Current degree: PhD Hydrology
Type of mobility: PhD Degree-seeking mobility
Host university: Rhodes University, South Africa
Home university: University of Embu, Kenya
Summary:
Being among the few women that advocate for the sustainable use, management and conservation of water resources and their supporting ecosystems even with challenges such as pollution, environmental degradation, population pressure and climate change, is my main career goal. With the global looming water crisis, Africa inopportunely sits at the front seat of this ‘horror show’, and thus providing relevant information for the purposes of water resources assessment and management will pull us a step closer to evading water related issues and securing our water resources for the current and future generations.
Research:
My current research title is ‘Integration of Satellite Data in Reducing Hydrological Modelling Uncertainty for Sustainable Water Resources Management in Sub-Sahara Africa’. The overall aim is to to evaluate the integration of satellite data in reducing hydrological modelling uncertainties using the PITMAN model to generate a framework for new water resource assessment approaches given the changing landscape of water resources development, for the sustainability of water resources in Sub-Saharan Africa. Therefore, the specific o0objectives are (i) To identify regions in SSA which have high levels of hydrological uncertainty, (ii) To identify useful and reliable remote-sensing products for hydrological modelling purposes in SSA, and (iii) Use relevant remote-sensing products and the existing Modified Pitman model setups to produce a list of key hydrological indices for SSA.
During my MSc., I looked into ‘Drought Characterization of the Upper Tana River Watershed, Kenya’ that aimed at characterising historical drought events in the Upper Tana River Watershed using selected satellite-based drought indices from 1981 to 2018. The spatio-temporal extents and the trend cycles of meteorological and agricultural droughts were evaluated.
Projects:
I am currently pursuing my studies under the Africa Water Resources Mobility Network (AWaRMN) project.
Organisations and Awards:
Skills and Expertise:
Hydrological and water resource modelling and simulation; Water resources management; Climate change, modelling, science and dynamics; Remote sensing and GIS applications
Courses:
Connections:
LinkedIn: Harriette Okal
Twitter: @OkalHarriette
ResearchGate: Harriette Okal
OrCiD: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7071-308X
Last Modified: Wed, 28 Sep 2022 10:28:42 SAST