Distributed discharge and sediment concentration predictions in the sub-humid Ethiopian highlands: the Debre Mawi watershed

2014 ◽  
Vol 29 (7) ◽  
pp. 1817-1828 ◽  
Author(s):  
Seifu A. Tilahun ◽  
Christian D. Guzman ◽  
Assefa D. Zegeye ◽  
Dessalegn C. Dagnew ◽  
Amy S. Collick ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Sediment Concentration ◽  
Ethiopian Highlands

scholarly journals An efficient semi-distributed hillslope erosion model for the subhumid Ethiopian Highlands

2013 ◽  
Vol 17 (3) ◽  
pp. 1051-1063 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. A. Tilahun ◽  
C. D. Guzman ◽  
A. D. Zegeye ◽  
T. A. Engda ◽  
A. S. Collick ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Surface Runoff ◽  
Source Area ◽  
Sediment Concentration ◽  
Erosion Model ◽  
Ethiopian Highlands ◽  
Source Areas ◽  
Blue Nile Basin ◽  
Field Evidence ◽  
Sediment Loss ◽  
Main Variable

Abstract. Erosion modeling has been generally scaling up from plot scale but not based on landscape topographic position, which is a main variable in saturation excess runoff. In addition, predicting sediment loss in Africa has been hampered by using models developed in western countries and do not perform as well in the monsoon climate prevailing in most of the continent. The objective of this paper is to develop a simple erosion model that can be used in the Ethiopian Highlands in Africa. We base our sediment prediction on a simple distributed saturated excess hydrology model that predicts surface runoff from severely degraded lands and from bottom lands that become saturated during the rainy season and estimates interflow and baseflow from the remaining portions of the landscape. By developing an equation that relates surface runoff to sediment concentration generated from runoff source areas, assuming that baseflow and interflow are sediment-free, we were able to predict daily sediment concentrations from the Anjeni watershed with a Nash–Sutcliffe efficiency ranging from 0.64 to 0.78 using only two calibrated sediment parameters. Anjeni is a 113 ha watershed in the 17.4 million ha Blue Nile Basin in the Ethiopian Highlands. The discharge of the two watersheds was predicted with Nash–Sutcliffe efficiency values ranging from 0.80 to 0.93. The calibrated values in Anjeni for degraded (14%) and saturated (2%) runoff source area were in agreement with field evidence. The analysis suggests that identifying the runoff source areas and predicting the surface runoff correctly is an important step in predicting the sediment concentration.

scholarly journals An efficient semi-distributed hillslope erosion model for the sub humid Ethiopian Highlands

2012 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 2121-2155 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. A. Tilahun ◽  
C. D. Guzman ◽  
A. D. Zegeye ◽  
T. A. Engda ◽  
A. S. Collick ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Surface Runoff ◽  
Overland Flow ◽  
Sediment Concentration ◽  
Base Flow ◽  
Nile Basin ◽  
Erosion Model ◽  
Blue Nile ◽  
Ethiopian Highlands ◽  
Source Areas ◽  
Blue Nile Basin

Abstract. During the last two decades, saturated excess runoff has become accepted as the main source for overland flow in humid regions. Erosion modeling has generally not kept up with this new reality and predictions are often not based on landscape topographic position, which is a main variable in saturation excess runoff. In addition, predicting sediment loss in Africa has been hampered by using models that have been developed in western countries and do not perform as well in the monsoon climate prevailing in most of the continent. The objective of this paper is to develop a simple erosion model that can be used in the Ethiopian highlands in Africa. We base our sediment prediction on a simple distributed saturated excess hydrology model that predicts surface runoff from severely degraded lands and from bottom lands that become saturated during the rainy season and estimates interflow and base flow from the remaining portions of the landscape. By developing an equation that relates surface runoff to sediment concentration generated from runoff source areas, assuming that base flow and interflow are sediment free, we were able to predict daily sediment concentrations from the Anjeni Watershed and Blue Nile Basin with a Nash Sutcliffe efficiency ranging from 0.64 to 0.77 using only two calibrated sediment parameters. Anjeni is a 113 ha watershed in the 17.4 million ha Blue Nile Basin in the Ethiopian Highlands. The daily flows were predicted with Nash Sutcliffe efficiency values ranging from 0.80 to 0.93 if degraded areas were assumed the major sediment source areas and covered 14% of the Anjeni watershed and 20% of the Blue Nile basin. The analysis suggests that identifying the runoff source areas and predicting the surface runoff correctly is an important step in predicting the sediment concentration.

scholarly journals Impact of Soil Conservation and Eucalyptus on Hydrology and Soil Loss in the Ethiopian Highlands

