scholarly journals Human-Induced Alterations to Land Use and Climate and Their Responses for Hydrology and Water Management in the Mekong River Basin

Water ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (6) ◽  
pp. 1307 ◽  
Author(s):  
Venkataramana Sridhar ◽  
Hyunwoo Kang ◽  
Syed A. Ali
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Land Use ◽  
River Basin ◽  
Dry Season ◽  
Mekong River ◽  
Anthropogenic Factors ◽  
Wet Season ◽  
Industrial Growth ◽  
Mekong River Basin ◽  
Parameter Estimations

The Mekong River Basin (MRB) is one of the significant river basins in the world. For political and economic reasons, it has remained mostly in its natural condition. However, with population increases and rapid industrial growth in the Mekong region, the river has recently become a hotbed of hydropower development projects. This study evaluated these changing hydrological conditions, primarily driven by climate as well as land use and land cover change between 1992 and 2015 and into the future. A 3% increase in croplands and a 1–2% decrease in grasslands, shrublands, and forests was evident in the basin. Similarly, an increase in temperature of 1–6 °C and in precipitation of 15% was projected for 2015–2099. These natural and climate-induced changes were incorporated into two hydrological models to evaluate impacts on water budget components, particularly streamflow. Wet season flows increased by up to 10%; no significant change in dry season flows under natural conditions was evident. Anomaly in streamflows due to climate change was present in the Chiang Saen and Luang Prabang, and the remaining flow stations showed up to a 5% increase. A coefficient of variation <1 suggested no major difference in flows between the pre- and post-development of hydropower projects. The results suggested an increasing trend in streamflow without the effect of dams, while the inclusion of a few major dams resulted in decreased river streamflow of 6% to 15% possibly due to irrigation diversions and climate change. However, these estimates fall within the range of uncertainties in natural climate variability and hydrological parameter estimations. This study offers insights into the relationship between biophysical and anthropogenic factors and highlights that management of the Mekong River is critical to optimally manage increased wet season flows and decreased dry season flows and handle irrigation diversions to meet the demand for food and energy production.

scholarly journals Deriving the Reservoir Conditions for Better Water Resource Management Using Satellite-Based Earth Observations in the Lower Mekong River Basin

2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (23) ◽  
pp. 2872 ◽  
Author(s):  
Syed A. Ali ◽  
Venkataramana Sridhar
Keyword(s):  
Remote Sensing ◽  
River Basin ◽  
Water Resource Management ◽  
Large Population ◽  
Dry Season ◽  
Water Diversion ◽  
Mekong River ◽  
Landsat 8 ◽  
Wet Season ◽  
Mekong River Basin

The Mekong River basin supported a large population and ecosystem with abundant water and nutrient supply. However, the impoundments in the river can substantially alter the flow downstream and its timing. Using limited observations, this study demonstrated an approach to derive dam characteristics, including storage and flow rate, from remote-sensing-based data. Global Reservoir and Lake Monitor (GRLM), River-Lake Hydrology (RLH), and ICESat-GLAS, which generated altimetry from Jason series and inundation areas from Landsat 8, were used to estimate the reservoir surface area and change in storage over time. The inflow simulated by the variable infiltration capacity (VIC) model from 2008 to 2016 and the reservoir storage change were used in the mass balance equation to calculate outflows for three dams in the basin. Estimated reservoir total storage closely resembled the observed data, with a Nash-Sutcliffe efficiency and coefficient of determination more than 0.90 and 0.95, respectively. An average decrease of 55% in outflows was estimated during the wet season and an increase of up to 94% in the dry season for the Lam Pao. The estimated decrease in outflows during the wet season was 70% and 60% for Sirindhorn and Ubol Ratana, respectively, along with a 36% increase in the dry season for Sirindhorn. Basin-wide demand for evapotranspiration, about 935 mm, implicitly matched with the annual water diversion from 1000 to 2300 million m3. From the storage–discharge rating curves, minimum storage was also evident in the monsoon season (June–July), and it reached the highest in November. This study demonstrated the utility of remote sensing products to assess the impacts of dams on flows in the Mekong River basin.

