Raoof Mostafazadeh

University of Mohaghegh Ardabili | UMA · Department of Rangeland and Watershed Management

This research has concentrated on the physical and socio-economic impacts of vegetation-based management scenarios targeting on flooding and soil erosion issues in the Ramian watersheds. The Ramian watershed with an approximate area of 24000 ha is located in Golestan, Iran. For each sub-watershed, four biological actions (activities) and 16 managem...

Suspended sediment load (SSL) records in streams can be highly variable in time and space, making it difficult to quantify sediment fluxes and to discriminate particular patterns. The deep study on effective factors and their variability in different time scales is, therefore, a vital task. In the present study, the variability of precipitation and...

The land use dynamic method is among different available methods and approaches to evaluate the LULC change over a given period of time. In this research, satellite imagery has been used to map land cover in 1984, 1992, 2000, 2008, and 2016 years through the maximum likelihood supervised classification method in Meshginshahr, Iran. Based on the res...

The objective of the present study was to investigate the temporal changes of the river flow pattern using Colwell Indices (CIs) in rivers originating from the Sabalan mountainous. The simultaneous hydro-climatic and river flow data were used to determine the distinct periods of flow regimes. Then the flow statistics and CIs (Predictability, Consta...

Land-use change is one of the main threats to the environment and natural resources nowadays. Dealing with the impacts of landscape change and its better management needs up-todate information and data about the rate and amount of changes in different land-use types and spatial configurations. Remote sensing and landscape assessment provide diverse...

Objective: Climate change and its consequences have become a threat to the planet, the natural and man-made environment, and it leads to an increase in greenhouse gas emissions, global warming. In recent decades, the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere has increased, and this factor of climate change, such as temperature, has decreased. One...

Extended Abstract Introduction Determining the runoff coefficient in a distributed way can be used to identify the runoff producing areas. The runoff coefficient represents the ratio of runoff to total precipitation in different areas, where the previous soil moisture is not taken into account. The runoff coefficient without considering the effect...

Abstract Introduction Base flow is one of the most important criteria which is used for assessment, utilization and management of river flow in drought periods. The base flow amount and its variations depends on several factors. Base flow modeling and estimation can be used in assessment of river health as well as planning of surface water utiliza...

Introduction Drought is one of the natural hazards whose consequences and effects on social, economic, water resources and agriculture can be significantly revealed. Although the occurrence of drought is inevitable, it can be planned by anticipating a reduction in its devastating effects on the economy, society and the environment. The purpose of t...

Background and Objective: It is difficult to formulate a comprehensive plan for the development of agriculture, natural resources, and watershed management to identify all the needs and issues of different stakeholders, separately. To this end, using of policy profile as a valuable tool in the watershed planning process could be helpful to identify...

Introduction: The main effect of vegetation in the rivers course is on the flow velocity. The velocity is affected by different vegetation type such as shrub, bush and grass-like in the bed, river side and floodplain. The water velocity at a river channel cross-section tends to decrease, due to the effects of vegetation stems and leaves by the flow...

Background and Aim: Drought is a global phenomenon that can occur anywhere and cause significant damage to humans and natural ecosystems. Therefore, the issue of hydrological drought and reduction of river flow in Ardabil province is also an important issue that requires a comprehensive study. Method: In this study, hydrological drought characteris...

Streamflow simulation in watersheds is necessary to runoff management and understanding watershed response. Different hydrological models were developed for rainfall-runoff modelling. The BILAN model was used to simulate daily runoff in 23 river gauge stations in a 20-year period using observed rainfall, temperature, humidity and discharge time ser...

Extended Abstract Introduction and Objective: The severity and frequency of floods, depends on watershed characteristics, including shape, slope, drainage density and terrain parameters. Also, hydrological characteristics such as rainfall, storage, interception, infiltration, and anthropogenic activities can intensify or reduce the flood losses. De...

Aim: Water resource planning in different world countries is based on the potential surface resource availability. Land use changes, especially in watersheds that include cities and population centers, strongly affect the quantity of water. This study aims to determine land use/land cover changes in the Samian watershed, Ardabil. Also, investigatin...

Estimating the natural flow regime of a river is crucial for water resource management. Understanding the temporal and spatial distribution of river flow can greatly assist decision-makers in water resource management. This study aims to analyze changes in the Water Year Classification Index (WYCI) at 31 hydrological stations in Ardabil province (1...

Background and Aim: In order to understand the impacts of watershed management (WM) measures and their effect in solving the socioeconomic and environmental problems of region, it is necessary to evaluate these measures to improve future activities in watersheds. One of the important aspects in the watershed management decision making (DM) is to co...

