Variability and trends of rainfall, precipitation and discharges over zambezi river basin, southern africa: review

Changes in temperature and rainfall have a direct effect on the quantity of evapotranspiration and on both quality and quantity of the runoff Observed hydrological records and climate change projections indicate that freshwater resources are vulnerable to the impacts of climate change The African continent is highly vulnerable to climate change and the Zambezi River Basin is particularly at risk The Zambezi River Basin has one of the most variable climates of any major river basin in the world and the runoff is highly sensitive to variations in climate as small changes in rainfall produce large changes in runoff Over the next century climate change is expected to increase this variability and the vulnerability of the basin This paper reviewed likely changes in runoff in response to changes in air temperature and precipitation over in southern Africa Angola Namibia Mozambique Zimbabwe Zambia Botswana and South Africa and Zambezi River in particular After a review of the main conclusions of various experiments and documentations it was concluded that the details of climate change trends and forecasts for Southern Africa can be difficult to discern from the high level of natural variability in temperature rainfall and runoff Although we observed changes in southern Africa rainfall through the last century There is drying trend and several scholars concluded that temperatures are rising in southern Africa Overall the Zambezi basin is expected to experience a significant warming trend and rainfall will decrease as well as become shorter and more variable experiencing more prolonged drought periods and more extreme floods Furthermore all Zambezi Basin countries will experience a significant reduction in average annual stream flow