Hydro-meteorological impact assessment of climate change on Tikur Wuha watershed in Ethiopia

Abstract

This study focused on examining the potential effects of climate change on hydro-meteorological variables at the Tikur Wuha watershed (TWW). The weighted average of the validated Coordinated Regional Climate Downscaling Experiment (CORDEX) data of the five Regional Climate Models (RCMs) from multiple General Circulation Models (GCMs) was used to simulate the potential impacts of climate change on streamflow using Soil and Water Assessment Tools (SWAT) model in TWW. The result revealed that the Bega, Kiremt, and annual rainfall increased in both mid and end century for all scenarios. In contrast, the Belg rainfall decreased for all cases except for RCP8.5 at the end century. The rainfall increased more in the end century than mid-century. The increase in rainfall is higher in the Bega compared to Belg and Kiremt season. No significant change in variability of precipitation is observed in the study area. Both the average minimum and maximum temperature increased for all scenarios and time horizons. The annual average streamflow in TWW increased in all cases except a slight reduction in the RCP4.5 scenario in mid-century. Climate change affects the streamflow in the study watershed by increasing the wet season flow and reducing the dry season flow. © 2021, The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Switzerland AG.