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Algeria has experienced catastrophic floods over the second half of the twentieth century, causing many deaths and extensive material damage. This study was conducted to find a suitable event-based rainfall-runoff (RR) model for semi-arid conditions, where continuous data are not available in all regional basins. The study compared, based on data availability, the SCS-CN model based on the antecedent moisture conditions (AMC) and four modified SCS-CN models incorporating antecedent moisture amounts (AMA) in order to find the best model to reproduce the flood hydrographs in two catchments. The modified models were predominant over the SCS-CN method. Nonetheless, the Singh et al. (Water Resour Manag 29:4111–4127, 2015. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11269-015-1048-1 ) model (M4) and the Verma et al. (Environ Earth Sci 76:736, 2017a. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12665-017-7062-2 ) model (M5) were superior and demonstrated more stable structures. Coupled with the Hayami routing model, the models showed promising results and were able to reproduce the observed hydrographs’ shape. However, it was impossible to choose the preferred model since they each excelled as to a criterion. Therefore, the corresponding outputs were combined using the simple average (SA) method and the weighted average (WA) method. We found that the WA method showed better results in the two catchments and allowed a more accurate prediction according to the performance criteria.

The Cheliff–Zahrez plains in Algeria are known for their fertility and agricultural production. The water deficit of the last decade has had a negative impact on agricultural production due to the scarcity of surface and underground supply resources. This paper sheds light on the weather, drought risk concerning crop irrigation in wheat yield cases. The methodology was the standardized precipitation index, which helps to identify a drought risk assessment model based on moderate frequency maps carried out by the geographic information system. Over the study area, 65 rainfall stations are considered, each with 41-year measurement period (1970/2010). According to the results, this basin has generally periods of humidity and drought with a tendency towards drought. The spatial distribution analyses of drought incidence in the derived Cheliff–Zahrez Basin (standardized precipitation index) and annual rainfall have shown that since 1970, the basin has experienced below-average rainfall, particularly in the central and northern regions. Various maps from 1970 to 2010 show that the basin is characterized by high spatial variability in rainfall from one station to another with the north and northeast sub-basins being much more sensitive to agricultural drought. Generally, the sub-basin in the western zone has a moderate vulnerability. The southern zone is characterized by moderate drought (less frequent in the basin). The drought hazard index map from 1970 to 2010 showed that the moderate and severe drought classes cover an area of 93.34% and 3.66%, respectively, with drought occurrence probabilities of 15 to 22.5% and 22.5 to 30%. The correlation is significant in the order of 70% to 75% between dry spells and wheat production.

An analysis of rainfall and hydrometric regimes was carried out over the period from 1968 to 2013 on the Cheliff basin situated in the west and the Medjerda basin in the east of Algeria. The Mann-Kendal and Pettitt tests have shown significant downward trends for rainfall, about 30% for the Cheliff basin, and 36% for the Medjerda basin, and about 61% and 43% for the flows at the level of the Cheliff and Medjerda basins, respectively. The continuous wavelet method, used during the study period, has shown three major discontinuities from the wavelet spectrum for the decades 1970s, 1980s and 1990s. Several modes of variability for different stations have been observed: annual (1 yr), interannual (2, 2-4 and 4-8 yrs), and multi-decadal (8-16) yrs. The different scales of precipitation and runoff variability seem to be clearly related to the NAO with different degrees of correlation. Continuous wavelet coherence indicates a strong correlation between the NAO climate index and precipitation with correlations ranging from 60 to 84%, and a strong relationship between the NAO and the runoff with correlations ranging from 67 to 74% for both watersheds.

