Nile River Basin

Nile River Basin and Abay (Blue Nile) Research [Selected]

Hydrological Modeling and Analysis

  1. Zeleke et al. (2025): “Spatial variability and relative influence of seasonal rainfall drivers in Ethiopia.” Theoretical and Applied Climatology 156(131).
  2. Haile et al. (2024): “Evaluation and comparison of the performances of the CMIP5 and CMIP6 models in reproducing extreme rainfall in the Upper Blue Nile basin of Ethiopia.” Theoretical Applied Climatology.
  3. Nigatu et al. (2024): “Drought Dynamics in the Nile River Basin: Meteorological, Agricultural, and Groundwater Drought Propagation.” Remote Sensing 16(5):919.
  4. Admas et al. (2023): “Impacts of Best Management Practices on Runoff, Soil Loss, and Sediment Yield in the Megech Watershed, Ethiopia.” Water 15:788.
  5. Gonfa et al. (2022): “Hydro-Climate Variability and Trend Analysis in the Jemma Sub-Basin, Upper Blue Nile River, Ethiopia.” Hydrology 9(12):209.
  6. Bayissa et al. (2021): “Multi-Dimensional Drought Assessment in Abbay/Upper Blue Nile Basin: The Importance of Shared Management and Regional Coordination Efforts for Mitigation.” Remote Sensing 13(9):1835.
  7. Melesse et al. (2009): “Low and High Flow Analysis and Wavelet Application for Characterization of the Blue Nile River System.” Hydrological Processes 24(3):241-252.

Land Use/Land Cover Change Impacts

  1. Belay et al. (2025): “Identifying Flood Source Areas and Analyzing High-Flow Extremes Under Changing Land Use, Land Cover, and Climate in the Gumara Watershed, Upper Blue Nile Basin, Ethiopia.” Climate 13(7).
  2. Admas et al. (2024): “Predicting the Impacts of Land Use/Cover and Climate Changes on Water and Sediment Flows in the Megech Watershed, Upper Blue Nile Basin.” Remote Sensing 16(13):2385.
  3. Haile et al. (2024): “Scenario-Based Land Use and Land Cover Change Detection and Prediction Using the Cellular Automata–Markov Model in the Gumara Watershed, Upper Blue Nile Basin, Ethiopia.” Land 13(3):396.
  4. Ayele et al. (2022): “Relationship of Attributes of Soil and Topography with Land Cover Change in the Rift Valley Basin of Ethiopia.” Remote Sensing 14:3257.
  5. Gessesse et al. (2021): “Land use dynamics and base and peak flow responses in the Choke mountain range, Upper Blue Nile Basin, Ethiopia.” International Journal of River Basin Management 19(1):109-121.
  6. Bekele et al. (2018): “Land Use and Land Cover Dynamics in the Keleta Watershed, Awash River Basin, Ethiopia.” Environmental Hazards.

Sediment Transport and Soil Erosion

  1. Aga & Melesse (2024): “An alternative soil erodibility estimation approach for data-scarce regions: a case study in Ethiopian Rift Valley Lake Basin.” Journal of Sediment Environment.
  2. Lukas et al. (2024): “Predicting reservoir sedimentation using multilayer perceptron – Artificial neural network model with measured and forecasted hydrometeorological data in Gibe-III reservoir, Omo-Gibe River basin, Ethiopia.” Journal of Environmental Management 359:121018.
  3. Ayele et al. (2021): “Sediment Yield and Reservoir Sedimentation in Highly Dynamic Watersheds: The Case of Koga Reservoir, Ethiopia.” Water 13:3374.
  4. Mesfin et al. (2021): “Rainfall-Runoff and Sediment Yield Modeling in Headwater Catchments of Lake Tana Sub-Basin, Ethiopia.” In: Nile and Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam.
  5. Gebreslassie et al. (2020): “Linear spectral unmixing algorithm for modeling suspended sediment concentration of flash floods, upper Tekeze River, Ethiopia.” International Journal of Sediment Research 35(1):79-90.

Lake Tana Basin Studies

  1. Dersseh et al. (2022): “Water Quality Characteristics of a Water Hyacinth Infested Tropical Highland Lake: Lake Tana, Ethiopia.” Frontiers in Water 4:774710.
  2. Dersseh et al. (2020): “Spatial and Temporal Dynamics of Water Hyacinth and Its Linkage with Lake-Level Fluctuation: Lake Tana, a Sub-Humid Region of the Ethiopian Highlands.” Water 12(1435).
  3. Dersseh et al. (2019): “Potential of Water Hyacinth Infestation on Lake Tana, Ethiopia: A Prediction Using a GIS-Based Multi-Criteria Technique.” Water 11:1921.
  4. Alemu et al. (2017): “Spatial and Temporal Trends of Recent Dissolved Phosphorus Concentrations in Lake Tana and its Four Main Tributaries.” Land Degradation & Development 28:1742-1751.
  5. Enku et al. (2016): “Surface-groundwater interactions in sub-humid monsoon climate: The Lake Tana floodplain, Ethiopia.” Land Degradation and Development.
  6. Chebud & Melesse (2012): “Stage Level, Volume, and Time-frequency change information content of Lake Tana using Stochastic Approaches.” Hydrological Processes 27(10):1475-1483.
  7. Chebud & Melesse (2009): “Modeling Lake Stage and Water Balance of Lake Tana, Ethiopia.” Hydrological Processes 23(25):3534-3544.

