PhD research: Modelling topoclimate in northern Ethiopia’s mountains: effects on rainfall distribution, vegetation and hydrology

Date
October 2020 to September 2025
Countries
Keywords
mountain hydrology
climate modelling
rain shadow
topoclimatology
vegetation cover
Institutions
Mekelle University (Ethiopia)
Research fields
Earth and Environmental Sciences

The spatiotemporal variability of rainfall, vegetation, and hydrology, and how topoclimate (orographic rains on windward slopes and leeward rain shadow) controls these variables in the tropical mountains of northern Ethiopia is not well known.

This study uses the ALARO-0 model for the analysis of rainfall distribution and its seasonality, and statistically matches it with natural vegetation and runoff response.