Small Reservoirs in Northern Ghana: Monitoring, Physical Processes, and Management

The importance of small reservoirs for the livelihoods of people in the Upper East Region of Ghana cannot be over-emphasized. They are used for many purposes which include fishing, livestock watering, construction, irrigation, recreation, drinking water, and other domestic uses. The reservoirs were built most often close to communities to...

Effects of atmospheric stability conditions on heat fluxes from small water surfaces in (semi-)arid regions

Atmospheric stability conditions over the water surface can affect the evaporative and convective heat fluxes from the water surface. Atmospheric instability occurred 72.5% of the time and resulted in 44.7 and 89.2% increases in the average and maximum estimated evaporation, respectively, when compared to the neutral condition for a small...

Remotely sensed monitoring of small reservoir dynamics: A Bayesian approach

Multipurpose small reservoirs are important for livelihoods in rural semi-arid regions. To manage and plan these reservoirs and to assess their hydrological impact at a river basin scale, it is important to monitor their water storage dynamics. This paper introduces a Bayesian approach for monitoring small reservoirs with radar satellite images....

Determining watershed response in data poor environments with remotely sensed small reservoirs as runoff gauges

In the semiarid regions of Africa, there are many small reservoirs used for irrigation. This study explores the practicality of using small reservoirs as runoff gauges by estimating their water storage changes using remote sensing imagery. A simple rainfall-runoff model is developed by observing the surface area and estimating the volume of...

Estimation of small reservoir storage capacities in a semi-arid environment: A case study in the Upper East Region of Ghana

In semi-arid regions at the margins of the Sahel, large numbers of small reservoirs capture surface runoff during the rainy season, making water available during the dry season. For the local population, small reservoirs are important water sources which help them cope with droughts. The lack of knowledge of the number of existing reservoirs,...