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Hydrological modelling of a heterogeneous catchment using an integrated approach of remote sensing, a geographic information system and hydrologic response units: the case study of Wadi Zerka Ma’in catchment area, north east of the Dead Sea

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Abstract

Wadi Zerka Ma’in is the smallest catchment area at the eastern side of the Dead Sea basin and has the largest city in that region. It receives direct groundwater recharge from an area of about 611.25 km2. Climatically and geomorphologically the region is heterogeneous. These heterogeneities have a major impact on the spatial distributions of the groundwater recharge. We used a Hydrological Response Unit method to investigate the spatial distributions and estimate the amount of groundwater recharge. An integrated approach of remote sensing and a geographic information system was used to feed the hydrological model with the land surface and climatic data. According to our model, it was found that during the last 30 years the average amount of rainfall in the studied area decreased from 275 mm/year to 100 mm/year and the temperature increased from 24.8 to 26.8 °C. These climatic changes had a major impact on the hydrological cycle of the study area by decreasing the runoff of the Zerka Ma’in River and increasing the evapotranspiration. As a result, the groundwater recharge of that catchment decreased during the same time period. It was found that recharge reached a maximum value of 94 million cubic metre (m3) in 1983, and since 1991 was not exceeding 50 million m3 per year any more.

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Acknowledgments

We are thankful to the Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research-UFZ for technical and financial support. We would like to thank the DAAD (German Academic Exchange Service) for providing the scholarship to the first author. We acknowledge three anonymous reviewers for their helpful comments that helped to improve the manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Earth Resources Engineering and Architecture and Built Environment, German Jordanian University, P.O. Box 35247, Amman, 11180, Jordan

    Taleb Odeh

  2. Department of Catchment Hydrology, Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research-UFZ, Theodor-Lieser-Strasse 4, 06120, Halle, Germany

    Tino Rödiger & Stefan Geyer

  3. Department Water Resources and Drinking Water, Eawag-Swiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Science and Technology, Überlandstrasse 133, 8600, Dübendorf, Switzerland

    Mario Schirmer

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  1. Taleb Odeh
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  2. Tino Rödiger
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Correspondence to Taleb Odeh.

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12665_2014_3627_MOESM1_ESM.doc

Supplementary Fig. 1: A physical boundary for a groundwater flow of Wadi Zerka Ma’in catchment area. Supplementary Fig. 2: The border of the catchment area at the surface (272 km2) and the border of the modelled area (subsurface catchment: 611.25 km2). Supplementary Fig. 3: DEM of the study area. A) The drainage network of the study area runs directional from the North to the West. B) Histogram of the elevation of the study area. Supplementary Fig. 4: The visible bands of the ASTR image of the study area. Supplementary Fig. 5: The middle infra red bands of the ASTR image of the study area with superimposed US Department of agriculture (USDA) 1993 samples. Supplementary Fig. 6: The average monthly amount of rainfall over the super mesh.Supplementary Fig. 7: The average monthly temperature (0C) over the super mesh. Supplementary Fig. 8: Some sites of the field measurements of Zerka Ma’in river discharge. The upper part of the river and down to site 2 the river is a losing stream, the groundwater level is lower than the surface water level. After site 2 the River become gaining, the groundwater level is equal or slightly higher than the surface water level. The field measurement of site NO.1 was used for calibration. Supplementary Fig. 9: Groundwater recharges mm/year as a result of the water budget for 1980–2010. (DOC 15890 kb)

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Odeh, T., Rödiger, T., Geyer, S. et al. Hydrological modelling of a heterogeneous catchment using an integrated approach of remote sensing, a geographic information system and hydrologic response units: the case study of Wadi Zerka Ma’in catchment area, north east of the Dead Sea. Environ Earth Sci 73, 3309–3326 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12665-014-3627-5

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