Papers by Ayad M. Fadhil Al-Quraishi
Soil erosion vulnerability and soil loss estimation for Siran River watershed, Pakistan: an integrated GIS and remote sensing approach
Environmental Monitoring and Assessment, 2023
Soil erosion is a problematic issue with detrimental effects on agriculture and water resources, ... more Soil erosion is a problematic issue with detrimental effects on agriculture and water resources, particularly in countries like Pakistan that heavily rely on farming. The condition of major reservoirs, such as Tarbela, Mangla, and Warsak, is crucial for ensuring an adequate water supply for agriculture in Pakistan. The Kunhar and Siran rivers flow practically parallel, and the environment surrounding both rivers’ basins is nearly identical. The Kunhar River is one of KP’s dirtiest rivers that carries 0.1 million tons of suspended sediment to the Mangla reservoir. In contrast, the Siran River basin is largely unexplored. Therefore, this study focuses on the Siran River basin in the district of Manshera, Pakistan, aiming to assess annual soil loss and identify erosion-prone regions. Siran River average annual total soil loss million tons/year is 0.154. To achieve this, the researchers integrate Geographical Information System (GIS) and remote sensing (RS) data with the Revised Universal Soil Loss Equation (RUSLE) model. Five key variables, rainfall, land use land cover (LULC), slope, soil types, and crop management, were examined to estimate the soil loss. The findings indicate diverse soil loss causes, and the basin’s northern parts experience significant soil erosion. The study estimated that annual soil loss from the Siran River basin is 0.154 million tons with an average rate of 0.871 tons per hectare per year. RUSLE model combined with GIS/RS is an efficient technique for calculating soil loss and identifying erosion-prone areas. Stakeholders such as policymakers, farmers, and conservationists can utilize this information to target efforts and reduce soil loss in specific areas. Overall, the study’s results have the potential to advance initiatives aimed at safeguarding the Siran River watershed and its vital resources. Protecting soil resources and ensuring adequate water supplies are crucial for sustainable agriculture and economic development in Pakistan.
Stochastic Environmental Research and Risk Assessment, 2023
Detecting land use/land cover change (LULCC) and assessing the risk of slope failure and debris f... more Detecting land use/land cover change (LULCC) and assessing the risk of slope failure and debris flow has been a worldwide concern. This study is the first in Adama District, Ethiopia, to use deep learning (DL)-based remote sensing to assess LULCC and predict the risk of slope failures and debris flows using numerical simulation methods. This study uses DL and remote sensing to analyse the spatiotemporal changes in LULC and landslide sites. The enhanced detection of debris flow susceptibility areas enabled the precise prediction of these areas’ location and sphere of influence and the precise evaluation of debris flow risk. This led to a reduction in the losses caused by such disasters. Changes in the six classes of LULC were assessed with an overall accuracy of above 87% and an overall kappa statistic of 85%. The results revealed a decreased trend in grassland, shrubland, and bareland over 30 years (1991–2021) of − 31.03 km2, − 38.15 km2, and − 114.19 km2, respectively. Also, a recent analysis of land-use maps from the past three decades reveals that the built-up area has increased significantly, from 0.95% to 5.64%. In contrast, shrubland has decreased notably, from 12.01 to 7.78% since 2021. These changes suggest that human activity significantly impacts the landscape, and that more needs to be done to protect our natural resources. The depth-integrated particle method flow simulation technique reveals high landslide risk in Adama City and Wonji sugar cane fields, aiding decision-makers in reducing damage and limiting over-cultivation in high-risk areas.
Modeling Earth Systems and Environment, 2023
Water erosion of soils is increased by global warming and has a detrimental effect on natural res... more Water erosion of soils is increased by global warming and has a detrimental effect on natural resources. The situation is worse in the High Atlas, where a combination of natural and human forces accelerate erosion and reduce the income of local families. In this work, we assessed the existing erosion of the Haouz plain and projected water erosion of the soils into the future. The survey was conducted in three stages. In the first step, we estimated the annual erosion rate of the Haouz plain from 1992 to 2020 using the Revised Universal Soil Equation (RUSLE), publicly available data and the most recent land observations. The efficiency of the multi-criteria analysis method, taking into account how the second step’s water erosion is affected by the five RUSLE equation parameters. Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) was used to determine a weight for each criterion. Using new erosion parameters and the projected erosivity of precipitation from the sixteenth phase of the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project (CMIP6) models, the third stage involved predicting soil water erosion in 2040. According to the results, the average annual soil erosion rate of the Haouz plain is currently 3.53 t ha-1 y-1. According to our predictions, the Haouz Plain will experience an increase in erosion to 4.41 t ha-1 y-1 and 5.31 t ha-1y-1 by 2040, respectively, under the circumstances indicated by RCP2.6 and RCP8.5. Policy makers seeking to adopt environmentally sound measures to halt the depletion of soil and water resources in semi-arid environments could use the current assessment and future predictions of soil water erosion in the Haouz Plain as a basis for data.
