H039
African Hydrology: Bridging Data, Models, and Innovation for Sustainable Solutions
Session ID#: 247629
Session Description:
Africa’s water challenges including diverse climates, ecosystems, and socio-economic contexts—provide critical insights into global water security. This session highlights cutting-edge advances in hydrology and climatology research and practice, emphasizing African dynamics with universal relevance. We invite contributions covering a wide range of topics and scales, including but not limited to utilizing large and unconventional datasets (e.g., citizen science, IoT), remote sensing, AI-driven modeling, digital twins, climate and land use impacts, hydroclimatic extremes (floods, droughts), human-water interactions, decision support systems, and the Water-Energy-Food Ecosystem (WEFE) nexus. We encourage studies integrating traditional knowledge and community-based solutions for sustainable water management and interdisciplinary work encompassing science, policy, and practice. We welcome fundamental and applied research, including case studies that offer scalable lessons for water-stressed regions worldwide. This session aims to foster collaboration among researchers, practitioners, and policymakers.
Co-Sponsor(s):
Index Terms:
1807 Climate impacts [HYDROLOGY]
1833 Hydroclimatology [HYDROLOGY]
1880 Water management [HYDROLOGY]
1894 Instruments and techniques: modeling [HYDROLOGY]
Primary Convener: Adeyemi Olusola, York University, Faculty of Environmental & Urban Change, Toronto, ON, Canada
Conveners: Moctar Dembele, International Water Management Institute (IWMI), Accra, Ghana, Dr. Christiana Funmilola Olusegun, PhD, Michigan State University, Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, East Lansing, United States and Meron Teferi Taye, International Water Management Institute, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
Hydrological simulations in a High Performance Computing environment from the comfort of your own browser: First experiences from Africa with the eWaterCycle platform (1850571)
Nick Van De Giesen, Delft University of Technology, Department of Water Management, Faculty of Civil Engineering and Geosciences, Delft, Netherlands, Mark Melotto, Delft University of Technology, Water Management, Delft, Netherlands, Frank O Annor, Delft University of Technology & TAHMO, Delft, Netherlands and Rolf Hut, Department of Water Management, Faculty of Civil Engineering and Geosciences, Delft University of Technology, Delft, the Netherlands, Delft, Netherlands
RootSense: Bridging In-situ and Earth Observation Data for Agricultural Drought Resilience in Sub-Saharan Africa (Invited) (1850602)
Catherine Lilian Nakalembe, University of Maryland, Department of Geographical Sciences, College Park, MD, United States, Adebowale Daniel Adebayo, Columbia, MARYLAND, UNITED STATES, Michael Cosh, USDA ARS, Baltimore, United States, Kenneth Mwangi, World Resources Institute, Vital Landscapes-Food Program, Nairobi, Kenya, Sixbert Mourice, Sokoine University of Agriculture, Morogoro, Tanzania and Dorothy Okello, Makerere University, Engineering, Kampala, Uganda
Understanding drought in East Africa through Earth observation, models, and machine learning for decision support (1858289)
Cristina Ruiz Villena1, Robert Parker1, Ross Maidment2, Tristan L Quaife3, Yaulande Douanla Alotse4, Mouhamadou Bamba Sylla5 and Ghafi Kondi Akara4, (1)University of Leicester, National Centre for Earth Observation, School of Physics and Astronomy, Leicester, United Kingdom, (2)University of Reading, Reading, United Kingdom, (3)University of Reading, Department of Meteorology, Reading, United Kingdom, (4)African Institute for Mathematical Sciences Research and Innovation Centre, Kigali, Rwanda, (5)AIMS-Rwanda; African Institute for Mathematical Sciences of Rwanda, Kigali, Rwanda
Spatiotemporal Dynamics of Water Quality and Trophic State of the African Great Lakes using Sentinel-3 OLCI Observations (1875433)
Ekaterina Miliutina1, Hongxing Liu2, Jilin Men2, Song Shu3 and Richard Beck4, (1)The University of Alabama, Department of Geography and the Environment, Tuscaloosa, United States, (2)The University of Alabama, Department of Geography and the Environment, Tuscaloosa, AL, United States, (3)Appalachian State University, Department of Geography and Planning, Boone, NC, United States, (4)University of Cincinnati Main Campus, Department of Geography and Geographic Information Science, Cincinnati, United States
Assessing Total Renewable Water Resources in the Nile Basin: Insights from an Integrated Basin-Wide Model (1875810)
Mekdelawit Deribe, Florida International University, Department of Earth and Environment, Miami, FL, United States, Belete Berhanu Kidanewold, Addis Ababa Institute of Technology, Climate, Hydrology and Water Resources Systems, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia and Assefa M Melesse, Florida International University, Earth and Environment, Miami, United States
