Abstract
The Niger Inland Delta (NID) wetland comprises a large flooded area that plays an important role in the ecosystem services. This study provides a comprehensive understanding of the NID’s hydro-climatological functioning using water balance approach. After a clear description of the water budget’s elements specific to the NID catchment, a spatial and temporal dynamics of the annual flood across the NID over the period 2000–2009 was performed using data from satellite QuickSCAT and its associated sensor SeaWinds. The estimated areas were used along with observed discharge and remotely-sensed climatic data to quantitatively evaluate each water balance component. The results indicate: (i) a clear spatiotemporal of the flooded areas varied between 25,000 km2 in wet periods and 2000 km2 in dry periods; (ii) an average evapotranspiration loss of 17.31 km3 (43% of the total inflow) was assessed in the catchment; (iii) precipitation’s contribution to the NID’s budget totals 5.16 km3 (12.8% of the total inflow); and (iv) the contribution of return flow from irrigated fields totals 1.8 km3 (4.5% of the total inflow, among which 1.2 km3 are from Office du Niger) to the flooded areas, refined the NID’s water balance estimates. Knowledge gained on NID’s water balance analysis will be used to develop and calibrate hydrological models in the Niger Inland Delta of the basin.
Highlights
The Niger River Basin (NRB), West Africa’s largest river basin, covers about 2.2 × 106 km2 and is populated by more than 100 million people
The maximum monthly flooded surface area in the Niger Inland Delta (NID) obtained from SeaWinds data varies The maximum flooded areaa in the NIDofobtained from data3a)
This study demonstrates how remote sensing data can be used to help conducting hydrological process analysis at high temporal and spatial resolution across large wetlands
Summary
The Niger River Basin (NRB), West Africa’s largest river basin, covers about 2.2 × 106 km (shared over ten countries) and is populated by more than 100 million people. The Niger River has a total length of 4200 km [1], flowing from its source high on the Fouta Djallon Mountains in the South of Guinea at an altitude about 800 m, through Guinea, Mali, Niger, and Nigeria, before discharging approximately 175 km annually into the Atlantic Ocean through an extensive delta [2]. The river flows Northeast through the Upper Niger basin and enters the Niger Inland Delta (NID) in Mali; a Hydrology 2017, 4, 40; doi:10.3390/hydrology4030040 www.mdpi.com/journal/hydrology. Hydrology 2017, 4, 40 large floodplain ranging from 30,000 to 40,000 km along the Niger River in Mali [3]. The NID plays an important role in sustaining the livelihood of one million people, and is an important component affecting the water availability of the basin downstream [1]. Food production in the NID is very important; for example, yields can go up to
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
