Estimating the Volume of Sediments and Assessing the Water Balance of the Badra Basin, Eastern Iraq, Using Swat Model and Remote Sensing Data

Abstract

The primary objective of this study is to employ the remote sensing data and Soil & Water Assessment Tool model to estimate sediment volume and assess the water balance of the Badra Basin (2,615km2) in eastern Iraq. Remote sensing data was utilized as the main input with the Soil & Water Assessment Tool model. These data involved a land use-land cover map that was constructed by the classification of the Landsat-8 satellite imagery for the year 2020, STMR digital elevation model, soil map was acquired from the Food and Agriculture Organization and climatic data were sourced from the NASA-funded prediction of Worldwide Energy Resource The results discovered that about 40 % and 18% of the yearly rainfall are losing by evapotranspiration and filtration. The average amount of annual sediment transported was predicted at 120.47 tons /ha, 2018 recorded the highest value of transported sediment which is about 360 tons /ha. The volume of annual runoff was assessed at about 340.74 million m3. These results proved that the Soil & Water Assessment tool model has the ability to estimation the sediment and runoff volume. The climatic elements, especially rainfall, in addition to soil classes, topography, and land use-land cover had a significant impact on the amount of transported sediments and the volume of runoff.