scholarly journals Impact Assessment of Indigenous Field-Level Water Storage Structure (Diggi) on Agriculture in the Great Indian Desert

Author(s):  
Pratap Chandra Moharana ◽  
R.K. Goyal ◽  
Deepesh Machiwal ◽  
C.B. Pandey

Abstract In the arid region of Rajasthan, India, it is very often a challenge to store rain/surface water for year-round use by human and livestock. The inhabitants of this desert area have developed several water storage structures, which they used to construct based on their indigenous knowledge of local terrain conditions. Recently, farmers living in the lower command areas of Indira Gandhi canal have constructed micro-farm water storage structures, called diggi, in their cropland. They store allocated canal water in diggi to timely utilize it as per irrigation requirements, and thus, done away with problems of deficit and untimely canal water supply. This impact assessment study, carried out in Poogal tehsil of Bikaner district, analyzed high-resolution satellite images of two years and used geographic information system to quantify diggi structures and studied the diggi-growth interactions with changing rainfall pattern as well as land use/land cover. Results showed that during 2018, about 3243 number of structures were constructed compared to 241 existed during 2004-05. The mean annual rainfall increased by 30% and crop area by 12772 ha during the same period that included 7.86% increase in irrigated and 2.98% in rainfed croplands. Thus, diggi based water management has been immensely helpful in the perspective of irrigated agriculture in the desert region.

2013 ◽  
Vol 12 (2) ◽  
pp. 119-125

The present study concerns the impact of a change in the rainfall regime on surface and groundwater resources in an experimental watershed. The research is conducted in a gauged mountainous watershed (15.18 km2) that is located on the eastern side of Penteli Mountain, in the prefecture of Attica, Greece and the study period concerns the years from 2003 to 2008. The decrease in the annual rainfall depth during the last two hydrological years 2006-2007, 2007-2008 is 10% and 35%, respectively, in relation to the average of the previous years. In addition, the monthly distribution of rainfall is characterized by a distinct decrease in winter rainfall volume. The field measurements show that this change in rainfall conditions has a direct impact on the surface runoff of the watershed, as well as on the groundwater reserves. The mean annual runoff in the last two hydrological years has decreased by 56% and 75% in relation to the average of the previous years. Moreover, the groundwater level follows a declining trend and has dropped significantly in the last two years.


2009 ◽  
Vol 9 (5) ◽  
pp. 1579-1595 ◽  
Author(s):  
C. Galy-Lacaux ◽  
D. Laouali ◽  
L. Descroix ◽  
N. Gobron ◽  
C. Liousse

Abstract. Long-term precipitation chemistry have been recorded in the rural area of Banizoumbou (Niger), representative of a semi-arid savanna ecosystem. A total of 305 rainfall samples ~90% of the total annual rainfall) were collected from June 1994 to September 2005. From ionic chromatography, pH major inorganic and organic ions were detected. Rainwater chemistry is controlled by soil/dust emissions associated with terrigeneous elements represented by SO42−, Ca2+, Carbonates, K+ and Mg2+. It is found that calcium and carbonates represent ~40% of the total ionic charge. The second highest contribution is nitrogenous, with annual Volume Weighed Mean (VWM) for NO3− and NH4+ concentrations of 11.6 and 18.1 μeq.l−1, respectively. This is the signature of ammonia sources from animals and NOx emissions from savannas soil-particles rain-induced. The mean annual NH3 and NO2 air concentration are of 6 ppbv and 2.6 ppbv, respectively. The annual VWM precipitation concentration of sodium and chloride are both of 8.7 μeq.l−1 which reflects the marine signature of monsoonal and humid air masses. The median pH value is of 6.05. Acidity is neutralized by mineral dust, mainly carbonates, and/or dissolved gases such NH3. High level of organic acidity with 8μeq.l−1 and 5.2 μeq.l−1 of formate and acetate were also found. The analysis of monthly Black Carbon emissions and Fraction of Absorbed Photosynthetically Active Radiation (FAPAR) values show that both biogenic emission from vegetation and biomass burning could explain the rainfall organic acidity content. The interannual variability of the VWM concentrations around the mean (1994–2005) is between ±5% and ±30% and mainly due to variations of sources strength and rainfall spatio-temporal distribution. From 1994 to 2005, the total mean wet deposition flux in the Sahelian region is of 60.1 mmol.m−2.yr−1 ±25%. Finally, Banizoumbou measurements are compared to other long-term measurements of precipitation chemistry in the wet savanna of Lamto (Côte d'Ivoire) and in the forested zone of Zoétélé (Cameroon). The total chemical loading presents a maximum in the dry savanna and a minimum in the forest (from 143.7, 100.2 to 86.6 μeq.l−1), associated with the gradient of terrigeneous sources. The wet deposition fluxes present an opposite trend, with 60.0 mmol.m−2.yr−1 in Banizoumbou, 108.6 mmol.m−2.yr−1 in Lamto and 162.9 mmol.m−2.yr−1 in Zoétélé, controlled by rainfall gradient along the ecosystems transect.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paola Mazzoglio ◽  
Ilaria Butera ◽  
Pierluigi Claps