The development of human societies has altered the landscape of the watershed through remedial activities, industrialization, and urbanization, causing significant changes in a wide range of hydrological, climatic, ecological, and socio-economic functions. This, in turn, has had significant consequences on resources and ecosystems. Therefore, in th...

Examining the relationship between factors affecting the amount of sediment production is essential in understanding the erosion process and watershed response. The aim of this research is to investigate the relationship between runoff and sediment components and some soil properties in the geological formations of a watershed in a semi-arid climat...

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the temporal variations of vegetation cover of Gharesou River riparian area in Ardabil province using landscape metrics over a period of 8 years which is important for morphology assessment and river ecosystem protection planning and management. The Google Earth imagery for the years 2011, 2016, 2019 due to...

p>Canopy cover (CC) and the aboveground net primary production (ANPP) vary under the influence of various environmental factors. They underscore ecological sustainability under different environment-human interactions. Towards this, the present study aimed to model the CC and ANPP of different plant functional types (PFTs) and their total using the...

Flood as a natural hazard affects by many dynamic factors, and its occurrence is strongly controlled by land use attributes. The type of land use and its dynamic changes is considered as the most important factor in runoff generation. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to assess the impacts of land use changes on flood hydrograph components in...

Floods are one of the most devastating natural events that threaten social and economic conditions more than any other natural disaster. Therefore, the aim of this study was to map the Iso-severity flood patterns and determining the seasonality of flood events over different return periods in in Ardabil province, Iran with diverse relief and climat...

1-Introduction Daily flow data are a prerequisite for water resources management, but it is not possible to measure it in many upstream watersheds. Accordingly, hydrological modeling is one of the important tools in estimating flow characteristics in ungauged watersheds. The discharge data and river flow regime are important as basic information fo...

Flood-vulnerable-area selection could be interpreted as an intricate multiple-criteria decision-making (MCDM) problem. Lacking systematic flood vulnerability maps in Iran usually leaves the National Disaster Management Organization and provincial authorities to rely on limited knowledge to inform their emergency actions. Therefore, the present stud...

Soil erosion is a global problem that threatens water and soil resources and land use change is one of the important factors in soil erosion intensification. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of land use change on soil erosion in Razeychay watershed of Meshginshahr located in Ardabil province. First, Landsat images of the study area...

Extended Abstract Introduction and Objective: Estimating the suspended sediment load of hydrometric stations in the watershed requires an accurate understanding of the spatial and temporal variations of the sediment regime. Simultaneous changes and impressability of discharge and sediment from precipitation changes are of much importance that rarel...

Extended Abstract Introduction and Objective: Intensification of natural disasters make it important to know the time variations of rainfall for wet and dry spell management and adaptation strategies. Measuring and predicting of precipitation anomalies using statistical methods is an important tool for climate studies. Seasonal changes determine th...

1-Introduction During the occurrence of hydrological drought, the river flow will be reduced and the quality of the river ecosystem will be degraded, while there is no need for water for the users. Determining the temporal and spatial variations of the hydrological drought index makes it possible to plan for the optimal use of river water. The vari...

Hydrological drought (HD) characterization with different return periods is essential to appropriately design the best water management practices. In particular, characterizing the interactive relations of discharge, drought, and return periods using a novel triple diagram can deepen the interpretation of regional droughts, which have not been adeq...

Extended Abstract Introduction and objective: Drought as the main cause of significant water imbalance, increase of crop losses or limitation in water consumption, and finally large number of socioeconomic and environmental problems. Precipitation amount is the most important climatic variables that its spatiotemporal variability has a great influe...

The purpose of this study was to analyze the relationship between land use changes in different time periods using landscape metrics in the KoozehTopraghi Watershed located in Ardabil Province. For this purpose, three Landsat satellite images from 2000, 2010, and 2021 were received from the United States Geological Survey (USGS) database. After pre...

The present study aims to analyze the ecological security in the KoozehTopraghi Watershed, Ardabil Province, based on the pattern and process-related criteria that cover both land use class and sub-watershed levels. Towards this, firstly, the comprehensive indicator of landscape pattern was calculated via integrating criteria of the splitting index...

Extended abstract 1- Introduction Today, the increasing population and consequently demand for agricultural products have caused the natural cover of land, especially forests and pastures to be destroyed by humans at an alarming rate and become agricultural land, even in many areas due to lack of water and nutrients, vegetation growth is limited....

Extended Abstract Introduction Flood modelling and watershed routing are the main topics of interest for hydrologists in the process of transforming rainfall into runoff hydrograph and streamflow through a watershed. In the design of some water systems, it is necessary to know the changes in flow over time (hydrograph). Empirical formulas, drainag...

