Kassaye et al. (2026) Hydrological resilience to climate extremes and its implications for water security in the data-scarce Baro river basin

⚠️ Warning: This summary was generated from the abstract only, as the full text was not available.

Identification

• Journal: Discover Environment
• Year: 2026
• Date: 2026-08-08
• Authors: Shimelash Molla Kassaye, Tolossa Negassa Ebissa, Yilkal Gebeyehu Mekonnen
• DOI: 10.1007/s44274-026-00940-9

Research Groups

Not specified

Short Summary

This study evaluates the hydrological resilience of the Baro River Basin in Ethiopia to climate extremes, finding that the basin is more vulnerable to floods than droughts, with floods exhibiting higher frequency and longer recovery periods.

Objective

• To examine how the Baro River Basin resists, recovers from, and adapts to hydroclimatic extremes to evaluate hydrological vulnerability and water security.

Study Configuration

• Spatial Scale: Baro River Basin, Ethiopia.
• Temporal Scale: 1990–2018.

Methodology and Data

• Models used: Event-based resilience analysis, drought indices, precipitation extremes analysis, and streamflow variability metrics.
• Data sources: Precipitation and streamflow data (implied).

Main Results

• The basin is a runoff-dominated system characterized by strong rainfall seasonality and a low baseflow index (~0.12).
• Flood threshold exceedances are significantly more frequent than drought exceedances, with 2,264 flood events compared to 684 drought events.
• Recovery periods are longer for floods (mean: 36 days, median: 29 days) than for droughts (mean: 21 days, median: 13 days).
• While the basin remains resilient under average conditions, it becomes highly vulnerable once critical thresholds are exceeded.

Contributions

• The study identifies the specific control mechanisms of hydrological vulnerability in the Baro River Basin, highlighting a higher sensitivity to short-duration runoff responses and intensified climate extremes compared to drought events.

Funding

Not specified

Citation

@article{Kassaye2026Hydrological,
  author = {Kassaye, Shimelash Molla and Ebissa, Tolossa Negassa and Mekonnen, Yilkal Gebeyehu},
  title = {Hydrological resilience to climate extremes and its implications for water security in the data-scarce Baro river basin},
  journal = {Discover Environment},
  year = {2026},
  doi = {10.1007/s44274-026-00940-9},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.1007/s44274-026-00940-9}
}