Methodological Proposal for the Prediction of Hydrological Responses to Land-Uses and Land-Cover Changes in a Brazilian Watershed

Author(s):  
Lidiane dos Santos Lima ◽  
Paulo Cesar Colonna Rosman ◽  
Julia Celia Mercedes Strauch ◽  
Nelson Ferreira Fernandes ◽  
Letícia de Carvalho Giannella
2021 ◽  
Vol 66 (4) ◽  
pp. 640-655
Author(s):  
Henok Mekonnen Aragaw ◽  
Manmohan Kumar Goel ◽  
Surendra Kumar Mishra

2021 ◽  
Vol 7 (3) ◽  
pp. 338-354
Author(s):  
Quentin Fiacre Togbévi ◽  
◽  
Luc Ollivier Sintondji

<abstract> <p>This study evaluated the impact of land use and land cover changes on the water balance of the Couffo catchment (Benin) using the Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT). To that end, soil, land uses, hydro-meteorological data including rainfall, temperatures (maximum and minimum), wind speed, solar radiation, relative humidity and discharge data were used as main inputs. To assess the impact of land uses on the catchment water balance, three different land uses (2000, 2006 and 2011) were used. Results showed that from 2000 to 2011, croplands and fallows increased by 34% while the shrub and grass savannahs decreased respectively by 34 and 24%. In addition, agroforestry and gallery forest decreased by 63% and 58% respectively while a rapid increase in settlement. The study outcome suggested that the SWAT provided satisfactory results for discharge with R<sup>2</sup>, NSE, KGE and absolute percent of bias (absPBIAS) ranged between (0.7–0.9), (0.6–0.9). (0.6–0.9) and (5.3–34) respectively. Moreover, the evaluation of land use and land cover changes on the catchment water balance resulted in an increase in annual surface water and water yield, while the groundwater and actual evapotranspiration (ETa) have decreased. Findings of this study may be a great contribution to water resource management in the Couffo catchment. This may contribute to better allocate water for the actual catchment population demand without dampening those of the future generation.</p> </abstract>


Author(s):  
Nuzha Al Jabri, Rayan Alhazmi

This study aims at surveying and recording land cover changes as well as urban changes in the city of Makkah al-Mukarramah throughout the period between 1992 and 2016. To achieve this purpose, the study relies on the inductive approach to monitor the urban developments, population growth and land uses through the structural schemes of Makkah al-Mukarramah along with the official reports issued from the Secretariat of Holy Makkah Municipality, the High Commission for the Development of Makkah al-Mukarramah and scientific research. It also endorses spatial analysis as its approach to extract digital data from satellite imagery to survey the temporal changes to the land covers in Makkah al-Mukarramah. These digital data, along with the final output map compositions, have been processed through the employment of two specific mapping software: ArcGIS v10.3 and ERDAS IMAGINE v14. The study at hand reached the conclusion that most of the urban developments in the city, particularly the housing and commercial developments, is centered around the Holy Mosque and in the neighboring districts in a way that demonstrates the influence of the mountainous terrain on the urban sprawling of the city across the narrow valleys to the flat urban outskirts. The study has further shed light on the changes that affected the percentage of land covers in the city throughout the period of the study. Urban use[1] of land covers in the city rose significantly from 12% of its total area in 1992 to 22.13% in 2016. On the contrary, ratio of undeveloped lands to the total area has plummeted from 42.7% in 1992 to 35.36% in 2016. This fall is due to the rise in the urban exploitation of lands and the urban growth towards the low-lying areas in the outskirts of the city, particularly the lands that circle regional highways and ring roads. With regards to the mountainous areas, it fell in ratio to the total area of the city from 41% in 1992 to 39.2% in 2016 thanks to the development projects which necessitated removing and flattening some of the rocky areas near parts of the most important sites in the holy city. Whereas the ratio of green spaces to the total area of the city has oscillated from one image to another, it hit a percentage of 3.83% in 1992 falling to 3.27% in 2016. In fact, this fluctuation stems from the variance of months that passed between the satellite imagery collection. The researchers, who conducted this study, seek to highlight the significance of employing GIS and remote sensing technologies in executing subsequent studies that are concerned with planning and predicting land cover changes and land uses in the city of Makkah al-Mukarramah.


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