Equitable flood risk management through transdisciplinary knowledge generation in marginalized communities of East and West Africa (1906317)
Meron Teferi Taye1, Yakob Umer2, Haileyesus Lakew Belay3, Mengistu Dessalegn3, Samuel Owusu Ansah4, Oscar Lino5 and Ellen Dyer6, (1)International Water Management Institute, East Africa and the Nile basin, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, (2)International Water Management Institute, Pretoria, South Africa, (3)International Water Management Institute, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, (4)Kwame Nkrumah University Of Science And Technology, Accra, Ghana, (5)University of Nairobi, Nairobi, Kenya, (6)University of Oxford, School of Geography and the Environment, Oxford, United Kingdom
Hydrological Implications for Sustainable Irrigation Development in the Lake Chad Basin under Climate Change (1927918)
Moctar Dembele1, Nafn Amdar2, Mikhail Smilovic3, Komlavi Akpoti1 and Sander Zwart1, (1)International Water Management Institute (IWMI), Accra, Ghana, (2)International Water Management Institute (IWMI), Cairo, Egypt, (3)International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA), Laxenburg, Austria
Supporting Advancements in Lake Malawi Water Resources Management (1928357)
Rachel Hoops1, Andrew Gronewold2, Anna Gossard3, Mexford Mulumpwa4, Lucy Mtilatila5, Geoffrey Chavula6, Evance Chaima7, Lameck Fiwa7, James Chitete8, Dwight Kambuku9, Toney Nyasulu9, Kondwani Andreah9 and Mexford Mulumpwa : Associate Aquatic Ecology and Fisheries Expert , (1)University of Michigan, School of Environment and Sustainability, Ann Arbor, United States, (2)University of Michigan, School for Environment and Sustainability, Ann Arbor, United States, (3)University of Michigan Ann Arbor, Civil and Environmental Engineering, Ann Arbor, United States, (4)University of Agriculture and Natural Resources, Department of Aquaculture and Fisheries Sciences, Lilongwe, Malawi, (5)Department of Climate Change and Meteorological Services, Department of Climate Change and Meteorological Services, Lilongwe, Malawi, (6)Malawi University of Business and Applied Sciences, Department of Civil Engineering, Blantyre, Malawi, (7)Lilongwe University of Agriculture and Natural Resources, Department of Agricultural Engineering, Lilongwe, Malawi, (8)Department of water resources, Department of water resources, Lilongwe, Malawi, (9)National Water Resources Authority, Department of water resources, Lilongwe, Malawi
Evaluation of Potential Evapotranspiration Forecasts and Their Potential for Use in a Hybrid SPEI Product (1928428)
Gregory J Husak1, Chris C Funk1, William Turner1, Shraddhanand Shukla1, Laura Harrison2, Daniella C Alaso3 and Robert Saldivar1, (1)University of California Santa Barbara, Climate Hazards Center, Geography Department, Santa Barbara, United States, (2)University of California Santa Barbara, Climate Hazards Center, Geography Department, Santa Barbara, CA, United States, (3)The University of Alabama, Department of Geography, Tuscaloosa, United States
Limpopo River Basin Digital Twin: Enabling Sustainable Water Management with the Open Data Cube Framework. (1938442)
Abdul Afham1, Hugo Retief2, Paulo Silva1, Zolo Kiala3, Chris Dickens1, Surajit Ghosh3 and Mariangel Garcia1, (1)International Water Management Institute, Colombo, Sri Lanka, (2)Association for Water and Rural Development (AWARD), Hoedspruit, South Africa, (3)International Water Management Institute, Silverton, South Africa
From Rainfall to Runoff: Cascading Uncertainty Using Top-Down and Bottom-Up Rainfall Products in Three West African River Basins (1942729)
Roland Yonaba1, Fowé Tazen1, Gyskel Ngonga1, Axel Belemtougri2, Arsène Kiema3, Lawani Adjadi Mounirou1 and Harouna Karambiri1, (1)International Institute for Water and Environmental Engineering (2iE), Laboratory of Water, Hydro-Systems and Agriculture (LEHSA), Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, (2)Institut de l'Environnement et de Recherches Agricoles (INERA), Département Gestion des Ressources Naturelles et Systèmes de Productions, Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, (3)Ministère de l’Environnement, de l’Eau et de l’Assainissement (MEAAH-BF), Service Régional des Etudes Statistiques et Sectorielles, Direction Régionale de l’Eau et de l’Assainissement du Centre-Nord, Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso
Three Decades (1995–2024) of Continental African River Discharge Across 650 000 + Reaches: Unveiling Trends from Headwaters to Major Dams (1942952)