Water ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (11) ◽  
pp. 2299 ◽  
Author(s):  
Demesew A. Mhiret ◽  
Dessalegn C. Dagnew ◽  
Tilashwork C. Alemie ◽  
Christian D. Guzman ◽  
Seifu A. Tilahun ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Water Conservation ◽  
Soil Loss ◽  
Sediment Load ◽  
Economic Value ◽  
Fold Increase ◽  
Sediment Concentration ◽  
Storm Events ◽  
Ethiopian Highlands ◽  
Paved Road ◽  
The Impact

The Ethiopian highlands suffer from severe land degradation, including erosion. In response, the Ethiopian government has implemented soil and water conservation practices (SWCPs). At the same time, due to its economic value, the acreage of eucalyptus has expanded, with croplands and pastures converted to eucalyptus plantations. The impact of these changes on soil loss has not been investigated experimentally. The objective of this study, therefore, is to examine the impacts of these changes on stream discharge and sediment load in a sub-humid watershed. The study covers a nine-year period that included installation of SWCPs, a three-fold increase from 1.5 ha in 2010 to 5 ha in 2018 in eucalyptus, and the upgrading of an unpaved to the paved road. Precipitation, runoff, and sediment concentration were monitored by installing weirs at the outlets of the main and four nested watersheds. A total of 867 storm events were collected in the nine years. Runoff and sediment concentration decreased by more than half in nine years. In the main watershed W5, we estimated that evapotranspiration by eucalyptus during the dry phase (November to May) increased approximately from 30 mm a−1 in 2010 to 100 mm a−1 in 2018. In watershed W3 it increased from 2 mm a−1 to 400 mm a−1, requiring more rainfall before saturation excess runoff began in the rain phase. The reduction in runoff led to a decreased sediment load from 70 Mg ha−1 a−1 in 2010 to 2.8 Mg ha−1 a−1 in 2018, though the reduction in discharge may have negative impacts on ecology and downstream water resources. SWCPs became sediment-filled and minimally effective by 2018. This indicates that these techniques are either inappropriate for this sub-humid watershed or require improved design and maintenance.

scholarly journals An efficient semi-distributed hillslope sediment model: the Anjeni in the sub humid Ethiopian Highlands

2011 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 2207-2233 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. A. Tilahun ◽  
T. A. Engda ◽  
E. S. Legesse ◽  
C. D. Guzman ◽  
A. D. Zegeye ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Surface Runoff ◽  
Sediment Concentration ◽  
Base Flow ◽  
Temperate Climate ◽  
Monsoon Climate ◽  
Ethiopian Highlands ◽  
Source Areas ◽  
Degraded Area ◽  
Sediment Loss ◽  
Sediment Model

Abstract. Prediction of sediment loss in Africa is not well developed. In most case models developed in western countries with a temperate climate do not perform well in the monsoon climate prevailing in Africa. In this paper we base our sediment prediction on a simple distributed saturated excess hydrology model that predicts surface runoff from bottom lands that become saturated during the rainy season and from severely degrade lands and interflow and base flow from the remaining portions of the landscape. By developing an equation that relate surface runoff and sediment concentration from runoff source areas assuming that base flow and interflow are sediment free, we were able to predict the daily sediment concentrations in a 113 ha Anjeni watershed in the Ethiopian Highlands with a Nash Sutcliffe efficiency ranging from 0.64–0.77 using only two calibrated sediment parameters. The daily flows were predicted with a Nash Sutcliffe efficiency values ranging from 0.80 to 0.84 based on 14% of the watershed consisted of degraded area as the only surface runoff source. The analysis seems to suggest that identifying the runoff source areas and predicting the surface runoff correctly is an important step in predicting the sediment concentration at least for the Anjeni watershed.

Neural networks approached for modelling river suspended sediment concentration due to tropical storms

2013 ◽  
Vol 11 (4) ◽  
pp. 457-466
Keyword(s):  
Neural Network ◽  
Neural Networks ◽  
Suspended Sediment ◽  
Suspended Sediment Concentration ◽  
Time Series Data ◽  
Water Discharge ◽  
Sediment Concentration ◽  
Series Data ◽  
Generalized Regression Neural Network ◽  
Event Based

Artificial neural networks are one of the advanced technologies employed in hydrology modelling. This paper investigates the potential of two algorithm networks, the feed forward backpropagation (BP) and generalized regression neural network (GRNN) in comparison with the classical regression for modelling the event-based suspended sediment concentration at Jiasian diversion weir in Southern Taiwan. For this study, the hourly time series data comprised of water discharge, turbidity and suspended sediment concentration during the storm events in the year of 2002 are taken into account in the models. The statistical performances comparison showed that both BP and GRNN are superior to the classical regression in the weir sediment modelling. Additionally, the turbidity was found to be a dominant input variable over the water discharge for suspended sediment concentration estimation. Statistically, both neural network models can be successfully applied for the event-based suspended sediment concentration modelling in the weir studied herein when few data are available.

