An AGU Chapman Conference on Hydrologic Research in the Congo Basin

刚果河流域是世界第二大河，河流的水文平衡并不明确。降雨径流明显小于预期，蒸散是主要的水循环通量。因此，预计上游砍伐森林(用于水电生产)将对下游排放产生重大影响。此外，随着北半球比南半球变暖，雨带的迁移将发生变化。这次会议将把18名刚果科学家带到华盛顿特区，与北美和欧洲的同行进行互动。会议讨论的议题从气候变化和人类变化对刚果河流域系统的影响，到刚果河流域内外的数据共享，以阐明水平衡的未知数。与会者将利用历史和持续观察来评估对刚果盆地水平衡的了解现状，并找出缺乏关键信息的地方。他们的会议将聚焦于未知规模的水文过程，包括降雨量、蒸散量、气候变化、流域内的人类变化和发电。该项目将使该地区的水文措施得到最佳设计，使刚果盆地地区受益，并更好地确定该地区气候变化和水资源可持续性的影响。这种信息交换将用于设计收集新信息和分发历史数据和正在进行的数据的计划。水文数据收集的关键设计是针对特定的水文目标，这些目标旨在加强对刚果盆地水文循环内部运作的发现和定义。

The Congo River Basin is the second largest in the world and the hydrological balance of the River is poorly defined. Runoff from rainfall is significantly smaller than is expected and evapotranspiration is the dominant water cycle flux. Thus, it is anticipated that upstream deforestation (for hydropower production) will have significant impact on downstream discharges. Furthermore, migration of the rainbelts will change as the northern hemisphere warms more than the southern. This conference will bring 18 Congolese scientists to Washington DC to interact with their North American and European counterparts. The conference topics of discussion will range from the impact of climate variability and human changes on the Congo River Basin system to sharing of data within and outside the Congo River Basin to elucidate water balance unknowns. Conference attendees will assess the current state of knowledge on the Congo Basin water balance using historic and ongoing observations, and identify where key information is lacking. They conference will focus the unknown magnitudes of hydrologic processes including rainfall, evapotranspiration, climate variability, human changes in the Basin, and power generation. The project will enable best design of hydrologic measures for the region which will benefit both the Congo Basin Region as well as better define the impact of variable climate and water sustainability in the region. This information exchange will be used to design plans for collecting new information and for distributing historic and ongoing data. The key design for hydrologic data collection is toward specific hydrologic targets that are designed to enhance discovery and definition of the inner workings of the Congo Basin hydrologic cycle.