Climate change impacts on the hydrological behaviour of watershed in northeastern Tunisia (Oued El Abid watershed)
1 Laboratory of Rural Engineering, National Research Institute of Rural Engineering, Water and Forests (INRGREF), Hedi El Karray street, El Menzah IV,-P.O. Box°10, Ariana 2080, Tunisia.
2 Department of Water and Environment Sciences, University of Saad Dahlab Blida1, 09000 Blida, Algeria.
3 Department of Agronomy and Plant Biotechnology, National Institute of Agronomy of Tunisia (INAT), 43, Avenue Charles Nicolle, Tunis 1082, Tunisia.
4 Department of Rural, Water and Forest Engineering, National Institute of Agronomy of Tunisia (INAT), 43, Avenue Charles Nicolle, Tunis 1082, Tunisia.
Research Article
GSC Advanced Research and Reviews, 2024, 20(03), 175–186.
Article DOI: 10.30574/gscarr.2024.20.3.0350
Publication history:
Received on 13 August 2024; revised on 20 September 2024; accepted on 23 September 2024
Abstract:
Climate change significantly impacts watershed hydrology, altering water supplies, natural disasters, and eco-hydrologic processes. These effects vary geographically, with some regions facing severe droughts while others experience increased precipitation and flooding. Climate change influences atmospheric evaporation demand, precipitation patterns, vegetation composition, streamflow characteristics, and groundwater dynamics. The temperature increases and rainfall changes in some watersheds can lead to increased potential evapotranspiration and decreased streamflow and soil water. Flood frequency analyses indicate an overall increasing trend in the latter half of the 21st century.
The Oued El Abid catchment area, as like all catchments in northern Tunisia, is likely to be subject to major climatic and hydrological variations as a result of climate change. Advanced hydrological modelling using the HBV-Light model was set up to simulate current conditions and future scenarios based on Afric-Cordex climate models. The model demonstrates robust performance, achieving Nash-Sutcliffe Efficiency (NSE) values of 0.71 in calibration (1972-1992), and 0.66 in validation from 1993-2001.
This climate change has a direct effect on the hydrological projections, which reveal significant changes, with annual flow reductions ranging from 35% to 43%, with more severe impacts under the RCP8.5 scenario for 2069-2099. Spring and summer seasons are particularly vulnerable, showing flow decreases of up to 68% and over 40%, respectively, extreme monthly variability is projected, reaching 88% reduction in July under RCP8.5.
This research provides important results for water resource managers, highlighting the necessity of long-term planning and sustainable water management practices in the face of climate change.
Keywords:
Afric-Cordex models; Climate change; Future projections; HBV-Light model; Northern Tunisia
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Copyright © 2024 Author(s) retain the copyright of this article. This article is published under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Liscense 4.0