APPLICATION OF ACOUSTIC METHODS IN RESEARCHES OF THE BOTTOM SEDIMENT DYNAMICS

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Б. Дивинский ◽  
B. Divinskiy ◽  
И. Грюне ◽  
I. Gryune ◽  
Р. Косьян ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Suspended Sediment ◽  
Sediment Concentration ◽  
Irregular Waves ◽  
Single Frequency ◽  
Contactless Measurement ◽  
Measurement Means ◽  
Uniform Field ◽  
Wave Flume ◽  
Acoustic Methods ◽  
Back Scattering

Acoustic methods belong to contactless measurement means, possess high spatial and time resolution. Thus, the use of multifrequency allows directly profile both concentration and granulometric structure of the suspended substances. In 2008 in the Big Wave Flume (Hanover, Germany) by efforts of the Russian and German scientists there have been carried out the experiment on studying the bottom material suspension laws under the influence of irregular waves. The Aquascat 1000 acoustic back scattering sensor (ABS) manufactured by British company Aquatec (www.aquatecsubsea.com), equipped by a three-frequency transmitter with frequencies 1,0, 2,0 and 3,84 MHz, has been set on distance of 0,75 m from the bottom and 111 m from wave generator at the total depth of 3,2 m. Several dozen series of measurements at various parameters of surface waves have been carried out. The general picture of suspension is so that the external dynamic influence (currents, wave movements, turbulence, gravitation forces) creates a non-uniform field (gradient) of the suspended particles and in most cases due to this the average size of particles undergoes to the spatial-time variations. For this reason while defining the mass concentration of suspended sediment, using the single frequency transmitter there is necessity for numerous definition of the suspension granulometric structure what by isn’t always possible. If two and more frequencies are used the observed results comparison can give the information on average diameters of particles and on that basis the calculation of suspended sediment concentration is possibleLet's emphasize the basic advantages of back scattering acoustic gauges usage: – Obtaining the particles sizes and concentration distribution profiles is possible; – The initial granulometric structure of bottom sediments can be unknown (at use of several frequencies). The following can be referred to some lacks of the device: – The system should be calibrated in laboratory conditions; – In a positive feedback conditions the iterative computing process can converge to zero or to infinity. In this case experiments with a variation of carrier frequencies chosen for the analysis allow partially solve the problem (say experiments with different frequencies pairs, as 2/1 of MHz or 4/2 MHz).

Relationships Between Soluble and Sediment Nutrient Losses, Land Use and Types of Soil in Agricultural Watersheds

1977 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 121-134 ◽  
Author(s):  
G.H. Neilsen ◽  
A.F. Mackenzie
Keyword(s):  
Land Use ◽  
Inorganic Nitrogen ◽  
High Surface ◽  
Sediment Concentration ◽  
Chemical Oxidation ◽  
Nutrient Loss ◽  
Potassium Sulfate ◽  
Agricultural Watersheds ◽  
Nutrient Losses ◽  
Calcium Magnesium

Abstract Seven agricultural watersheds in southwestern Quebec and southeastern Ontario, ranging in area from 2,000 to 20,000 hectares, were monitored systematically during 1973–75 for soluble inorganic nitrogen, total soluble phosphorus, calcium, magnesium, potassium, sulfate-sulfur, chemical oxidation demand, discharge, suspended sediment concentration, sediment Kjeldahl nitrogen, Bray extractable phosphorus, and ammonium acetate extractable calcium, magnesium and potassium. For 1974–75, annual Kg/ha, loss rates were calculated for the soluble and sediment associated nutrients. Losses varied with nutrient and watershed, with volume of runoff being an important control of nutrient loss variation. Significant amounts of SO4−S in precipitation were suggested by an average watershed soluble N:P:S loss ratio of 10:1:92. Sediment nutrient losses were especially important for N and P, comprising over 40% of their total loss. The importance of spring snow-melt runoff was demonstrated by the high proportion of all nutrients lost at this time. Correlations of nutrient loss, land use and soils suggested that certain land uses resulted in increased stream nutrient losses while increased watershed area of soils with a high surface runoff potential was particularly conducive to increased soluble nutrient and sediment losses.

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