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in the Congo Basin. Reviews in Geophysics, 54, 378–409. doi: 10.1002/2016RG000517

      2 Beighley, E., Tshimanga, R., & Moukandi N’kaya, G. (2019). Establishing science campaigns in sub‐Saharan Africa. Eos, 100. https://doi.org/10.1029/2019EO117249

      Photo: Attendees of the AGU Chapman Conference on the “Hydrologic Research in the Congo Basin” held in Washington, D.C., September 2018 [Beighley et al., 2019].

      Credit: Beth Bagley/AGU.

       Raphael M. Tshimanga1, Guy D. Moukandi N’kaya2, Alain Laraque3, Sharon E. Nicholson4, Jean‐Marie Kileshye Onema5, Raymond Lumbuenamo6, and Douglas Alsdorf7

       1 Congo Basin Water Resources Research Center (CRREBaC), Department of Natural Resources Management, University of Kinshasa, Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of the Congo

       2 Mechanical, Energy, and Engineering Laboratory, National School of Polytechnic Studies, Marien Ngouabi University, Brazzaville, Republic of the Congo

       3 Joint Research Unit “Geosciences Environment Toulouse” (UMR GET), CNRS, IRD, UT3, CNAP, CNES, Midi-Pyrénées Observatory, Toulouse, France

       4 Department of Earth, Ocean, and Atmospheric Science, Florida State University, Tallahassee, Florida, USA

       5 WaterNet, Harare, Zimbabwe; and Faculty of Engineering, University of Lubumbashi, Lubumbashi, Democratic Republic of the Congo

       6 Environment and Natural Resources, The World Bank, Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of the Congo

       7 Byrd Polar and Climate Research Center; and School of Earth Sciences, Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio, USA

      ABSTRACT

      The Congo is the second‐largest river basin in the world. Its water, climate, and river passages are crucial for the millions of people living in this central region of sub‐Saharan Africa. Despite its importance, the Congo Basin has not been well represented in hydrologic research over recent decades, particularly in comparison to the Amazon Basin. Thus, the Congo and the surrounding basins represent an excellent opportunity for scientific discovery. This chapter is an introduction to a bilingual monograph with an international assemblage of authors that helps to overcome limitations by presenting insights into the hydrology, climate, and biogeochemistry of the region. First‐order scientific questions remain to be fully answered and such answers are well needed to guide resource management.

      Bienvenue au Congo! The mighty Congo River and the vast Congo Basin that feeds it have attracted the attention of travelers, writers, and scientists for centuries. Henry Morton Stanley (1885) likely published the first water‐related findings in the Congo Basin. He and his team found the plunge pools on the mainstem Congo below Kinshasa with “a strong under‐current of water flowing up stream” and estimated its discharge at 40,700 m3/s.

Schematic illustration of a map of the Congo Basin.

      Alsdorf et al. (2016) compared the number of published papers related to hydrology in the Congo with those of the Amazon and found about ten times fewer Congo papers. This comparison is appropriate because both basins lie under tropical rain belts, constitute the two largest river water flows in the world, and have an abundance of tropical forests and wetlands. Note that the comparison by Alsdorf et al. was not intended to be a comprehensive review of all hydrological literature (indeed, their focus is on English‐language journals available internationally) but rather illustrated the relative comparison between the two basins in the peer‐reviewed English language scientific literature of an international audience.

      Although our contemporary understanding of the Congo Basin and its hydrology is an order of magnitude smaller than that of the Amazon, important advances have been made regarding Congo research, but these have been limited by language and economic barriers. This monograph aims to address some of these issues by presenting new science on the Congo Basin, with chapters written by experts from and in the region, and presented in both English and French to enable greater access and discoverability.

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