Dominant Patterns of Water Storage Changes in the Nile Basin During 2003–2013

• Published in: Remote Sensing of the Terrestrial Water Cycle pp. 367 - 381
• Main Authors: Awange, J. L, Forootan, E, Fleming, K, Odhiambo, G
• Format: Book Chapter
• Language: English
• Published: Hoboken, NJ John Wiley & Sons, Inc 03-11-2014
• Subjects: gravity recovery and climate experiment (GRACE); Nile basin; normalized digital vegetation index (NDVI); total water storage (TWS); tropical rainfall measuring mission (TRMM)
• ISBN: 1118872037; 9781118872031
• DOI: 10.1002/9781118872086.ch22

The main task of this chapter is to apply space‐based satellite approaches to remotely sense the changes in the Nile basin's water storage over the last decade. This is achieved by constructing total water storage (TWS) time series for the Nile basin from the GRACE gravity data for the period between 2003 and 2013. Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE) spatiotemporal TWS changes reveal the general pattern of water changes within the basin, including all the tributaries in its catchments, lakes, soil moisture, and groundwater. The chapter briefly describes the Nile basin, and outlines methodology and results. The product employed in the chapter is referred to as the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) and Other Data Precipitation Data Set. The Normalized Digital Vegetation Index (NDVI) trend analysis reveals a cyclic seasonal trend with peak values recorded during the rainfall seasons.