About this Research Topic
This exciting research topic investigates how water sciences will develop in the 21st century as we address land use/ landcover and climate changes in Africa, focus on effective water management and find ways to improve water access, waste less, and recycle more, while meeting water demands for various purposes including for human life, sanitation, and ecosystems. It also explores scientific advances in water-land-climate research, focusing on drought and flood mitigation and adaptation, including integrated modelling. It discusses conceptual models for coupling biophysical and social responses with climate change scenarios across various scales. It also involves numerous step-by-step procedures and applications for integrated assessment of climate change on agriculture, water resources, land-use and aquatic ecosystems in Africa. Using state-of-the art topical papers for piloting, learning and out scaling for practitioners, the topic presents opportunities for presenting contemporary and special case study results and experiences from different parts of the world. The topic is focused to provide a platform for scientists and academicians all over the world to promote, share, and discuss various new issues and developments in the areas of Water Research and Technology; surface and groundwater management and protection; Regional Climate Modelling including model Evaluation and Applications; Water Use, Supply and Demand situation assessment and predictions; and issues of linkage between land cover, land use, climate and wetland resources.
The goal of the Research Topic is to present frontiers and insights that solve water challenges by providing valuable analytical perspectives that ensure water security, protect the water environment, and engage water management, with emphasis placed on the innovation and applicability of water science and technology in the African landscape. It also addresses surface and groundwater resources that appears on the surface and water that has infiltrated the ground to occupy all or part of the void spaces in soils or geologic strata. It is fed by precipitation and can resurface to replenish streams, rivers, and lakes. It also involves regional climate modelling to advance the predictive understanding of Earth’s climate by focusing on scientific analysis of the dominant sets of governing processes that describe climate change on regional scales; evaluating robust methods to obtain higher spatial resolution for projections of climate and earth system change; and diagnosing model systems that are cause for uncertainty in regional climate projections. The goal of this Research Topic is to provide a platform for scientists and academicians all over the world to promote, share, and discuss various new issues and developments in this area of Regional Climate Modelling involving Evaluation and Applications at different hydroclimatic regions of Africa. In this Research Topic, we intend to invite front-line researchers and authors to submit original research and review articles on exploring climate change and its impact on land and water resources, surface, groundwater and wetland resources of Africa.
The following topics and subtopics will be covered:
I. Hydrological variability and change in Africa: observations
• Local and catchment scale measurements of surface and subsurface water fluxes
• Changes in river flow due to anthropogenic interference in water resources
• Irrigation: Extent, development and consequences
• Water abstraction for mining and hydrological consequences: case studies
II. Regional studies on the hydrological cycle and water budget
• Hydrological and climatological peculiarities in sub-Saharan Africa
• Quantifying hydrological processes: evapotranspiration, soil-moisture, runoff processes in Africa: in-situ observations, remote sensing and modelling
• Sensitivity of hydrological models to vegetation dynamics and meteorological data
III. Environmental change impacts on hydrological systems
• Impacts of climate and land-use change on aquifer recharge & surface water
• Impacts of climate and land-use change on agricultural productivity in Africa.
• Catchments and land-use/cover change effects on long term water budget and on extreme conditions
IV. Sustainable water resources use
• Particular successful case studies of sustainable water resources use
• Regional and shared basin and aquifer systems
• Interfaces of modelling for water- food – energy - society nexus
• Risk quantification and reductions approaches
• Water quality – ecosystem health – human health at different scales
V. Hydrological extremes in Africa: case studies and analysis methodologies
• Analysis of recent severe drought and flood events
• Extreme floods and droughts and teleconnection with inter-annual variation of ocean-atmosphere system such as the El Nino/ ENSO phenomenon
• Modelling of rainfall-runoff processes under uncertain / scarce data conditions in Africa.
• Stochastic hydrological processes and modelling studies
• The potential of seasonal climate and hydrological conditions
• Potential of remote sensing, large scale data fusion and other novel techniques
The goal of the Research Topic is to present frontiers and insights that solve water challenges by providing valuable analytical perspectives that ensure water security, protect the water environment, and engage water management, with emphasis placed on the innovation and applicability of water science and technology in the African landscape. It also addresses surface and groundwater resources that appears on the surface and water that has infiltrated the ground to occupy all or part of the void spaces in soils or geologic strata. It is fed by precipitation and can resurface to replenish streams, rivers, and lakes. It also involves regional climate modelling to advance the predictive understanding of Earth’s climate by focusing on scientific analysis of the dominant sets of governing processes that describe climate change on regional scales; evaluating robust methods to obtain higher spatial resolution for projections of climate and earth system change; and diagnosing model systems that are cause for uncertainty in regional climate projections. The goal of this Research Topic is to provide a platform for scientists and academicians all over the world to promote, share, and discuss various new issues and developments in this area of Regional Climate Modelling involving Evaluation and Applications at different hydroclimatic regions of Africa. In this Research Topic, we intend to invite front-line researchers and authors to submit original research and review articles on exploring climate change and its impact on land and water resources, surface, groundwater and wetland resources of Africa.
The following topics and subtopics will be covered:
I. Hydrological variability and change in Africa: observations
• Local and catchment scale measurements of surface and subsurface water fluxes
• Changes in river flow due to anthropogenic interference in water resources
• Irrigation: Extent, development and consequences
• Water abstraction for mining and hydrological consequences: case studies
II. Regional studies on the hydrological cycle and water budget
• Hydrological and climatological peculiarities in sub-Saharan Africa
• Quantifying hydrological processes: evapotranspiration, soil-moisture, runoff processes in Africa: in-situ observations, remote sensing and modelling
• Sensitivity of hydrological models to vegetation dynamics and meteorological data
III. Environmental change impacts on hydrological systems
• Impacts of climate and land-use change on aquifer recharge & surface water
• Impacts of climate and land-use change on agricultural productivity in Africa.
• Catchments and land-use/cover change effects on long term water budget and on extreme conditions
IV. Sustainable water resources use
• Particular successful case studies of sustainable water resources use
• Regional and shared basin and aquifer systems
• Interfaces of modelling for water- food – energy - society nexus
• Risk quantification and reductions approaches
• Water quality – ecosystem health – human health at different scales
V. Hydrological extremes in Africa: case studies and analysis methodologies
• Analysis of recent severe drought and flood events
• Extreme floods and droughts and teleconnection with inter-annual variation of ocean-atmosphere system such as the El Nino/ ENSO phenomenon
• Modelling of rainfall-runoff processes under uncertain / scarce data conditions in Africa.
• Stochastic hydrological processes and modelling studies
• The potential of seasonal climate and hydrological conditions
• Potential of remote sensing, large scale data fusion and other novel techniques
Keywords: Africa, Hydrology, Water Sciences, Climate Change, Extreme Events, Water Sustainability, Integrated Modelling
Important Note: All contributions to this Research Topic must be within the scope of the section and journal to which they are submitted, as defined in their mission statements. Frontiers reserves the right to guide an out-of-scope manuscript to a more suitable section or journal at any stage of peer review.