Drought is the most frequent natural disaster in Algeria during the last century, with a severity ranging over the territory and causing enormous damages to agriculture and economy, especially in the north-west region of Algeria. The above issue motivated this study, which is aimed to analyse and predict droughts using the Standardized Precipitation Index (SPI). The analysis is based on monthly rainfall data collected during the period from 1960 to 2010 in seven plains located in the north-western Algeria. While a drought forecast with 2 months lead-time is addressed using an artificial neural network (ANN) model. Based on SPI values at different time scales (3-, 6-, 9-, and 12-months), the seven plains of north-western Algeria are severely affected by drought, conversely of the eastern part of the country, wherein drought phenomena are decreased in both duration and severity. The analysis also shows that the drought frequency changes according to the time scale. Moreover, the temporal analysis, without considering the autocorrelation effect on change point and monotonic trends of SPI series, depicts a negative trend with asynchronous in change-point timing. However, this becomes less significant at 3 and 6 months’ time scales if time series are modelled using the corrected and unbiased trend-free-pre-whitening (TFPWcu) approach. As regards the ANN-based drought forecast in the seven plains with 2 months of lead time, the multi-layer perceptron networks architecture with Levenberg–Marquardt calibration algorithm provides satisfactory results with the adjusted coefficient of determination ( $$ R_{\text{adj}}^{2} $$ ) higher than 0.81 and the root-mean-square-error (RMSE) and the mean absolute error (MAE) less than 0.41 and 0.23, respectively. Therefore, the proposed ANN-based drought forecast model can be conveniently adopted to establish with 2 months ahead adequate irrigation schedules in case of water stress and for optimizing agricultural production.

Significant changes in regional climates have been observed at the end of the twentieth century, taking place at unprecedented rates. These changes, in turn, lead to changes in global climate zones with pace and amplitude varying from one region to another. Algeria, a country characterized by climate conditions ranging from relatively wet to very dry (desert-like), has also experienced changes in its climate regions, notably in the country’s wet region, which represents about 7% of its total surface area, but is home to 75% of its population. In this study, the pace of climate zone changes as it is defined by Koppen–Geiger was analyzed for the period from 1951 to 2098 using climate data from observation and regional climate simulations over Algeria. The ability of the CORDEX-Africa regional climate models simulations to reproduce the current observed climate zones and their shifts was first assessed. Future changes over the whole of the twenty-first century were then estimated based on two Representative Concentration Pathway (RCP4.5 and RCP8.5) scenarios. Analysis of the shift rate of climate zones from 1951 to 2005 found a gradual but significant expansion of the surface area of the desert zone at an approximate rate of 650 ± 160 km2/year along with the abrupt shrinking, by approximately 30%, at a rate of 1086 ± 270 km2/year, of the warm temperate climate zone surface area. According to projections for the RCP8.5 scenario, the rate of expansion of desert climate will increase in the future (twenty-first century), particularly during the period from 2045 to 2098.

Drought and wetness events were studied in the Northeast Algeria with SPI and RDI. The study area includes a variety of climatic conditions, ranging from humid in the North, close to the Mediterranean Sea, to arid in the South, near the Sahara Desert. SPI only uses precipitation data while RDI uses a ratio between precipitation and potential evapotranspiration (PET). The latter was computed with the Thornthwaite equation, thus using temperature data only. Monthly precipitation data were obtained from 123 rainfall stations and monthly temperature data were obtained from CFSR reanalysis gridded temperature data. Both data sets cover the period 1979–80 to 2013–14. Using ordinary kriging, the gridded temperature data was interpolated to all the locations having precipitation data, thus providing to compute SPI and RDI with the same observed rainfall data for the 3-, 6- and 12-month time scales. SPI and RDI were therefore compared at station level and results and have shown that both indices revealed more sensitive to drought when applied in the semi-arid and arid zones. Differently, more wetness events were detected by RDI in the more humid locations. Comparing both indices, they show a coherent and similar behavior, however RDI shows smaller differences among climate zones and time-scales, which is an advantage relative to the SPI and is likely due to including PET in RDI.