The present study aimed to assess the spatio-temporal changes in the natural vegetation cover of Ahl Iman watershed, Ardabil province. For this purpose, land use maps of the three years (2000, 2010, and 2020) were extracted from Landsat satellite images. Then, seven landscape metrics (patch density, edge density, patch richness, splitting index, co...

The main aim of the present study was Modelling the SSY in Ardabil Province watersheds using Principal Component Analysis (PCA) and Multiple Regression (MRA). The available suspended sediment data of 29 watersheds were used to develop the SSY estimation models through validation by six watersheds. The 15 different physiographic, climatic, geomorphi...

Assessing the effectiveness of Land management based on land capability in priority areas to preserve natural resources and prevent adverse effects of rainfall events is essential for comprehensive watershed management. At the same time, it prevents rapid and inappropriate changes in land use and leads to the promotion of ecosystem services. Howeve...

Soil is one of the most important natural resources in any country, and its erosion will cause many problems, including fertility reduction, vegetation poverty, and desertification, especially in arid and semi-arid areas. Today, the reduction of land resources due to soil erosion causes many human and financial losses every year. Therefore, in this...

1-Introduction Soil erosion is a predominant geomorphic process that threatens food security in large parts of the world. The geomorphic characteristics of the watershed play an important role in hydrology, soil erosion and sediment production and can be an indicator of erosion and sedimentation status of the watershed. Considering the results of v...

1-Introduction Floods as destructive natural hazards need to be predicted in accurate way through evaluation of the hydrological response of watersheds to the effective input rainfall. Due to the variety of rainfall-runoff models, it is very important to choose a suitable model that can simulate the hydrological behavior of the watershed. Due to th...

Extended Abstract Introduction: Flood as a natural hazards occurs under the influence of many factors. Heavy rainfall in the upstream basin is one of the causes of floods. Rainfall and discharge simulation is one of the methods that can be used to understand the hydrological behavior of the watershed against different rainfall regimes, which ultima...

Considering the critical role of hydrological drought in water exploitation and management, this study was conducted to analyze the drought severity in different return periods in rivers of Ardabil Province (area = 17,953 km ² ). To this end, the Streamflow Drought Index (SDI) was computed using DrinC software at 1, 3, and 6-month time scales for 2...

Knowledge of landscape fragmentation is known to be important in ecological integrity, hydrological processes, urban planning, sustainable land management, and policymaking. Recent anecdotal studies reveal a need for analytical quantification of landscape fragmentation at different levels. Therefore, the present study was conducted at KoozehTopragh...

Introduction and Objectives: Rapid growth of human population and the over exploitation of natural resources leads to the higher demand for ecosystem services which exceeded their supply capacity. Ecosystem services are benefits that directly or indirectly affect human well-being. As ecosystem services are the product of natural systems in interact...

This study focuses on evaluating the effectiveness of surface water quality monitoring network and identify monitoring stations and water quality parameters, which are important in assessing annual variations of water quality in Gorgan-Rud Basin, Golestan Province. Cluster analysis (CA) was used to sort cases (monitoring points) into groups. Princi...

The aim of this study is analysing the sequential pattern of monthly river flow wet and dry spells in some stations (a 20-year period), West-Azarbaijan Province. The wet-dry spells of river flow were determined using Runs theory and the Power Laws Analysis method was used to determine the long-term pattern of low and high flow periods. Then, the dr...

Investigating the rate and the process of land use change and its economic effects during the last years is among the main bases of land management in the future. East Meshgin region in Ardabil province is one of the agricultural production centers, where the construction of the Sabalan dam developed the agricultural activities. In this research, t...

Background and Objective: Drought is the main causes of socioeconomic and environmental issues and the spatial and temporal variability of precipitation has a great influence on water resources availability. The Angot Precipitation Index (ratio between the average values of multiannual of precipitation over wet and dry periods) is an indicator to d...

New approaches of crisis management have changed from the concepts of vulnerability to resilience and emphasize on strengthening the system's ability to deal with the risks of natural disasters. Therfore, the aim of this study was identifying the watershed capabilities of Qarahshiran and crisis management planning with emphasis on environmental res...

Extended Abstract Introduction Soil erosion is one of the environmental problems that is a threat to natural resources, agriculture and the environment, and in this regard, assessing the temporal and spatial amount of soil erosion has an effective role in management, erosion control and watershed management. Nowdays, lack of proper land use and lan...

