Integration of NFS with regional climate model to simulate the Nile basin hydro-climatology [electronic resource].

Includes references.

Many development projects involving Nile waters are currently underway, or being studied. These projects will lead to changes in land-use patterns and water distribution and availability. It is thus essential to assess their impacts on regional hydrological processes, water resource management and sustainable development. This paper seeks to establish a basis for evaluation of such impacts within the Blue Nile and Sobat River sub-basins, using a Regional Climate Model – RegCM3 - to simulate the interaction between the land surface and climatic processes. Specifically, we present the results obtained from application to these sub-basins of RegCM3 and the Nile Forecast System (NFS). (NFS) is a hydrologic distributed rainfall runoff model of the Nile Basin. The interaction between climate and hydrological processes on the land surface has been fully coupled. Rainfall patterns and evaporation rates have been generated using the RegCM3, and runoff pattern have been simulated using NFS. The paper presents validation results over the Blue Nile and Sobat basins, for the period 1990 to 2006. The Climate Research Unit (UK) and NASA Goddard Space Filight Center GPCP (USA) observational datasets for precipitation and temperature were used to evaluate the model results. Stream flow predictions were assessed using historical gauge records. Precipitation, temperature and evaporation were selected as the variables to be used in the hydrological processes simulation.

Summary in Arabic.

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