<p>The intensity and the spatial distribution of precipitation depths are known to be highly dependent on relief and geomorphological parameters. Complex environments like mountainous regions are prone to intense and frequent precipitation events, especially if located near the coastline. Although the link between the mean annual rainfall and geomorphological parameters has received substantial attention, few literature studies investigate the relationship between the sub-daily maximum annual rainfall depth and geographical or morphological landscape features.<br>In this study, the mean of the rainfall extremes in Italy, recently revised in the so-called I<sup>2</sup>-RED dataset, are investigated in their spatial variability in comparison with some landscape and also some broad climatic characteristics. The database includes all sub-daily rainfall extremes recorded in Italy from 1916 until 2019 and this analysis considers their mean values (from 1 to 24 hours) in stations with at least 10 years of records, involving more than 3700 stations.<br>The geo-morpho-climatic factors considered range from latitude, longitude and minimum distance from the coastline on the geographic side, to elevation, slope, openness and obstruction morphological indices, and also include an often-neglected robust climatological information, as the local mean annual rainfall.<br>Obtained results highlight that the relationship between the annual maximum rainfall depths and the hydro-geomorphological parameters is not univocal over the entire Italian territory and over different time intervals. Considering the whole of Italy, the highest correlation is reached between the mean values of the 24-hours records and the mean annual precipitation (correlation coefficient greater than 0.75). This predominance remains also in sub-areas of the Italian territory (i.e., the Alpine region, the Apennines or the coastal areas) but correlation decreases as the time interval decreases, except for the Alpine region (0.73 for the 1-hour maximum). The other geomorphological parameters seem to act in conjunction, making it difficult to evaluate, with a simple linear regression analysis, their impact. As an example, the absolute value of the correlation coefficient between the elevation and the 1-hour extremes is greater than 0.35 for the Italian and the Alpine regions, while for the 24-hours interval it is greater than 0.35 over the coastal areas.<br>To further investigate the spatial variability of the relationship between rainfall and elevation, a spatial linear regression analysis has been undertaken. Local linear relationships have been fitted in circles centered on any of the 0.5-km size pixels in Italy, with 1 to 30 km radius and at least 5 stations included. Results indicate the need of more comprehensive terrain analysis to better understand the causes of local increasing or decreasing relations, poorly described in the available literature.</p>


Author(s):  
Álvaro J. Back ◽  
Augusto C. Pola ◽  
Nilzo I. Ladwig ◽  
Hugo Schwalm

ABSTRACT Understanding the risks of extreme events related to soil erosion is important for adequate dimensioning of erosion and runoff control structures. The objective of this study was to determine the rainfall erosivity with different return periods for the Valley of the Rio do Peixe in Santa Catarina state, Brazil. Daily pluviographic data series from 1984 to 2014 from the Campos Novos, and Videira meteorological stations and from 1986 to 2014 from the Caçador station were used. The data series of maximum annual rainfall intensity in 30 min, maximum annual erosive rainfall, and total annual erosivity were analyzed for each station. The Gumbel-Chow distributions were adjusted and their adhesions were evaluated by the Kolmogorov-Smirnov test at a significance level of 5%. The Gumbel-Chow distribution was adequate for the estimation of all studied variables. The mean annual erosivity corresponds to the return period of 2.25 years. The data series of the annual maximum individual rainfall erosivity coefficients varied from 47 to 50%.