Stochastic Environmental Research and Risk Assessment, 2023
The impact of global climate change on water resources is a pressing concern, particularly in ari... more The impact of global climate change on water resources is a pressing concern, particularly in arid and semi-arid regions, where water shortages are becoming increasingly severe. Rainwater harvesting (RWH) offers a promising solution to address these challenges. However, the process of selecting suitable RWH sites is complex. This paper introduces a comprehensive methodology that leverages various technologies and data sources to identify suitable RWH locations in the northern region of Iraq, considering both historical and future scenarios. The study employs remote sensing and geographic information systems to collect and process geospatial data, which are essential for the site selection process. AHP is utilized as a decision-making tool to assess and rank potential RWH locations based on multiple criteria, helping to prioritize the most suitable sites. The WLC approach is used to combine and weigh various factors, enabling a systematic evaluation of site suitability. To account for the uncertainty associated with future climate conditions, a stochastic weather generator is employed to simulate historical and future precipitation data for period (1980-2022) and (2031-2100). This ensures that the assessment considers changing climate patterns. Historical precipitation values ranged from 270 to 490 mm, while future projections indicate a decrease, with values varying from 255 to 390 mm. This suggests a potential reduction in available water resources due to climate change. The runoff for historical rainfall values ranged from 190 mm (poor) to 490 mm (very good). In the future projections, runoff values vary from 180 mm (very poor) to 390 mm (good). This analysis highlights the potential impact of reduced precipitation on water availability. There is a strong correlation between rainfall and runoff, with values of 95% for historical data and 98.83% for future projections. This indicates that changes in precipitation directly affect water runoff. The study incorporates several criteria in the model, including soil texture, historical and future rainfall data, land use/cover, slope, and drainage density. These criteria were selected based on the nature of the study region and dataset availability. The suitability zones are classified into four categories for both historical potential and future projections of RWH zones: very high suitability, covering approximately 8.2%. High suitability, encompassing around 22.6%. Moderate suitability, constituting about 37.4%. Low suitability, accounting for 31.8% of the study region. For the potential zones of RWH in the future projection, the distribution is as follows: very high suitability, approximately 6.1%. High suitability, around 18.3%. Moderate suitability, roughly 31.2%. Low suitability, making up about 44.4% of the study region. The research's findings have significant implications for sustainable water resource management in the northern region of Iraq. As climate change exacerbates water scarcity, identifying suitable RWH locations becomes crucial for ensuring water availability. This methodology, incorporating advanced technology and data sources, provides a valuable tool for addressing these challenges and enhancing the future of water management to face of climate change. However, more investigations and studies need to be conducted in near future in the study region.
Iraqi Geological Journal, 2023
Chure, also known as the foothills of the Himalayas that extends from east to west of Nepal, is a... more Chure, also known as the foothills of the Himalayas that extends from east to west of Nepal, is an essential region due to the hotspot of biological diversity and various natural resources, including recharge groundwater for the Tarai region of the country. However, the Chure region has a high rate of soil erosion due to human activities and natural processes, a severe issue in the Chure region. This study looked at soil erosion in the Gwang Khola watershed in the Chure region. We used the Revised Universal Soil Loss Equation (RUSLE) model to measure soil loss by soil erosion. The results showed that about 547,992.9 tons of soil were lost annually in the Gwang Khola watershed. The results indicated that 5,259.87 hectares of the land area were in a very low-risk zone for soil erosion. Similarly, 317.79 hectares of land had a moderate risk of soil degradation, while 13.59 hectares of forest area posed a high threat. The extreme-risk erosion area was situated above 1,250 m. In contrast...
