Heliyon (Jul 2024)
Spatiotemporal variability and trends in rainfall and temperature extremes using ERA5 reanalysis and CORDEX–Africa model in Southern Ethiopia
Abstract
Rainfall and temperature are characterized by spatial and temporal variability in Ethiopia. However, less attention was given for the analysis of climate variability using advanced techniques and multiple sets of data. This study was conducted to examine spatiotemporal variability and trends in rainfall and temperature extremes in Ghibe III Dam watershed. Observational, ERA5, and regional simulation model data sets were used. The coefficient of variation (CV) and precipitation concentration index (PCI) were employed. The trends in rainfall and temperature extremes were examined using the modified Mann-Kendall test and the Sen Slope estimator in R-ClimDex in R 4.2.2 software. The warmest days exhibited temperature from 24.6°C to 40°C in Bele, 28.2°C to 35.43°C in Wolaita Sodo, 33.6 °C–44 °C in Areka, 31.64 °C–36.8 °C in Gesuba, and 29.19 °C–36.15 °C in Gena Bosa. The warmest nights showed temperature ranging from 14 °C to 18.74 °C in Bele and Gena Bosa, respectively. Annual warm days (TX90p) ranges from 11.34 to 57.1 days, with higher heating in the southern parts. The cool days (TX10p) range from 2.79 to 8.41, while the cool nights (TN10p) range from 0.04 to 8.26 days. The areal average temperature maximum and minimum range between 26.37 °C and 13.81 °C, respectively, with mean precipitation of 1446.92 mm.The rainfall extremes indices showed increasing and decreasing trends. The extreme temperature indices showed an overall warming trend. Based on ERA estimates, the rainfall in winter showed higher variability (CV = 72.4%–99.3 %) than the annual rainfall (CV = 33%–79.8 %). PCI showed a moderately (12 %) to very erratic (19.4 %) rainfall distribution. The climate model estimate showed high variability (CV = 20.65 %) in Climate Limited Area Modeling Community (CCLM) under representative concentration paths (RCP) 4.5 and 8.5 and extremely high variability (CV = 93.49 %) in the Regional Atmospheric Climate Model (RACMO) under RCP 4.5. Policymakers should design appropriate adaptation strategies applicable to farmers.
