Title: Potential implications of land use/land cover change and climate variability on ungauged watershed hydrology

Authors: Afera Halefom; Asirat Teshome; Ermias Sisay

Addresses: Department of Hydraulic and Water Resources Engineering, Faculty of Technology, Debre Tabor University, Debre Tabor, Ethiopia ' Department of Hydraulic and Water Resources Engineering, Faculty of Technology, Debre Tabor University, Debre Tabor, Ethiopia ' Department of Hydraulic and Water Resources Engineering, Faculty of Technology, Debre Tabor University, Debre Tabor, Ethiopia

Abstract: In Farta watershed, the impact of land use/land cover (LULC) change and climate variability on hydrological processes was simulated using the soil and water assessment tool (SWAT). The values of R², NSE, RSR and PBIAS were 0.79, 0.67, 0.82 and 4.8% throughout calibration and 0.61, 0.69, 0.69, and 5.2% throughout validation respectively. Climate trend were analysed in the study area by using Mann-Kendall (MK) test. Percentage change of 10.94%, 8.13% and 16.09% for average annual temperature, mean maximum temperature and mean minimum temperature were observed respectively. The four Landsat images (2000, 2005, 2010 and 2017) were classified into five major LULC classes and areal extent of each LULC were 9.2 Km² urban, 8.5 Km² plantations, 5.7 Km² waterbody, −22.3 Km² agricultural land and −1.0 Km² pastureland. The combined effects of LULC and climate variability in the study area should be taken into consideration for the water resources planning and management.

Keywords: Farta watershed; ungauged; land use/land cover; LULC; temperature; precipitation.

DOI: 10.1504/IJHST.2020.106484

International Journal of Hydrology Science and Technology, 2020 Vol.10 No.2, pp.167 - 190

Received: 21 May 2018
Accepted: 09 Aug 2018
Published online: 09 Apr 2020 *

Full-text access for editors Full-text access for subscribers Purchase this article Comment on this article