Soil erosion is recognized as one main reason for soil degradation in West Africa. However, predictions on the impact of climate change on soil erosion are rare for most West African countries including Burkina Faso. This study assesses the impact of climate change on water resources and soil erosion in a small catchment (126 km2) in southwestern Burkina Faso. Climate data from an ensemble of six regional (RCM) and global (GCM) climate models were used to run the physically based spatially distributed hydrological and soil erosion model SHETRAN. The Representative Concentration Pathways (RCPs) 4.5 and 8.5 were selected as future climate scenarios. Bias corrected precipitation and temperature required for the calculation of potential evapotranspiration were used as input for the SHETRAN model to simulate total discharge and specific suspended sediment yield (SSY). Discharge and SSY from simulations run with climate data were able to reproduce discharge and SSY from a simulation that used observed precipitation and temperature from the historical period (1971–2000). The impact of climate change on hydrology and soil erosion was assessed by comparing the historical period with the future climate scenarios (2021–2050). Most of the used climate models predict an increase of temperature between 0.9 °C and 2.0 °C. The bias correction did not alter the climate change signal of temperature. Large uncertainties among the RCMs-GCMs exist regarding the climate change signal of future precipitation. Some climate models predict an increased (5.9%–36.5%) others a decreased (6.4%–10.9%) or mixed signal. The applied bias correction did not reverse the climate change signal in most cases but it influenced magnitude and timing of precipitation. The ensemble mean suggests an increased discharge between 19.5% (RCP 8.5) and 36.5% (RCP4.5) and an increased SSY of the same order. In general, the climate change signal and the corresponding discharge and SSY predictions are afflicted with large uncertainties. These uncertainties impede direct conclusions regarding future development of discharge and erosion. As a consequence of the mixed signals, potential increase and decrease of future discharge and soil erosion have to be incorporated in climate change adaption strategies.

This study presents the calibration and validation of the physically based spatially distributed hydrological and soil erosion model SHETRAN for the Dano catchment, Burkina Faso. A sensitivity analysis of six model parameters was performed to assess the model response and to reduce the number of parameters for calibration. The hydrological component was calibrated and validated using observed discharge data of two years. Statistical quality measures (R2, NSE, KGE) ranged from 0.79 to 0.66 during calibration and validation. The calibrated hydrological component was used to feed the erosion modeling. The simulated suspended sediment load (SSL) was compared with turbidity‐based measurements of SSL of two years. Achieved quality measures are comparable to other SHETRAN studies. Uncertainties of measured discharge and suspended sediment concentration were determined to assess the propagated uncertainty of SSL. The comparison of measurement uncertainties of discharge and SSL with parameter uncertainty of the corresponding model output showed that simulated discharge and SSL were frequently outside the large measured uncertainty bands. A modified NSE was used to incorporate measurement and parameter uncertainty into the efficiency evaluation of the model. The analyses of simulated erosion sources and spatial patterns showed the importance of river erosion contributing more than 60% to the total simulated sediment loss.

The study assesses the effect of climate and land use change on water resources and soil ero-sion in the Dano catchment, Burkina Faso. Field measurements and derived process under-standing are complemented by a physically based modeling approach that is also used to simu-late the impact of land use and climate change. Extensive hydro-meteorological (e. g. precipitation, discharge), pedological (e. g. texture, bulk density) and soil erosion measurements (e. g. suspended sediment load) are investigated to gain knowledge on governing hydrological and soil erosion processes. Data from erosion plot measurements suggest statistically significant differences of runoff and soil erosion between differently used plots. The data and the retrieved understanding are used to setup and drive the physically based spa-tially distributed hydrological and soil erosion model SHETRAN. Statistical performance measures (R², NSE, KGE) range between 0.66 and 0.8 for the calibration and validation of dis-charge. Achieved quality measures of suspended sediment load are lower than for hydrology but comparable to other SHETRAN studies. The impact of land use and land cover (LULC) change on water resources and soil erosion is studied by applying observed and modeled land use maps to the period 1990 – 2030. The past LULC change is studied using land use maps of the years 1990, 2000, 2007 and 2013. Based on these maps future LULC scenarios were developed for the years 2019, 2025 and 2030. Ob-served and modeled climate data cover the period 1990 – 2030. The observed past and modeled future LULC maps are used to feed SHETRAN. The isolated and combined influence of LULC and climate change is investigated. The land use investigation from 1990 to 2013 suggests a decrease of savanna at annual rates of 1.15% while cropland and settlement areas have increased. The simulations that assumed a constant climate and a changing LULC show in-creasing water yield (3.9% – 77.5%) and mainly increasing specific sediment yield (-1.4% – 115.78%). The simulations that assume constant LULC and climate as changing factor indicate increases in water yield of 24.5% to 46.7% and in sediment yield of 31.1% to 54.7%. The com-bined application of LULC and climate change signals a clear increase in water yield (20.3% – 73.4%) and specific sediment yield (24.7% to 90.1%). Actual evapotranspiration is estimated to change across all simulations by -6.8% to 3.35%. The predicted climate change signal is investigated in detail by comparing the future period 2021 – 2050 with the historical period 1971 – 2000. Representative concentration pathways (RCP) 4.5 and 8.5 of six datasets of the CORDEX framework were used to study the future change in tem-perature and precipitation. Most of the used climate models predict an increase of temperature between 0.9°C and 2.0°C. Large uncertainties among the climate models exist regarding the climate change signal of future precipitation. Some climate models predict an increase (5.9% – 36.5%) others a decreased (6.4% – 10.9%) or a mixed signal. The application of the historical and future climate data to SHETRAN shows that future changes in discharge and specific sedi-ment yield follow the predicted precipitation signal. Simulated future discharge change ranges from -43% to +207%. The future change in sediment yield is in the same order.

Saturated water content values for the 21 soil units of the Dano catchment. Also include the horizon depth for each soil.

The new maps, commissioned by the Africa Soil Information Services project (AfSIS), are important for studies on agricultural development, environment and food security. In Africa, significant amounts of soil nutrients are lost every year due to land degradation and soil exhaustion. However, improving land management is impossible without local information on soil properties such as sand-silt-clay content, water-holding capacity, or nutrient content. Unfortunately accurate soil information has been difficult to obtain for governments or research institutes, because existing soil profiles records are scattered over many sources. The aim of AfSIS, an international project funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, is to improve this situation, among others by creating up-to-date digital soil property maps at high spatial resolution. For further information see article: http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0125814

Bulk density values for the 21 soil units of the Dano catchment. Also include the horizon depth for each soil.

In situ infiltration rate measurements using the Hood infiltrometer.

Soil properties in the present excel files concern field and laboratory analysis data of the Dano catchment. Data are related to bulk density, stone content, pH, carbon content, nitrogen content,carbon stock, nitrogen stock, CEC, texture (sand, silt and clay content).

This dataset is the sixth of a series of datasets addressing farmers' adaptation to climate change in West-Africa, specifically in Dassari, Benin. This data was obtained by interviews with smallholder farmers from various communities in the Dassari basin. It provides information on the household level on farming history, fertilizer use, crop rotation practices and the farmers' motivation behind changing their practice. Soil sample data provides information on N,P,K, C content with the intention of evaluating residual effect of fertilizer in soil. Data includes questionaire and results, and soil sample data all corresponding to multi-year study of fields. The coordinates of the soil sample plots can be obtained upon request to the author due to data privacy protection demands.