Estimating Groundwater Recharge, Evapotranspiration and Surface Runoff using Land-use data: A Case Study in Northeast Iran

Author: Mehdi Zarei*, Reza Ghazavi**, Abbasali Vli*** and Khodayar Abdollahi****

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Abstract

Estimation of temporal and spatial distribution of recharge is a key factor for a long-term water resource planning, especially in semi-arid regions. The main objective of this is to assess the groundwater recharge, surface runoff and evapotranspiration in the Mashhad basin using a spatially distributed water balance model (WetSpass-M) in different land-use types. Distributed land-use map, groundwater depth, monthly climatological data (e.g. precipitation, temperature…..), monthly LAI, slope and soil texture maps are the basic relevant input data for the model. All inputs were prepared in the form of digital maps using GIS and remote sensing tools. Results of the model indicate that the long-term temporal and spatial average monthly rainfall of 22 mm was distributed as 14% of surface runoff, 29 % groundwater recharge and 57% of evapotranspiration. Resulting to the high evapotranspiration rate, high surface runoff and temperature, agricultural regions (including rain-fed and irrigatio

Keywords

Groundwater recharge, land-use, Water balance, GIS, Remote Sensing, Mashhad basin

Conclusion

Water balance is a representation of the net result of the inflow and outflow of system. Precipitation is the main inflow component of water balance. Evapotranspiration, groundwater recharge and surface runoff are the most significant outflow components of water balance. All water balance components are dependent on the land use/land cover classes and soil texture types. In this study, steady state distributed water balance model (WetSpas-M) has been applied to calculate monthly water balance components in Mashhad basin, Iran. We employed remote sensing method and cloud free Landsat TM to provide land use map in Mashhad basin. In order to identify land use classes, supervised classification method with the maximum likelihood algorithm in ERDAS 9.3 imagine software. Land use and soil types in Mashhad basin were dominated by rangeland area and silty clay loam, respectively. Results of the model indicate that evapotranspiration is the major process by which water is lost in the study are

References

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How to cite this article

Mehdi Zarei, Reza Ghazavi, Abbasali Vli and Khodayar Abdollahi (2016). Estimating Groundwater Recharge, Evapotranspiration and Surface Runoff using Land-use data: A Case Study in Northeast Iran ,Biological Forum – An International Journal 8(2): 196-202