scholarly journals Meteorological and hydrological droughts in Mekong River Basin and surrounding areas under climate change

2021 ◽  
Vol 36 ◽  
pp. 100873
Author(s):  
Yishan Li ◽  
Hui Lu ◽  
Kun Yang ◽  
Wei Wang ◽  
Qiuhong Tang ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
River Basin ◽  
Mekong River ◽  
Mekong River Basin ◽  
Surrounding Areas ◽  
Hydrological Droughts

Responses of river discharge and sediment load to climate change in the transboundary Mekong River Basin

2019 ◽  
Vol 34 (S1) ◽  
pp. 367-380
Author(s):  
Dao Nguyen Khoi ◽  
Van Thinh Nguyen ◽  
Truong Thao Sam ◽  
Nguyen Ky Phung ◽  
Nguyen Thi Bay
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
River Basin ◽  
River Discharge ◽  
Sediment Load ◽  
Mekong River ◽  
Mekong River Basin

Estimation of supplementary water to paddy fields in the lower Mekong River basin during the dry season

2005 ◽  
Vol 3 (3) ◽  
pp. 177-186 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hiroaki Somura ◽  
Hajime Tanji ◽  
Koshi Yoshida ◽  
Osamu Toda ◽  
Katsuhiro Higuchi
Keyword(s):  
River Basin ◽  
Dry Season ◽  
Paddy Fields ◽  
Mekong River ◽  
Mekong River Basin

scholarly journals Land use and climate change impacts on the hydrology of the upper Mara River Basin, Kenya: results of a modeling study to support better resource management

2011 ◽  
Vol 15 (7) ◽  
pp. 2245-2258 ◽  
Author(s):  
L. M. Mango ◽  
A. M. Melesse ◽  
M. E. McClain ◽  
D. Gann ◽  
S. G. Setegn
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Land Use ◽  
East Africa ◽  
River Basin ◽  
Management Practices ◽  
Cultural Landscapes ◽  
Dry Season ◽  
Future Climate Change ◽  
Climate Change Scenarios ◽  
Resource Managers

Abstract. Some of the most valued natural and cultural landscapes on Earth lie in river basins that are poorly gauged and have incomplete historical climate and runoff records. The Mara River Basin of East Africa is such a basin. It hosts the internationally renowned Mara-Serengeti landscape as well as a rich mixture of indigenous cultures. The Mara River is the sole source of surface water to the landscape during the dry season and periods of drought. During recent years, the flow of the Mara River has become increasingly erratic, especially in the upper reaches, and resource managers are hampered by a lack of understanding of the relative influence of different sources of flow alteration. Uncertainties about the impacts of future climate change compound the challenges. We applied the Soil Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) to investigate the response of the headwater hydrology of the Mara River to scenarios of continued land use change and projected climate change. Under the data-scarce conditions of the basin, model performance was improved using satellite-based estimated rainfall data, which may also improve the usefulness of runoff models in other parts of East Africa. The results of the analysis indicate that any further conversion of forests to agriculture and grassland in the basin headwaters is likely to reduce dry season flows and increase peak flows, leading to greater water scarcity at critical times of the year and exacerbating erosion on hillslopes. Most climate change projections for the region call for modest and seasonally variable increases in precipitation (5–10 %) accompanied by increases in temperature (2.5–3.5 °C). Simulated runoff responses to climate change scenarios were non-linear and suggest the basin is highly vulnerable under low (−3 %) and high (+25 %) extremes of projected precipitation changes, but under median projections (+7 %) there is little impact on annual water yields or mean discharge. Modest increases in precipitation are partitioned largely to increased evapotranspiration. Overall, model results support the existing efforts of Mara water resource managers to protect headwater forests and indicate that additional emphasis should be placed on improving land management practices that enhance infiltration and aquifer recharge as part of a wider program of climate change adaptation.

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