Evaluating the Impacts of Land Use/Cover and Rainfall Changes on Surface Runoff by Using Remote Sensing and GIS

Abstract

Abstract

The effects of changes in environmental conditions such as land use/cover, climate, etc. on hydrological regime, is one of the most important research subjects in recent years. Remote sensing and geographical information systems (GIS) play an important role in environmental monitoring researches due to their rapid, economical, practical and reliable results. In this paper the effects of land use/cover and rainfall change on the South Marmara Basin surface runoff were researched by using remote sensing and GIS technologies.

In this study, for determination of surface runoff, SCS curve number method was used. The average water retention potential of Southern Marmara basin was found to be 66.80 for year 1987 and 69.06 for year 2011 and average runoff value was found to be 607.78 for year 1987 and 582.45 for year 2011. A slight increase occurred in the water retention potential of the basin from 1987 to 2011. The spatially increasing forest areas within the basin and increasing of forest density increased the potential maximum retention significantly but the increase and densification of residential areas decreased this effect. On the other hand, significant decrease was observed in surface runoff as the rainfall decreased between 1987 and 2011.