Biomass Burning and Water Balance Dynamics in the Lake Chad Basin in Africa

The present study investigates the effect of biomass burning on the water cycle using a case study of the Chari-Logone Catchment of Lake Chad Basin. The Chari-Logone catchment was selected since it supplies over 90% of the water input to the Lake, which is the largest basin in the NSSA. Two water ba...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:	Earth (Basel, Switzerland) Vol. 2; no. 2; pp. 340 - 356
Main Authors:	Black, Forrest W, Lee, Jejung, Ichoku, Charles M, Ellison, Luke, Gatebe, Charles K, Babamaaji, Rakiya, Abdollahi, Khodayar, San, Soma
Format:	Journal Article
Language:	English
Published:	Ames Research Center Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute (Switzerland) 01-06-2021 MDPI AG
Subjects:	Agricultural land Albedo Annual precipitation Biomass Biomass burning Burning Carbon Climate Drought Dry season Earth Resources and Remote Sensing El Nino Environmental factors Evapotranspiration Grasslands Human influences Hydrologic cycle Hydrology Lake Chad Basin Lakes Land cover Land use MODIS Moisture content Precipitation Prescribed fire Rain Rainy season Runoff Seasons Southern Oscillation Vegetation Water balance Water content Wildfires Wind Lake Chad Africa Central African Republic Water Water Balance Albedo Dynamics Africa Evapotranspiration Lake Chad Basin Modis Biomass Burning
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Summary:	The present study investigates the effect of biomass burning on the water cycle using a case study of the Chari-Logone Catchment of Lake Chad Basin. The Chari-Logone catchment was selected since it supplies over 90% of the water input to the Lake, which is the largest basin in the NSSA. Two water balance simulations, one considering burning and one without, were compared from the years 2003 to 2011. For a more comprehensive assessment of the effects of burning, albedo change, which has been shown to have a significant impact on a number of environmental factors, was used as a model input for calculating potential evapotranspiration. Analysis of the burning scenario show that burning grassland, which composes almost 75% of Chari-Logone total land cover, causes increased ET and runoff during winter months. Recent studies have demonstrated the increasing trend in LCB of converting shrubland, grassland, and wetlands to cropland. This change from grassland to cropland has the potential of decreasing water available to water bodies during the winter. All vegetative classes in a burning scenario showed a decrease in ET during the wet season, supporting the idea that, with increased burning, there would be a severe decrease of precipitation.
Bibliography:	ARC Ames Research Center
ISSN:	2673-4834 2673-4834
DOI:	10.3390/earth2020020