The spatial and temporal variability of droughts were studied for the Northeast Algeria using SPI and RDI computed with monthly precipitation data from 123 rainfall stations and CFSR reanalysis monthly temperature data covering the period 1979–80 to 2013–14. The gridded temperature data was interpolated to all the locations having precipitation data, thus providing to compute SPI and RDI with the time scales of 3-, 6- and 12-month with the same observed rainfall data. Spatial and temporal patterns of droughts were obtained using Principal Component Analysis in S-Mode with Varimax rotation applied to both SPI and RDI. For all time scales of both indices, two principal components were retained identifying two sub-regions that are similar and coherent for all SPI and RDI time scales. Both components explained more than 70% and 74% of drought spatial variability of SPI and RDI, respectively. The identified sub-regions are similar and coherent for all SPI and RDI time scales. The Modified Mann-Kendall test was used to assess trends of the RPC scores, which have shown non-significant trends for decreasing drought occurrence and severity in both identified drought sub-regions and all time scales. Both indices have shown a coherent and similar behavior, however with RDI likely showing to identify more severe and moderate droughts in the southern and more arid sub-region which may be due to its ability to consider influences of global warming. Results for RDI are quite uniform relative to time scales and show smaller differences among the various climates when compared with SPI. Further assessments covering the NW and NE of Algeria using longer time series should be performed to better understand the behavior of both indices.

The process of securing water supply is one of the biggest problems in the world. Along with the ever-increasing demand for water for different users, water resource management agencies face many challenges, some of which may be an obstacle to achieving sustainability and guaranteeing water for the various sectors of water supply. To face this dilemma, integrated water resources management is the best approach. The region of Tipaza is facing this problem. Through this work the WEAP model is applied to assess and analyze the current and projected balance of water resource management taking into account the different policies and operational factors that can affect the demand up to the year 2050. The results of the simulation showed that a deficit of 18.936Mm3 will be registered in the year 2042. For the years 2043 and 2044, the demand will be of the same order as the supply. For the period 2045 to 2050 a deficit of (3.44Mm3 to 85.48 Mm3) will be recorded in the case of scenario RCP4.5. On the other hand, in the case of the pessimistic scenario RCP8.5, the deficit will start from the year 2025 and will continue until the horizon of the year 2050 with 130.95 Mm3.

The estimation of precipitation quantileshas always been an area of great importance to meteorologists, hydrologists, planners and managers of hydrotechnical infrastructures. In many cases, it is necessary to estimate the values relating to extreme events for the sites where there is little or no measurement, as well as their return periods. A statistical approach is the most used in such cases. It aims to find the probability distribution that best fitsthe maximum daily rainfall values. In our study, 231 rainfall stations were used to regionalize and find the best distribution for modeling the maximum daily rainfall in Northern Algeria. The L-moments method was used to perform a regionalization based on discordance criteria and homogeneity test. It gave rise to twelve homogeneous regions in terms of L-Coefficient of variation(L-CV), L-Skewness (L-CS)and L-Kurtosis (L-CK). This same technique allowed us to select the regional probability distribution for each group using the Z statistic. The generalized extreme values distribution (GEV) was selected to model the maximum daily rainfall of 10 groups located in the north of the steppe region and the generalized logistic distribution (GLO) for groups representing the steppes of Central and Western Algeria. The study of uncertainty by the bias and RMSE showed that the regional approach is acceptable. We have also developed maximum daily rainfall maps for 2, 5, 10, 20, 50 and 100 years return periods. We relied on a network of 255 rainfall stations. The spatial variability of quantiles was evaluated by semi-variograms. All rainfallfrequencymodelshave a spatial dependence with an exponential model adjusted to the experimental semi-variograms. The parameters of the fitted semi-variogram for different return periods are similar,throughout, while the nugget is more important for high return periods. Maximum daily rainfall increases from South to North and from West to East, andis more significant in the coastal areas of eastern Algeria where it exceeds 170 mm for a return period of 100 years. However,it does not exceed 50 mm in the highlands of the west.

Due to an oversight, Figure 1 image and Figure 4 caption were incorrectly captured in the original publication.

