2017 Fiscal Year Research-status Report

Improving runoff estimation in a monsoon climatic region of Ethiopia

Research Project

Project/Area Number	16K01218
Research Institution	Tottori University
Principal Investigator	Haregeweyn N 鳥取大学, 国際乾燥地研究教育機構, 特命准教授 (30754692)
Project Period (FY)	2016-04-01 – 2020-03-31
Keywords	Soil erosion / Runoff mechanism / Land use / Soil moisture / Soil depth
Outline of Annual Research Achievements	・ We developed soil erosion severity levels and corresponding rates (t ha-1 yr-1) for the UBNR basin. Seven subbasins are identified and may be prioritized for intervention based on their erosion risk from “very slight” to “very severe.” The work has been published at the Science of the Total Environment Journal. ・ We made comparative analysis of vertical soil moisture in different land uses based on field experimentation. The soil moisture of cropland was significantly (p<0.001) higher than that of the other land uses in comparison of surface zone soil moisture, while the bush land lower than cropland and grazing land uses. Similarly, the soil moisture of grazing land uses was significantly higher than that of the cropland and bushland land uses in root and deep layer zones.
Current Status of Research Progress	Current Status of Research Progress 1: Research has progressed more than it was originally planned. Reason The smooth implantation of the project was mainly due to good collaboration between the principal investigator and the counterpart institute in Ethiopia.
Strategy for Future Research Activity	We will continue the soil moisture monitoring in different land use and landscape positions in collaboration with researchers and students of Bahir Dar University of Ethiopia. Experimental plots on khat field will be established as necessary to monitor soil moisture and erosion dynamics.
Causes of Carryover	(理由）The main reason why we have not fully utilized the FY2017 budget is that the planned business trips to the study sites in Ethiopia were cancelled due to travel restriction imposed to the researcher as a result of security concerns in Ethiopia. Despite this constraint, however, the activities continued smoothly in collaboration with Bahir Dar University staff by arranging a series of meetings via skype (使用計画）Establish more field experiments to monitor soil moisture dynamics, wedge for data attendants, funding MSc students’research thesis and travel and accommodation costs for the researcher.