2020 ◽  
Vol 1 (1/2) ◽  
pp. 15-33
Author(s):  
M Odigwe ◽  
S. I. Efe ◽  
A. O. Atubi

The study aimed at investigating the climate of the Niger Delta Region (NDR) of Nigeria. This is to ascertain the variations in rainfall and temperature in the Niger Delta Region. The study utilized the ex-post facto research design. The study utilized the annual rainfall and temperature time series data from 1925 – 2018 periods. That was generated from the archive of the Climate Research Unit (CRU) Ts 4.03 using Google earth. The grided points of 5ox5o high resolution of thirty-two (32) CRU Ts 4.03 stations were utilized for the study. In order to analyse the data on rainfall and temperature the descriptive statistical techniques were employed. While testing the formulated hypotheses, the one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) was utilized to decide the significant difference in stations, additionally the Turkey Test was utilized to decide were the difference in the mean lies, while the Mann-Kendell Trend Test was used to determine the upward and downward trends in rainfall and temperature. Thus, the study revealed that the mean distribution of rainfall and temperature in the Niger Delta region for the past ninety-four (94) years showed a downward and upward trend with a mean of 2238.3mm and 26.7oC in rainfall and temperature respectively. While, the highest and lowest rainfall (2600.7mm and 1854mm), was recorded in 1955 and 1984 which indicates an increase of 746.7mm. The highest and lowest temperature (27.4oC and 25.9oC) was recorded in 2017, 1976 and 1977 respectively which indicate a rise of 1.5oC. Furthermore, the study revealed that there is a statistically significant variation in rainfall in the Niger


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sandra Pool ◽  
Félix Francés ◽  
Alberto Garcia-Prats ◽  
Manuel Pulido-Velazquez ◽  
Carles Sanichs-Ibor ◽  
...  

<p>Irrigated agriculture is the major water consumer in the Mediterranean region. Improved irrigation techniques have been widely promoted to reduce water withdrawals and increase resilience to climate change impacts. In this study, we assess the impact of the ongoing transition from flood to drip irrigation on future hydroclimatic regimes in the agricultural areas of Valencia (Spain). The impact assessment is conducted for a control period (1971-2000), a near-term future (2020-2049) and a mid-term future (2045-2074) using a chain of models that includes five GCM-RCM combinations, two emission scenarios (RCP 4.5 and RCP 8.5), two irrigation scenarios (flood and drip irrigation), and twelve parameterizations of the hydrological model Tetis. Results of this modelling chain suggest considerable uncertainties regarding the magnitude and sign of future hydroclimatic changes. Yet, climate change could lead to a statistically significant decrease in future groundwater recharge of up -6.6% in flood irrigation and -9.3% in drip irrigation. Projected changes in actual evapotranspiration are as well statistically significant, but in the order of +1% in flood irrigation and -2.1% in drip irrigation under the assumption of business as usual irrigation schedules. The projected changes and the related uncertainties will pose a challenging context for future water management. However, our findings further indicate that the effect of the choice of irrigation technique may have a greater impact on hydroclimate than climate change alone. Explicitly considering irrigation techniques in climate change impact assessment might therefore be a way towards better informed decision-making.</p><p>This study has been supported by the IRRIWAM research project funded by the Coop Research Program of the ETH Zurich World Food System Center and the ETH Zurich Foundation, and by the ADAPTAMED (RTI2018-101483-B-I00) and TETISCHANGE (RTI2018-093717-B-I00) research projects funded by the Ministerio de Economia y Competitividad (MINECO) of Spain including EU FEDER funds.</p>


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Danrlei Menezes ◽  
Masato Kobiyama

