Understanding Kenya's atmospheric water cycle to enable progress toward the Sustainable Development Goals

Abstract:

Achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals are contingent on understanding the functional interactions among biophysical, geophysical, and social ecological systems. Recent insights have revealed the importance of changing land cover on the atmospheric water cycle. In this work, we present new findings for the sources of precipitation falling in Kenya, and the fate of the evaporation that arises from within Kenya. Using MERRA2 climate reanalysis and the Water Accounting Model 2-layers, we reveal the importance of both oceanic sources of moisture, as well as the importance of terrestrial sources. We highlight new insights into the atmospheric water cycle, particularly how biodiverse regions, such as Kenya's forest, contribute important supplies of atmospheric water, particularly for the most arid parts of Kenya. We also discuss that evaporation arising in Ethiopia provides significant sources of the moisture falling as precipitation in Kenya. We further explore the role that different biomes may serve as sources of Kenyan precipitation, as well as the biomes that receive Kenyan evaporation. By understanding the characteristics of the terrestrial land surface, we may begin to understand the types of leverage points that exist for integrated atmospheric water cycle management. These findings may have broader implications for disentangling environmental management and conservation, and have relevance for large-scale discussions about sustainable development.