Abstract
The Blue Nile (Abay ) basin contributes close to 60% of the flow of Nile River while draining only 10% of the Nile Basin. Analysis and study of the past, current and future climate and hydrology of the Blue Nile basin is important to sustain the environment and livelihood in the Nile Basin. The basin mean annual rainfall is 1423 mm with 74% in the four wet months of June to September. Rainfall in the basin is influenced by ENSO events where El Niño years are likely to be drier than normal and La Niña years are likely to be wetter. River flow fluctuates with the timing and amount of rainfall. The estimated mean annual flow of the Blue Nile River at the Ethio-Sudan border is about 50 bcm (billion cubic meter) with range of year-to-year variation. The subsistence rainfed agriculture in the basin has been affected by periodic droughts and may not be sustainable to support the growing population. Increasing water demand in the Nile basin for food and energy is manifested in the continual increase of water control projects on the main rivers and tributaries and expansion of irrigated areas. These projects are likely to alter the hydrology of the Blue Nile Basin. One of the currently undergoing projects is the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) being built on the Blue Nile River by Ethiopia for hydroelectric power generation. This chapter provides an overview of the hydrology of the Blue Nile Basin.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Abtew W, Melesse AM, Dessalegne T (2009a) El Niño southern oscillation link to the Blue Nile River hydrology. Hydrol Process 23:3653–3660
Abtew W, Melesse AM, Dessalegne T (2009b) Spatial, inter and intra-annual variability of the Upper Blue Nile Basin rainfall. Hydrol Process 23:3075–3082
Abtew W, Melesse AM (2013) Evaporation and evapotranspiration measurements and estimations. Springer, New York
Alemayehu T, McCartney M, Kebede S (2009) Simulation of water resource development and environmental flows in the Lake Tana subbasin. In: Aulachew SB, Erkossa T, Smakhatin V, Fernando A (eds) Improved water and land management in the Ethiopian highlands: its impact on downstream stakeholders dependent on the Blue Nile. IWMI. Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
Ayana EK, Philpot WD, Melesse AM, Steenhuis TS (2014) Chapter 14 Bathymetry, lake area and volume mapping: a remote-sensing perspective. In: Melesse AM, Abtew W, Setegn (eds) Nile River Basin ecohydrological challenges, climate change and hydropolitics. Springer, New York
Berhanu B, Sileshi Y, Melesse AM (2014) Chapter 6 Surface water and groundwater resources of Ethiopia: potentials and challenges of water resources development. In: Melesse AM, Abtew W, Setegn (eds) Nile River Basin ecohydrological challenges, climate change and hydropolitics. Springer, New York
Block PJ (2007) Integrated management of the Blue Nile basin in Ethiopia hydropower and irrigation. IFPRI, Washington, DC
Bokke AS, Taye MT, Willems P, Siyum SA (2017) Validation of general climate models (GCMs) over Upper Blue Nile Basin, Ethiopia. Atmos Clim Sci 7:65–75
Conway D (2017) Future Nile River flows. Advance Online Publication. www.nature.com/natureclimatechange
Degefu GT (2003) The Nile historical legal and developmental perspectives. Trafford Publishing, Victoria
Densaw DF, Ayana EK, Enku T (2016) Koga irrigation scheme water quality assessment, relation to streamflow and implication on crop yield. In: Melesse AM, Abtew W (eds) Landscape dynamics, soils and hydrological processes in varied climates. Springer, New York
Dessu SB, Melesse AM (2013) Impact and uncertainties of climate change on the hydrology of the Mara River Basin. Kenya/Tanzania Hydrological Processes: (in press). https://doi.org/10.1002/hyp.9434
Dessu SB, Seid AH, Abiy AZ, Melesse AM (2016) Chapter 18: Flood forecasting and stream flow simulation of the Upper Awash River basin, Ethiopia, using geospatial stream flow model (GeoSFM). In: Melesse AM, Abtew W (eds) Landscape dynamics, soils and hydrological processes in varied climates. Springer, New York