<p>The aim of the present study was to characterize the size and shape of sediments along a reach of a mountain river in Maquiné municipality, southern Brazil, to establish an efficient methodology in river sediments analysis. In Brazil, this might be a pioneering study of mountain rivers characterized by the presence of gravel, cobble, and boulders sediments. The study catchment, covered by Dense and Mixed Rain Forest and high-altitude grasslands (Campos de Cima da Serra), has an altitude difference of 900 m. Its geology is characterized by the Serra Geral Formation (basaltic rocks) and pedology by Cambisols and Neossols. The mean annual rainfall is 1200 mm. According to the Köppen classification, the regional climate is humid subtropical with hot summers (Cfa) in lower areas and humid subtropical with mild summers and cold winters (Cfb) in higher areas. The catchment outlet has a fluviometric station, and at its headwater, there is a rainfall gauge, both of which perform automatic measurements every 10 min. For the bed sediments diameter analysis, 500 grains were sampled, following the Wolman Pebble Count methodology. The measurements were carried out along the same reach (100 m) in five stages (December 2019; February, May, August, and November 2020) to observe sediment dynamics over time. During these measurements, the mean values of water depth and discharge were 0.4 m and 0.8 m³/s, respectively. To determine the size and shape, the three axes A (longest), B (intermediate), and C (shortest) were measured by using the tree caliper. With the axes’ values, the sediment shape was classified into four types: sphere, rod, disc, and blade. Linear correlation and multiple regression analyses were performed to evaluate the influence of each sediment axis on determining the nominal diameter (D<sub>n</sub>). The mean values of D<sub>max</sub>, D<sub>90</sub>, D<sub>84</sub>, D<sub>50</sub>, D<sub>16,</sub> and D<sub>10</sub> of all the sampled sediments were 290.61, 114.40, 103.52, 56.27, 35.89, 28.0, and 18.40, respectively. Preliminary results indicate that 38% of the sampled sediments corresponded to the disc format and did not vary over the year. The characteristic diameters remained constant throughout the monitoring period, even though strong rainfall-runoff events sometimes occurred (~ maximum runoff was 33 m²/s in July 2020). The D<sub>n</sub> values calculated with the multiple regression model based on the analysis of the axes (D<sub>n</sub> = f (A, B, f (A, B))) were very close (R² = 0.95) to those calculated through an original definition of D<sub>n</sub>, i.e., D<sub>n</sub> = (A·B·C)<sup>1/3</sup>. During the monitoring period, notable changes in the size and shape of the sediments were not observed. The axes analysis confirms that the D<sub>n</sub> value can be estimated only with the measurement of axes A and B, without axis C. Therefore, this methodology (without the axis C) may be recommended to characterize the size and shape of bed sediments in mountain rivers. Finally, the present study highlights the importance of fieldwork to advance basic river sciences in Brazil.</p>


Author(s):  
Graeme Barker ◽  
David Mattingly

One of Barry Cunliffe’s major areas of research interest has been societies in transition, especially in the context of core/periphery relationships between expanding states and societies on their margins. Much of this work has been on the relationships between Rome and the Iron Age societies of southern Britain on the northwestern margins of the empire, and the subsequent pathways of resistance, interaction, and transformation. In this chapter we focus on events and processes on the opposite margins of the Roman empire in the Levant, where the Nabataean state was formally incorporated into the Roman imperial system some sixty years after the Claudian invasion of Britain. We draw on the results of the Wadi Faynan Landscape Survey (1996–2000), an interdisciplinary and diachronic investigation of evidence of environmental and climatic change, settlement pattern, and human activity in the Wadi Faynan in southern Jordan (figure 7.1). Situated about 40 kilometres from the Nabataean capital of Petra, the Wadi Faynan lies in the hot and hyper-arid Jordanian Desert, at a distinctive and spectacular mountain front that reaches 1500m above the desert floor. This landform marks the eastern margin of the desert lowlands of the great Jordanian rift valley, with the trough of the Wadi ‘Arabah to the south and west, and the highlands of the Mountains of Edom and the Jordanian tablelands to the east and north (Bienkowski and Galor 2006). The mean summer temperature on the Jordanian tablelands is in the order of 178c, compared with winter temperatures of about 12ºc (Bruins 2006; Rabb’a 1994). Winter temperatures on the desert floor in the Wadi Faynan are much the same as on the plateau, but in summer temperatures frequently reach 40ºc. Seasonality is strong, with most rain falling between December and March and virtually no precipitation occurring between June and September. Annual rainfall in the lower Wadi Faynan is around 63mm and even less in theWadi ‘Arabah (‘Aqaba receives 30mm for example), whereas the Jordanian Tablelands have an average precipitation exceeding 200mm per year.


2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (2) ◽  
pp. 328 ◽  
Author(s):  
Le Chang ◽  
Wenke Sun

As reported by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), the world has been greening over the last two decades, with the highest greening occurring in China and India. The increasing vegetation will increase plant tissue accumulation and water storage capacity, and all of these variations will cause mass change. In this study, we found that the mass change related to greening in Southern China could be confirmed by Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE) observations. The mean mass change rate detected by GRACE is 6.7 ± 0.8 mm/yr in equivalent water height during 2003–2016 in our study region. This is consistent with the sum of vegetation tissue, soil water and groundwater change calculated using multi-source data. The vegetation accumulation is approximately 3.8 ± 1.3 mm/yr, which is the major contribution to region mass change. We also found that the change of water storage capacity related to vegetation can be detected by GRACE.


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