Rainfall Characterization and Trend Analysis of Wet Spell Length across Varied Landscapes of the Upper Awash River Basin, Ethiopia

• Main Authors: Girma Berhe Adane, Birtukan Abebe Hirpa, Cholho Song, Woo-Kyun Lee
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: MDPI AG 2020-11-01
• Series: Sustainability
• Subjects: rainfall onset; rainfall end; wet spell length; Mann–Kendall trend; Upper Awash
• Online Access: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/12/21/9221

Understanding the timing and variability of rainfall is crucial for the effective management of water resources in river basins dominated by rainfed agricultural practices. Our study aimed to characterize rainfall and analyze the trends in the length of wet spells (LWS) in the Upper Awash River Basin—one of the most water-stressed river basins in Ethiopia. We applied statistical descriptors and a Mann–Kendall (MK) test to determine the onset, end, and LWS for the small (<i>Belg</i>) and main (<i>Kiremt</i>) rainy seasons across different landscapes of the basin. We observed highly stable rainfall onsets in all stations during both seasons. However, unlike the <i>Kiremt</i> season, the LWS in the <i>Belg</i> season was too short and unreliable for rainfed agriculture. Based on the MK test, an increasing monotonic trend in LWS during the <i>Kiremt</i> season was detected only in the mountainous landscape of the basin. In contrast, we observed no trends in the remaining stations in the Upper Valley region of the basin, despite the linear regressions inferring an upward or downward pattern. Our findings provide accurate climatological information for the effective development of rainwater management strategies in the Upper Awash River Basin.