Tana, Ethiopia
title_short Analysis of the spatial and temporal variability of direct rainfall in Lake Tana, Ethiopia
title_sort analysis of the spatial and temporal variability of direct rainfall in lake tana ethiopia
topic Lake Tana
Direct rainfall depth
Spatial and temporal variability
Mean annual rainfall
url https://doi.org/10.1007/s13201-022-01749-6
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