Opportunities for hydrologic research in the Congo Basin

We review the published results on the Congo Basin hydrology and summarize the historic and ongoing research. Annual rainfall is ~1900 mm/yr along an east‐west trend across the basin, decreasing northward and southward to ~1100 mm/yr. Historic studies using lysimeters, pans, and models suggest that...

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Veröffentlicht in:Reviews of geophysics (1985) 2016-06, Vol.54 (2), p.378-409
Hauptverfasser: Alsdorf, Douglas, Beighley, Ed, Laraque, Alain, Lee, Hyongki, Tshimanga, Raphael, O'Loughlin, Fiachra, Mahé, Gil, Dinga, Bienvenu, Moukandi, Guy, Spencer, Robert G. M.
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container_issue 2
container_start_page 378
container_title Reviews of geophysics (1985)
container_volume 54
creator Alsdorf, Douglas
Beighley, Ed
Laraque, Alain
Lee, Hyongki
Tshimanga, Raphael
O'Loughlin, Fiachra
Mahé, Gil
Dinga, Bienvenu
Moukandi, Guy
Spencer, Robert G. M.
description We review the published results on the Congo Basin hydrology and summarize the historic and ongoing research. Annual rainfall is ~1900 mm/yr along an east‐west trend across the basin, decreasing northward and southward to ~1100 mm/yr. Historic studies using lysimeters, pans, and models suggest that the annual potential evapotranspiration varies little across the basin at 1100 to 1200 mm/yr. Over the past century, river discharge data have been collected at hundreds of stream gauges with historic and recent data at 96 locations now publicly available. Congo River discharge at Kinshasa‐Brazzaville experienced an increase of 21% during the 1960–1970 decade in comparison to most other decades. Satellite altimetry measurements of high and low flows show that water levels in the “Cuvette Centrale” wetland are 0.5 m to 3.0 m higher in elevation than the immediately adjacent Congo River levels. Wetland water depths are shallow at about a meter and there does not appear to be many sizable channels across the “Cuvette”; thus, wetland flows are diffusive. Cuvette waters alone are estimated to emit about 0.5 Pg CH4 and CO2 equivalents/yr, an amount that is significant compared to global carbon evasions. Using these results, we suggest seven hypotheses that focus on the source of the Cuvette waters and how these leave the wetland, on the river discharge generated by historic rainfall, on the connection between climate change and the rainfall‐runoff generated by the migrating “tropical rainbelt,” on deforestation and hydroelectric power generation, and on the amount of carbon emitted from Congo waters. Key Points Archived records exist for hundreds of stream and rain gauges Cuvette wetlands may be dominated by rainfall instead of fluvial water exchange The “tropical rainbelt” may be changing in response to global warming, as evidenced in Congo discharge records
doi_str_mv 10.1002/2016RG000517
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Satellite altimetry measurements of high and low flows show that water levels in the “Cuvette Centrale” wetland are 0.5 m to 3.0 m higher in elevation than the immediately adjacent Congo River levels. Wetland water depths are shallow at about a meter and there does not appear to be many sizable channels across the “Cuvette”; thus, wetland flows are diffusive. Cuvette waters alone are estimated to emit about 0.5 Pg CH4 and CO2 equivalents/yr, an amount that is significant compared to global carbon evasions. Using these results, we suggest seven hypotheses that focus on the source of the Cuvette waters and how these leave the wetland, on the river discharge generated by historic rainfall, on the connection between climate change and the rainfall‐runoff generated by the migrating “tropical rainbelt,” on deforestation and hydroelectric power generation, and on the amount of carbon emitted from Congo waters. 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M.</creatorcontrib><title>Opportunities for hydrologic research in the Congo Basin</title><title>Reviews of geophysics (1985)</title><description>We review the published results on the Congo Basin hydrology and summarize the historic and ongoing research. Annual rainfall is ~1900 mm/yr along an east‐west trend across the basin, decreasing northward and southward to ~1100 mm/yr. Historic studies using lysimeters, pans, and models suggest that the annual potential evapotranspiration varies little across the basin at 1100 to 1200 mm/yr. Over the past century, river discharge data have been collected at hundreds of stream gauges with historic and recent data at 96 locations now publicly available. Congo River discharge at Kinshasa‐Brazzaville experienced an increase of 21% during the 1960–1970 decade in comparison to most other decades. Satellite altimetry measurements of high and low flows show that water levels in the “Cuvette Centrale” wetland are 0.5 m to 3.0 m higher in elevation than the immediately adjacent Congo River levels. Wetland water depths are shallow at about a meter and there does not appear to be many sizable channels across the “Cuvette”; thus, wetland flows are diffusive. Cuvette waters alone are estimated to emit about 0.5 Pg CH4 and CO2 equivalents/yr, an amount that is significant compared to global carbon evasions. Using these results, we suggest seven hypotheses that focus on the source of the Cuvette waters and how these leave the wetland, on the river discharge generated by historic rainfall, on the connection between climate change and the rainfall‐runoff generated by the migrating “tropical rainbelt,” on deforestation and hydroelectric power generation, and on the amount of carbon emitted from Congo waters. 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M.</au><format>journal</format><genre>article</genre><ristype>JOUR</ristype><atitle>Opportunities for hydrologic research in the Congo Basin</atitle><jtitle>Reviews of geophysics (1985)</jtitle><date>2016-06</date><risdate>2016</risdate><volume>54</volume><issue>2</issue><spage>378</spage><epage>409</epage><pages>378-409</pages><issn>8755-1209</issn><eissn>1944-9208</eissn><abstract>We review the published results on the Congo Basin hydrology and summarize the historic and ongoing research. Annual rainfall is ~1900 mm/yr along an east‐west trend across the basin, decreasing northward and southward to ~1100 mm/yr. Historic studies using lysimeters, pans, and models suggest that the annual potential evapotranspiration varies little across the basin at 1100 to 1200 mm/yr. Over the past century, river discharge data have been collected at hundreds of stream gauges with historic and recent data at 96 locations now publicly available. Congo River discharge at Kinshasa‐Brazzaville experienced an increase of 21% during the 1960–1970 decade in comparison to most other decades. Satellite altimetry measurements of high and low flows show that water levels in the “Cuvette Centrale” wetland are 0.5 m to 3.0 m higher in elevation than the immediately adjacent Congo River levels. Wetland water depths are shallow at about a meter and there does not appear to be many sizable channels across the “Cuvette”; thus, wetland flows are diffusive. Cuvette waters alone are estimated to emit about 0.5 Pg CH4 and CO2 equivalents/yr, an amount that is significant compared to global carbon evasions. 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subjects Africa
carbon
Carbon dioxide
Centrales
Climate change
Congo
Deforestation
Earth Sciences
Evapotranspiration
Freshwater
Global warming
Hydroelectric power
Hydrologic research
Hydrology
Low flow
Lysimeters
Rain gauges
rainfall
Rainfall-runoff relationships
River discharge
River flow
Rivers
Satellite altimetry
Sciences of the Universe
Water depth
Water exchange
Water levels
Wetlands
title Opportunities for hydrologic research in the Congo Basin
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