During the past century, Algeria has been subject to frequent periods of drought, which were recorded first in 1944 and then successively in 1981, 1989, 1990, 1992, 1994, 1996 and 1999. The northwestern and central Plains of the country were particularly affected by this phenomenon, resulting in significant decrease of yields and water resources with severe damages to crops. The most important water deficit periods were recorded in 1981 and 1989 at the Chellif Plain (136 %) and in 1990 at the plains of Ghriss, Mitidja and Sidi Bel Abbes. The most common indexes used to evaluate the drought severity are (1) Palmer drought severity index and (2) the standardized precipitation index, which are useful tools in studies concerned with the long-term forecasting of water resources and management of water in agriculture, giving valuable results about the water balance within a specific system. The analysis of the relationship between annual precipitation and these three indices showed that during the period 1930–2007, precipitation was strongly related to AMO and NAO. The ENSO and NAO indices are negatively correlated with precipitations. The period of deficit starting from 1975 corresponds to a phase of increasing AMO index to reach a positive phase. On the seasonal scale, the evolution of this index is similar to that of the annual scale. The use of Markov chains for studying the interdependency of rainfall series through a long-term period showed a strong trend for a dry year to be followed by another dry period. This trend is higher in the western plains than in the centre. The results show also that the probability for a wet year to be succeeded by another wet year exceeds 50 %. These results hold for winter and spring seasons.

Assessment of aquifer vulnerability to contamination is an effective tool for the delineation of groundwater protection zones. Geophysical approach was used to determine vulnerability zones in a study area located at 70 km north part of In Salah region, Southern limits of hydrogeological occidental basin in the outcrops Continental Intercalaire terrains. Ninety vertical electrical soundings (VES) were conducted in the study area. The results from the electrical survey data were used to assess the potential risk of groundwater pollution and define the protective properties of geologic layers as well as identifying suitable areas with poor, moderate, and high aquifer protective capacity rating. The inverted resistivity values and thickness of the layers above the groundwater table were used in order to estimate the integrated electrical conductivity (IEC) that can be also used for the quantification of aquifer vulnerability.

Erosion, sediment transport, and deposition result in agricultural soil degradation, dam siltation, and significant and costly damage. In Algeria, despite a decrease in total rainfall, especially in the central and western parts of the country, dam siltation and erosion are on the rise according to recent studies by the National Agency of Dams and Transfers. Developing a map of the spatial variation of rainfall erosivity will provide a powerful tool for land and dam managers. Erosivity can be quantified using the R factor from the Universal Soil Loss Equation. The purpose of this work is to develop a model for estimating rain erosivity based on the modified Fournier index (MFI), longitude, altitude, and mean maximum daily rainfall, and then to produce a map of the spatial distribution of erosivity in Northern Algeria. The R factor reaches a maximum value of roughly 905 MJ mm ha−1 year−1 in the Jijel area of Mediterranean Eastern Algeria and a minimum value of 37 MJ mm ha−1 year−1 in the southern portion of the study area. The study of the temporal evolution of annual rainfall erosivity index (R) and I max over 30 min showed that R recorded a negative trend and I max recorded no trend.

We analyzed the temporal variability of annual precipitation measured at five stations in the Macta (14,380 km2) and Tafna (4,949 km2) catchments located in northwestern Algeria, in connection with climate indices over the 1950–2004 period. Analysis of the temporal variability using linear regression and Pettitt test revealed a significant decline in annual rainfall in the mid-1970s in both basins. Furthermore, a decrease of at least 20% of total annual rainfall is also observed at all five stations. As for the relationship between climate indices and variability of annual precipitation, canonical correlation analysis shows that, from 1950 to 2004, precipitation at the five stations are negatively correlated with NINO4 and, to a lesser degree, with NAO.

The functioning of karst systems in the Tlemcen Mountains, Algeria, was studied using environmental isotopic and chemical parameters. The weakly enriched values of 18O suggest a fast infiltration of water through the karst systems. The deuterium (2H) excess in groundwater and tritium (3H) in precipitation show that the region is subjected to Mediterranean and Atlantic influences with a predominance of the former. The isotopic gradient, in combination with topographic and geologic criteria, allows the recharge areas of the main karst systems to be estimated. The results of 13C, 14C and 3H analysis show that the majority of present waters come from perched systems and mixture waters influenced by three clusters (“ante-thermonuclear” waters, “thermonuclear” waters, and present waters) that generally emerge from semi-confined systems. The oldest waters are relatively rare and are stored in deeply confined systems. These results are consistent with the hydrochemical and the hydrogeological findings. The results have important implications in groundwater protection.