Hydrospatial Analysis
The concerns over land use and land cover (LULC) change have emerged on the global stage due to r... more The concerns over land use and land cover (LULC) change have emerged on the global stage due to realization that changes occurring on the land surface also influence climate, ecosystem and its services. This study aimed to map the temporal dynamic of LULC patterns and LST in the Jarmet wetland in Ethiopia. The dynamics and pattern of changes for a period of 21 years (2000-2021) were analyzed using geospatial techniques. Multi-temporal satellite images from Landsat ETM+ and Landsat-8 OLI sensor data were used to extract land-cover maps. The Land Surface Temperature (LST) trend of the study areas was computed using MODIS satellite imagery (2000-2021). Supervised classification using a Maximum Likelihood Classifier (MLC) was applied to prepare LULC maps of the watershed. The accuracy of the classified map was assessed using high-resolution data, and ground realities have been verified and ascertained through field observations. The results revealed a decreased trend in wetland, forest,...
Assessment of Land Degradation Vulnerability Using GIS-Based Multicriteria Decision Analysis in Zakho District, Kurdistan Region of Iraq
Earth and Environmental Sciences Library, 2022
Role of Effective Factors on Soil Erosion and Land Degradation: A Review
Earth and Environmental Sciences Library
Water
To increase agricultural productivity and ensure food security, it is important to understand the... more To increase agricultural productivity and ensure food security, it is important to understand the reasons for variations in irrigation over time. However, researchers often avoid investigating water productivity due to data availability challenges. This study aimed to assess the performance of the irrigation system for winter wheat crops using a high-resolution satellite, Sentinel 2 A/B, combined with meteorological data and Google Earth Engine (GEE)-based remote sensing techniques. The study area is located north of Erbil city in the Kurdistan region of Iraq (KRI) and consists of 143 farmer-owned center pivots. This study also aimed to analyze the spatiotemporal variation of key variables (Normalized Difference Moisture Index (NDMI), Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI), Precipitation (mm), Evapotranspiration (ETo), Crop evapotranspiration (ETc), and Irrigation (Hours), during the wheat-growing winter season in the drought year 2021 to understand the reasons for the varian...
Coastal vulnerability assessment of India's Purba Medinipur-Balasore coastal stretch: A comparative study using empirical models
International Journal of Disaster Risk Reduction
Assessment of spatio-temporal trends of satellite-based aerosol optical depth using Mann–Kendall test and Sen’s slope estimator model
Geomatics, Natural Hazards and Risk
Aerosols are an inextricably linked component of the atmosphere. Nowadays the study of aerosols h... more Aerosols are an inextricably linked component of the atmosphere. Nowadays the study of aerosols has attracted the attention of the world community due to the increasing concerns over air pollution and climate change. Aerosol optical depth (AOD) is the measure of aerosols distributed within the atmospheric column from the Earth's surface to the top of the atmosphere. This study was conducted to examine the trend in AOD between latitudes 22 and 24.62 N, and longitudes 83.26 and 87.01 E, covering the entire part of the Indian state of Jharkhand. Mann-Kendall (MK) trend test and Sen's slope estimator model were used to examining the trend over 18 years (period: 2000-2017) AOD data obtained from satellite-based sensor namely MODIS. The highest AOD was observed in the northeastern part, while the lowest was observed in the state's southwestern part. The mean relative percentage change (RPC) analysis showed that the AOD increased from 20 to 60%. Jharkhand State comprises various sub-regions; all the sub-regions, including major cities, have shown a remarkable positive trend. In particular, Dhanbad, Sahibganj, Chaibasa, Jamshedpur, Ranchi, and Hazaribagh demonstrate statistically significant positive trends (99% confidence level). It was observed that the highest positive trend (0.1228) and the lowest negative trend (À0.02587) were in Sahibganj and Gumla districts, respectively. This study revealed a statistically robust significant correlated pattern of AOD with the variability of meteorological factors.
SN Applied Sciences
It is a great concept to let nature do the work of revegetation, however in semi-arid and arid re... more It is a great concept to let nature do the work of revegetation, however in semi-arid and arid regions the process of natural succession, if it occurs at all, typically requires many years of undisturbed development until an increase in biomass becomes measurable, hence it rather is applied to remote, sparsely populated regions and may be underrated as a measure to restore native vegetation, particularly in inhabited arid areas. What are the factors that make arid successional processes successful, how to expedite, and how to enable their use for the ecological revegetation of densely populated drylands? We review restoration methods that combine the planting of shelterbelt compartments with successional revegetation of the internal area, protected from wind and drought. Various measures of assisted natural succession can be applied to greatly accelerate the revegetation, including soil tillage, amendment with organic matter and the inoculation with cyanobacteria or lichens to form ...