Komlavi Akpoti1, Naga Manohar Velpuri2, Naoki Mizukami3, Romeo Koduah4, Eric Mortey4, Mansoor D Leh2, Afua Owusu5, Paranamana Thilina-Prabhath2, Kirubel Mekonnen6, Lahiru Maduskanka2, Tharindu Perera7, Abdulkarim Seid6, Gabriel B Senay8 and Stefanie Kagone9, (1)International Water Management Institute, Water Data Science for Action, Silverton, South Africa, (2)International Water Management Institute (IWMI), Colombo, Sri Lanka, (3)NSF National Center for Atmospheric Research, Boulder, United States, (4)International Water Management Institute, Water Data Science for Action, Accra, Ghana, (5)International Water Management Institute, Silverton, South Africa, (6)International Water Management Institute, ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia, (7)International Water Management Institute, Colombo, Sri Lanka, (8)U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Earth Resources Observation and Science (EROS) Center, Fort Collins Science Center, Fort Collins, United States, (9)ASRC Federal Data Solutions - Contractor to the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Earth Resources Observation and Science (EROS) Center, Sioux Falls, United States
Assessing Livestock Impacts on Water Budgets in Agricultural Catchments: Insights from Water Accounting Analysis in Eastern Uganda (1944969)
Mansoor D Leh1, Geethya Fernando2, Naga Manohar Velpuri1, Meron Teferi Taye3, Girma Y. Ebrahim3 and Alan Nicol4, (1)International Water Management Institute (IWMI), Colombo, Sri Lanka, (2)International Water Management Institute, Water Data Science, Colombo, Sri Lanka, (3)International Water Management Institute, East Africa and the Nile basin, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, (4)International Water Management Institute, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
Data-Driven Hydrological Discharge Simulation in the Limpopo River Basin for Transboundary Water Management (1945138)
James Tlhomole1,2, Mariangel Garcia2, Karthikeyan Matheswaran2 and Edoardo Borgomeo1, (1)University of Cambridge, Department of Engineering, Cambridge, United Kingdom, (2)International Water Management Institute, Colombo, Sri Lanka
Advancing Water Security in Africa through the IWMI Africa GeoPortal (1946115)
Afua Owusu1, Tharindu Perera2, Lahiru Maduskanka3, Mansoor D Leh3, Kirubel Mekonnen4, Komlavi Akpoti5, Primrose Tinonetsana2, Abdulkarim Seid4 and Naga Manohar Velpuri3, (1)International Water Management Institute, Water Data Science, Silverton, South Africa, (2)International Water Management Institute, Colombo, Sri Lanka, (3)International Water Management Institute (IWMI), Colombo, Sri Lanka, (4)International Water Management Institute, ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia, (5)International Water Management Institute (IWMI), Accra, Ghana
Satellite-Surface-Area Machine-Learning Models for Reservoir Storage Estimation: Evaluation and Operational Deployment at Loskop Dam, South Africa (1948564)
Hugo Retief1, Kayathri Vigneswaran2, Surajit Ghosh3, Mariangel Garcia2 and Chris Dickens2, (1)Association for Water and Rural Development (AWARD), Hoedspruit, South Africa, (2)International Water Management Institute, Colombo, Sri Lanka, (3)International Water Management Institute, Silverton, South Africa
Drivers and Trends of Root-Zone Soil Moisture at Wet Season Onset across Sub-Saharan Africa (1978116)
Christopher Chalmers1, Yan Zhang2 and Angela Jean Rigden2, (1)University of California Irvine, Earth System Science, Irvine, CA, United States, (2)University of California Irvine, Earth System Science, Irvine, United States
Assessing Ghana’s Hydroclimatic Vulnerability: A Level II Climate Risk Informed Decision Analysis (CRIDA) Case Study (1985195)
Mohamed Mowafy, University of Cincinnati Main Campus, Cincinnati, OH, United States, Suman Rana Magar, University of Cincinnati Main Campus, Environmental Engineering, Cincinnati, United States, Siying Tan, UNESCO IHP - Hydrological Systems and Global Change Systems, Paris, France, Koen M J Verbist, UNESCO-IHP, Hydrological Systems and Global Change section, Paris, France, Patrick Ray, University of Cincinnati, Environmental Engineering, Cincinnati, United States and Melody Boateng, UNESCO National Science Center, Accra, Ghana
Enabling Urban Flood Models and Flood Early Warning Systems in Kigali city-Rwanda: A Review and Audit of Hydrometeorological Data and Models (1985306)
Emily Zuetell, Carnegie Mellon University, Civil and Environmental Engineering, Pittsburgh, United States, Francois Tetero, Global Water Partnership Eastern Africa, Kigali, Rwanda, Moise Busogi, Carnegie Mellon University - Africa, Kigali, Rwanda, Hussein Bizimana, University of Rwanda, Civil Environmental and Geomatic Engineering, Kigali, Rwanda and Alice Umutoni, Rwanda Young Water Professionals, Kigali, Rwanda
Climate Change Impacts on Crop Production in Africa (1992668)
Dr. Solomon Gebrechorkos, University of Oxford, School of Geography and the Environment, Oxford, United Kingdom and Rupert Stuart-Smith, Oxford University, Oxford Sustainable Law Programme, Smith School of Enterprise and the Environment, Oxford, United Kingdom
Groundwater in a Changing Africa: Integrating Climate, Ecology, and Remote Sensing for Smarter Water Management (2000829)
Ali Hassan Shabbir, Saint Louis University Main Campus, WATER Institute, Saint Louis, United States and Jason Knouft, Saint Louis University, Department of Biology, St. Louis, MO, United States
