Date of Award
8-2011
Degree Name
Master of Science
Department
Geological and Environmental Sciences
First Advisor
Dr. Mohamed Sultan
Second Advisor
Dr. Alan Kehew
Third Advisor
Dr. Duane Hampton
Access Setting
Masters Thesis-Campus Only
Abstract
Monitoring systems which are needed to estimate runoff are absent on a regional scale for the majority of the Earth's surface. In the Tigris-Euphrates watershed, our test area, the paucity of stream flow and rain gauge data is limiting our ability to construct calibrated rainfall - runoff models. I evaluated and extracted the empirical expressions that relate in-situ river discharge to satellite-based, (Special Sensor Microwave /Imager, TOPEX/POSEDION) river discharge-dependant variables (Delta T and River Level) under varying topographic, climatic conditions, and river morphologies to estimate the river discharge. The extracted expressions were successfully used to predict missing monthly stream flow data under optimal conditions for three gauging stations: (1) gauge Baghdad (missing months: years 1987 and 1992), and (2) Hit gauge (missing months: year 1987 and 1988), and (3) gauge Samarra (missing months: years 1998, 2000 and 2001) using SSM/I and TOPEX/POSEDION satellite datasets. Implications for using the satellite-based stream flow and precipitation data to construct and calibrate continuous rainfallrunoff models over extended time periods are clear.
Recommended Citation
Kothari, Jinal, "Remote Sensing Based Solutions to the Rainfall Run Off Models - Study from the Tigris Euphrates Watershed" (2011). Masters Theses. 411.
https://scholarworks.wmich.edu/masters_theses/411