Remote Sensing Applications

  1. Tadesse et al. (2022): “Evaluation of Merging Method for CHIRP Satellite Rainfall Estimate Over Wabi Shebelle River Basin, Ethiopia.” Journal of the Indian Society of Remote Sensing.
  2. Ayehu et al. (2020): “Combined Use of Sentinel-1 SAR and Landsat Sensors Products for Residual Soil Moisture Retrieval over Agricultural Fields in the Upper Blue Nile Basin, Ethiopia.” Sensors 20:3282.
  3. Ayana et al. (2015): “Assessing Potential of MODIS Images Generated Data in Modeling Total Suspended Solid Emission to Lake Tana, Ethiopia.” International Journal of Applied Earth Observation and Geoinformation 36:13-21.

Transboundary Water Management and GERD

  1. Deribe et al. (2024): “Assessing International Transboundary Water Management Practices to Extract Contextual Lessons for the Nile River Basin.” Water 16(14):1960.
  2. Moges et al. (2021): “Introduction.” In: Nile and Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam.
  3. Abera et al. (2021): “Scientific Misconduct and Partisan Research on the Stability of the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam: A Critical Review of a Contribution to Environmental Remote Sensing in Egypt.” In: Nile and Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam.
  4. Abtew & Melesse (2014): “Water treaties in the Nile.” In: Nile River Basin: Ecohydrological Challenges, Climate Change and Hydropolitics.
  5. Yitayew & Melesse (2011): “Critical Water Resources Management Issues in Nile River Basin.” In: Nile River Basin: Hydrology, Climate and Water Use.

Climate Change Impacts

  1. Bayissa et al. (2025): “Evaluating the potential of Nature-based solutions to mitigate land use and climate change impacts on the hydrology of the Gefersa and Legedadi watersheds in Ethiopia.” Journal of Hydrology: Regional Studies 57:102130.
  2. Zeleke et al. (2022): “Assessment of Climate and Catchment Control on Drought Propagation in the Tekeze River Basin, Ethiopia.” Water 14(1564).
  3. Tegegne & Melesse (2021): “Comparison of Trend Preserving Statistical Downscaling Algorithms Toward an Improved Precipitation Extremes Projection in the Headwaters of Blue Nile River in Ethiopia.” Environmental Processes 8(1):59-75.
  4. Setegn & Melesse (2014): “Climate Change Impact on Water Resources and Adaptation Strategies in the Blue Nile River Basin.” In: Nile River Basin: Ecohydrological Challenges, Climate Change and Hydropolitics.
  5. Setegn et al. (2011): “Impact of climate change on the hydro-climatology of Lake Tana basin, Ethiopia.” Water Resources Research 47:W04511.

Water Resources Management and Planning

  1. Fentaw et al. (2018): “Climate Change Impact on the Hydrology of Tekeze Basin, Ethiopia: Projection of Rainfall-Runoff for Future Water Resources Planning.” Water Conservation Science and Engineering.
  2. Bekele et al. (2016): “Analysis of rainfall trend and variability for agricultural water management in Awash River Basin, Ethiopia.” Journal of Water and Climate Change 8(1):127-141.
  3. Berhe et al. (2013): “Water use allocation modeling using MODISM in the Awash River basin.” Catena 109:118-128.
  4. Ambachew et al. (2014): “Performance of Mungbean to Deficit Irrigation Application under Semiarid Highlands of Ethiopia.” Agricultural Water Management 136:68-74.

Books and Major Edited Volumes

You have edited several major books and special issues focusing on the Nile Basin:

  1. Melesse, Deribe & Zeleke (eds.) (2024): Land and Water Degradation in Ethiopia. Springer Geography.
  2. Melesse, Abtew & Moges (eds.) (2021): Nile and Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam. Springer Geography.
  3. Melesse, Abtew & Senay (eds.) (2019): Extreme Hydrology and Climate Variability: Monitoring, Modelling, Adaptation and Mitigation. Elsevier.
  4. Melesse & Abtew (eds.) (2016): Landscape Dynamics, Soils and Hydrological Processes in Varied Climates. Springer Geography.
  5. Melesse (ed.) (2011): Nile River Basin: Hydrology, Climate and Water Use. Springer Science Publisher.