In recent years, the world has faced many challenges. Among the natural phenomena, the flood effect has attracted a lot of attention due to its adverse effects. More than half of the destruction and damage caused by global flooding occurs in the Asian continent, which causes loss of life, damage to infrastructure, and creates conditions of panic in...

Ecological indicators have become important tools for evaluating and monitoring natural resources. Understanding the relationship between biological activities and ecological interactions is essential to their structure. On the other hand, human activities have significant effects on landscape evolution through changes in sediment production, trans...

The study of soil erosion is one of the necessities of watershed management, and erosion control requires understanding the behavior of runoff and sediment production in different conditions. This study aims to evaluate the effect of soil particle percentage, soil organic carbon (OC) content, slope, and initial moisture on runoff components and the...

Introduction Considering the different hydrological, hydraulic and environmental behaviors of the urban area compared to other natural areas, the effects of urban expansion on the response of the natural hydrologic cycle components, and available water resources in particular are among the most important research topics of the last decade. Limited...

The occurrence and intensity of climatic and hydrologic extreme events, as indicators of climate change, are increasing in most parts of arid and semi-arid regions, including Ardabil province, Iran. Recent studies have revealed the need for the multidimensional assessment of flood disasters in this area. Consequently, this present study was conduct...

Understanding the contribution of different land uses in soil erosion leads to optimal management and conservation practices to reduce the severity of erosion and consequently, the sustainable management. Changeability of the most effective factors on soil erosion especially soil erodibility and topography in different land uses is a first step to...

Land use/land cover change, especially in urban watersheds strongly affects surface water characteristics. The aim of this study was determining Lu/Lc in the Samian Watershed and also assessing the relationship between Lu/Lc changes and the water quality parameters. In this study, land use map was obtained by ENVI software in four time periods (199...

Improper use of water resources has caused significant changes in Natural River Flow (NRF), which indicates the need to assess changes in Hydrological Indicators (HI) and Environmental Flow Components (EFC). Therefore, the present study was conducted to identify critical watersheds using HI and EFC under the influence of the dam and without the imp...

Background and objective: In the present study, concepts related to climate change and climate study scales have been studied and various indicators related to climate change have been presented and then important and practical indicators in evaluating climate change components have been evaluated. Method: Monitoring the changes in extreme climatic...

Aboveground Net Primary Production (ANPP) of rangeland ecosystems is driven by interactions among multiple environmental factors. This study aimed to model the combined effects of precipitation, elevation, and soil conditions on ANPP variation along an elevation gradient. Ground surveys and vegetation sampling were conducted in 2016 through 26 samp...

Article Info Background and objectives: Alongside with the progress in satellite sensors, their role on obtaining information and study of the environmental events and phenomena have become increasingly important. One of these precious data which is the basis for many planning and decision making in rangelands, is the above ground net primary produ...

Waste Management

Abastract Introduction Road accidents is the outcome of driver behavior, road condition, vehicle status, and environmental factors. Therefore, identification and assessment of effective parameters on road accidents can be considered as an appropriate way to reduce the accident events, driving violations and increase the road safety. Determining the...

Determining the spatial variations and the relationship between topography-/terrain-derived variables and soil properties provides an accurate understanding of hydrological and sedimentation processes. Topographic properties influence moisture storage, aggregate stability, and thus soil protection. This study aims to assess the variability of soil'...

Improper use of water resources has caused significant changes in Natural River Flow (NRF), which indicates the need to assess changes in Hydrological Indicators (HI) and Environmental Flow Components (EFC). Therefore, the present study was conducted to identify critical watersheds using HI and EFC under the influence of the dam and without the imp...

Invasions by non-native species are an increasing problem, especially at valuable rangelands. In the present research, the suitable habitat of the invasive species of Leucanthemum vulgare Lam., in the rangelands of the Namin County in northwest Iran, was assessed using the topographic, climatic, and soil variables. Four machine learning models, inc...

Extended Abstract Introduction and Objective: Implementing management practices and involving stakeholders is associated with challenges due to changing perceptions and expectations of stakeholders. Active participation in decision making of watershed management measures is determining the community characteristics, involved people and diverse grou...

Today, watersheds are severely affected by natural and man-made stresses, and their ability to recover and adapt to altered conditions depends on the resilience of watersheds. Therefore, due to the importance of this issue and the necessity to explain management models in order to promote resilience in the country' s watersheds, the present paper a...

Hot spots are often associated with places where an abnormal process has occurred. Accordingly, their identification can help experts and managers to scrutinize the state of health and sustainability, from an ecological point of view. The present study was therefore conducted to analyze the spatial autocorrelation and identify hot spots of 11 lands...