Water
In the past two decades, severe drought has been a recurrent problem in Iraq due in part to clima... more In the past two decades, severe drought has been a recurrent problem in Iraq due in part to climate change. Additionally, the catastrophic drop in the discharge of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers and their tributaries has aggravated the drought situation in Iraq, which was formerly one of the most water-rich nations in the Middle East. The Kurdistan Region of Iraq (KRI) also has catastrophic drought conditions. This study analyzed a Landsat time-series dataset from 1998 to 2021 to determine the drought severity status in the KRI. The Modified Soil-Adjusted Vegetation Index (MSAVI2) and Normalized Difference Water Index (NDWI) were used as spectral-based drought indices to evaluate the severity of the drought and study the changes in vegetative cover, water bodies, and precipitation. The Standardized Precipitation Index (SPI) and the Spatial Coefficient of Variation (CV) were used as meteorologically based drought indices. According to this study, the study area had precipitation def...
Remote Sensing
Advanced remote sensing technology has provided spatially distributed variables for estimating la... more Advanced remote sensing technology has provided spatially distributed variables for estimating land–ocean heat fluxes, allowing for practical applications in drought monitoring, water resources management, and climate assessment. This Special Issue includes several research studies using state-of-the-art algorithms for estimating downward longwave radiation, surface net radiation, latent heat flux, columnar atmospheric water vapor, fractional vegetation cover, and grassland aboveground biomass. This Special Issue intends to help scientists involved in global change research and practices better comprehend the strengths and disadvantages of the application of remote sensing for monitoring surface energy, water, and carbon budgets. The studies published in this Special Issue can be applied by natural resource management communities to enhance the characterization and assessment of land–ocean biophysical variables, as well as for more accurately partitioning heat flux into soil and veg...
Modelling and mapping of soil erosion susceptibility using machine learning in a tropical hot sub-humid environment
Journal of Cleaner Production
Assessing and Monitoring the Desertification in the Northern Part of Shaanxi Province, China, Using Geoinformation Technology
China is a country with the largest population in the world over 1.3 billion and it is also one o... more China is a country with the largest population in the world over 1.3 billion and it is also one of the countries affected most seriously by desertification. Geoinformation technology and their integration form the basal and essential technical core of the system of geospace information science. It is providing new tools for advanced ecosystem management. Northern part of Shaanxi Province, China, is confronted with several challenges and ecological degradation. A dynamic monitoring system of land degradation was developed in Arc/View GIS for the study area in the Northern part of Shaanxi Province during the period from 1987 to 1999. The county level sand drifting coverage maps, vegetation cover maps, Landsat TM composite images, land degradation maps are integrated in the monitoring system. Image differencing for change detection, the crust index (CI), and the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) algorithms were applied on the Landsat TM remotely sensed imagery datasets of the study area. The result of the study reveals that the extent of degraded land within the study area has expanded from Northwest toward Southeast, while the overall severity of land degradation has worsened.
