Observed controls on resilience of groundwater to climate variability in sub-Saharan Africa

Nature
Mark O CuthbertNeno Kukuric

Abstract

Groundwater in sub-Saharan Africa supports livelihoods and poverty alleviation1,2, maintains vital ecosystems, and strongly influences terrestrial water and energy budgets3. Yet the hydrological processes that govern groundwater recharge and sustainability-and their sensitivity to climatic variability-are poorly constrained4,5. Given the absence of firm observational constraints, it remains to be seen whether model-based projections of decreased water resources in dry parts of the region4 are justified. Here we show, through analysis of multidecadal groundwater hydrographs across sub-Saharan Africa, that levels of aridity dictate the predominant recharge processes, whereas local hydrogeology influences the type and sensitivity of precipitation-recharge relationships. Recharge in some humid locations varies by as little as five per cent (by coefficient of variation) across a wide range of annual precipitation values. Other regions, by contrast, show roughly linear precipitation-recharge relationships, with precipitation thresholds (of roughly ten millimetres or less per day) governing the initiation of recharge. These thresholds tend to rise as aridity increases, and recharge in drylands is more episodic and increasingly dominat...Continue Reading

References

Feb 28, 2009·Ground Water·Richard TaylorRobinah Kulabako
Apr 4, 2009·Ground Water·Eberhard Braune, Yongxin Xu
Nov 16, 2010·Water Science and Technology : a Journal of the International Association on Water Pollution Research·P DillonS Rinck-Pfeiffer

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Citations

Aug 9, 2019·Nature·Richard W Healy
Jul 23, 2020·Nature Communications·Di LongYoshihide Wada
Mar 29, 2020·Scientific Reports·Binh Pham-DucJean-Francois Crétaux
Mar 7, 2020·Nature Communications·D J MacAllisterR Calow
Mar 20, 2021·The Science of the Total Environment·Sarfaraz AlamSanjay K Mohanty
Mar 20, 2021·The Science of the Total Environment·Ronny FigueroaLinda Daniele
Apr 30, 2021·Scientific Reports·Samaneh AshrafAmir AghaKouchak
Aug 26, 2021·Scientific Data·Michael Bliss SingerKaterina Michaelides
Oct 2, 2021·The Science of the Total Environment·Michael O RivettRobert M Kalin

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