Elsanabary MH, Gan TY (2015) Evaluation of climate anomalies impacts on the Upper Blue Nile Basin in Ethiopia using distributed and a lumped hydrologic model. J Hydrol 530:225–240
ESA (2008) GlobCover land cover v2 2008 database. European Space Agency. European Space Agency GlobCover Project, led by MEDIAS-France. http://ionia1.esrin.esa.int/index.asp
FAO, IIASA, ISRIC, ISSCAS, JRC (2009) Harmonized world soil database (version 1.1)
Fischer G, Nachtergaele F, Prieler S, van Velthuizen HT, Verelst L, Wiberg D (2008) Global agro-ecological zones assessment for agriculture (GAEZ 2008)
Gissila T, Black E, Grimes DIF, Slingo JM (2004) Seasonal forecasting of the Ethiopian summer rains. Int J Climatol 24:1345–1358
Glantz MH (ed) (1987) Drought and hunger in Africa: denying famine a future. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge
Halfman JD, Johnson TC, Finney BP (1994) New AMS dates, stratigraphic correlations and decadal climatic cycles for the past 4 ka at Lake Turkana, Kenya. Palaeogeogr Palaeoclimatol Plaeoecol 111(1–2):83–98
IPRC (2011) Tree rings tell 1100-year history of El Niño. Pres Release. The School of Ocean and Earth Science and Technology at the University of Hawaii at Manoa
Jarvis A, Reuter HI, Nelson A, Guevera E (2008) Hole-filled SRTM for the globe Version 4. CGIAR—consortium for spatial information. http://srtm.csi.cgiar.org/
McCartney M, Ibrahim YA, Sileshi Y, Awulachew SB (2009) Application of the water evaluation and planning (WEAP) model to simulate current and future water demand in the Blue Nile. In: Aulachew SB, Erkossa T, Smakhatin V, Fernando A (eds) Improved water and land management in the Ethiopian highlands: its impact on downstream stakeholders dependent on the Blue Nile. IWMI. Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
Ministry of Water Resources of Ethiopia (2010) Environmental and social impact of about 20,000 ha irrigation and drainage schemes at Megech pump (Seraba), Ribb and Anger dam. Report 60386 V1
MoWR (2016) Ministry of water resources of Ethiopia. http://www.mowr.gov.et/index.php?pagenum=2.3&pagehgt=5395px. Accessed 13 Nov 2016
Mulat AG, Moges SA, Ibrahim Y (2014) Chapter 27 Impact and benefit study of Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) during impounding and operation phases on downstream structures in the Eastern Nile. In: Melesse AM, Abtew W, Setegn (eds) Nile River Basin ecohydrological challenges, climate change and hydropolitics. Springer, New York
Pankhurst R (1966) The great Ethiopian famine of 1888–1892: a new assessment part one. J Hist Med Allied Sci, XXI:95–124
Putter TD, Loutre MF, Wansard G (1998) Decadal periodicities of Nile River historical discharge (A.D. 622–1470) and climatic implications. Geophys Res Lett 25(16):3193–3196
Sadek N (2006) River Nile flood forecasting and its effect on national projects implementation. In: Tenth international water technology conference, IWTC102006, Alexanderia, Egypt
Seleshi Y, Zanke U (2004) Recent changes in rainfall and rainy days in Ethiopia. Int J Climatol 24:973–983
Semazzi FHM, Burns B, Lin N, Schemm J (1996) A GCM study of the teleconnections between the continental climate of Africa and global sea surface temperature anomalies. J Clim 9(1):2480–2497
Siam MS, Eltahir EAB (2017) Climatic change enhances interannual variability of the Nile river flow. Nat Clim Change 7(5):350–354
Tegegne G, Hailu D, Aranganathan SM (2013) Lake Tana reservoir water balance model. Inter J Appl Innov Eng Mang 2(3):474–478
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2019 Springer International Publishing AG, part of Springer Nature
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Abtew, W., Dessu, S.B. (2019). Hydrology of the Blue Nile Basin Overview. In: The Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam on the Blue Nile. Springer Geography. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-97094-3_4
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-97094-3_4
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-97093-6
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-97094-3
eBook Packages: Earth and Environmental ScienceEarth and Environmental Science (R0)