Rural households of North 24 Parganasare adversely affected by combined qualitative and quantitat... more Rural households of North 24 Parganasare adversely affected by combined qualitative and quantitative water stress. An attempt is made to establish a relationship between RWH potential based on hydro-geological and socioeconomic characteristics. Total 924 rural household data were collected through a rigorous socioeconomic survey in four study blocks viz. Barasat II, Amdanga, Barrackpore II, and Basirhat I to assess the water insu ciency. Land-use and Land-cover study showed a rapid increase in the built-up area to the extent of 21.69%, 10.44%, and 4.08% for Barasat II, Amdanga, and Basirhat I blocks, respectively during (2010-2020). Over this period, water bodies were reduced by nearly 19% and 6% in Barasat II and Basirhat I, respectively. The upper aquifer within 40 to 60 m depth was suitable for arti cial recharge from the fence diagram. Arti cial recharge structures like percolation tank with recharge shaft were suggested (within 40 m depth) for Amdanga block, re-excavation (up to a depth of 3 mbgl) for Basirhat I block and recharge well or pit to be excavated up to(30, 10, and 10 to 20 m) for highly built-up areas of Amdanga, Barasat II and Barrckpore II, respectively. Water quality parameters viz. TDS, ammonia-N, and chloride were found reasonably safe for drinking purposes in the rain water samples. The storage tank's capacity was calculated as 6,000 litres for individual rural households, with 60 gm of bleaching powder estimated for a full tank. The suggested methods would help local authorities successfully execute the RWH schemes inwater-stressed areas. Management Institute 2017). While drafting the groundwater, many contaminants like arsenic iron come out from the subsurface to the surface. Since 2004, villages of West Bengal had been experiencing a huge growth of STWs with the coming up of the National Policy of Arsenic Mitigation (NPAM). Individual households installed large numbers of private shallow hand-pump tube wells as sole drinking water sources in rural areas. Thus, human interactions create qualitative and quantitative water stress. As arsenic is an extremely toxic and carcinogenic metalloid. This geochemical arsenic threat is aggravated into the worst one due to poor socioeconomic status, malnutrition, illiteracy, regular exposure of contaminated groundwater as drinking and cooking water through the food chain, irrigation water, and use of packaged drinking water not complying with the permissible limit set by Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) (Bhattacharya et al. 2019; Ghosh et al. 2020; Mishra et al., 2021). Apart from health-related disorders, complex and multiple challenges, either direct or indirect, are also associated with loss of income earning capacity, labour productivity, job loss, increasing poverty, break up of a marital relationship, cases of suicide, cases of high dowry and ultimately exclusion from society or family due to arsenicosis. Such cases are prevalent in
Water, 2022
Drought is a common event in Iraq’s climate, and the country has severely suffered from drought e... more Drought is a common event in Iraq’s climate, and the country has severely suffered from drought episodes in the last two decades. The Kurdistan Region of Iraq (KRI) is geographically situated in the semi-arid zone in Iraq, whose water resources have been limited in the last decades and mostly shared with other neighboring countries. To analyze drought impacts on the vegetation cover and the land surface temperature in the KRI for a span of 20 years from 1998 to 2017, remote sensing (RS) and Geographical Information Systems (GIS) have been adopted in this study. For this study, 120 Landsat satellite images were downloaded and utilized, whereas six images covering the entire study area were used for each year of the study period. The Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) and Land Surfaces Temperature Index (LST) were applied to produce multi-temporal classified drought maps. Changes in the area and values of the classified NDVI and LST were calculated and mapped. Mann–Kendall ...
It is a great concept to let nature do the work of revegetation, however in semi-arid and arid re... more It is a great concept to let nature do the work of revegetation, however in semi-arid and arid regions the process of natural succession, if it occurs at all, typically requires many years of undisturbed development until an increase in biomass becomes measurable, hence it rather is applied to remote, sparsely populated regions and may be underrated as a measure to restore native vegetation, particularly in inhabited arid areas. What are the factors that make arid successional processes successful, how to expedite, and how to enable their use for the ecological revegetation of densely populated drylands? We review restoration methods that combine the planting of shelterbelt compartments with successional revegetation of the internal area, protected from wind and drought. Various measures of assisted natural succession can be applied to greatly accelerate the revegetation, including soil tillage, amendment with organic matter and the inoculation with cyanobacteria or lichens to form biocrusts. The aim is to initiate the development of native, water-saving savanna with biodiversity, resilience and adaptability to climate change. A narrow twin shelterbelt module could facilitate the use of natural succession within inhabited and peri-urban areas, also serving as protective greenbelt for cities. A pilot is planned in a peri-urban area of Northern Iraq, with a successional area of 125-150 m between shelterbelts. Land-use of agriculture, gardening and recreation can be integrated within the successional area, which also generates engagement of residents in the maintenance work. Planting of shelterbelts is required on 10-25% (not 100%) of the restoration area, therefore the use of assisted succession within protective compartments is expected to have both, ecological and economic advantages over large-scale afforestation.
Sustainable Renaturation in Desertification Control: Expediting the Natural Succession of Large-Scale Vegetation in Drylands
Palgrave Studies in Sustainable Business In Association with Future Earth, 2022
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Papers by Ayad M. Fadhil Al-Quraishi