Raoof Mostafazadeh | Mohaghegh Ardabili University (original) (raw)

Books by Raoof Mostafazadeh

Gorgan University of Agricultural Science and Natural Resources (GUASNR), Aug 15, 2011

Papers by Raoof Mostafazadeh

Floods are one of the most devastating natural events that threaten social and economic condition... more 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 climatic regions. Thus, the data of 32 River Gauge Stations (RGS) were used in the spatiotemporal analysis in a 40-year recorded period. EasyFit software was used to determine the most appropriate statistical distribution for the discharge data at 2-, 5-, 10-, 25-, 50- and 100-year return periods. Then, the frequency of monthly and seasonal flood events was quantified in each RGS. Then, the significant trend of flood frequency in each RGS was tested, and the seasonality of flood events was explored. According to the results, it can be said that in the studied RGS, about 63.63% of the floods are occurred in April. On the other hand, the seasonali...

Remote Sensing

Canopy cover (CC) and the aboveground net primary production (ANPP) vary under the influence of v... more 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 soil attributes in the northwest (Ardabil province) rangelands of Iran. According to ecoregions and plant types and environmental factors, sampling was taken at the peak stage of plant growth from 2016 to 2020 using 1-m2 plots. For each transect, a soil sample was taken and transferred to the soil laboratory and the various attributes were measured. Maps of soil attributes were prepared using the inverse distance weighting (IDW) method. Differences in CC and ANPP of PFTs among soil attributes were analyzed using the paired sample t-test. Linear multiple regression was used for modeling the soil attributes. Total CC and ANPP were prepared in...

International Journal of Disaster Risk Reduction

journal of watershed management research

Introduction and Objective: Implementing management practices and involving stakeholders is assoc... more 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 groups of stakeholders. In this regards, the present research was planned to determine the different groups approach in participatory decision-making for watershed management measures in the Unar Chay Watershed of Meshgin Shahr, Ardabil Province via Policy Profile Ratio (PPR) and Index of Resolution (IR). Material and Methods: To achieve the considered goal, the target experts/managers have been chosen based on different background including natural resources, environment, regional water company, nomadic affairs, Jahad griculture, NGOs members, watershed residents, students, university professors and citizen groups. Through designing a questionnaire, the approach of different groups was examined based on analyzing the effect of watershed management projects on improving the income of watershed residents and evaluating the watershed community participation in the projects implementation and conflict reducing and increasing of local community's cooperation. Then, the PPR and IR were calculated and analyzed for all stakeholder groups. Results: The results showed that the value of PPR is between zero and-11. So that, among the study groups, the least PPR value was related to the subject of improving the watershed community income for the NGOs group which they were as opponents of the decision. Some of the study groups have a moderate approach towards the considered subjects. Additionally, the IR value was ranged between-50 and 12. The lowest value of IR was obtained for students group (opponents of the decision) towards the Women's empowerment and support via local cooperatives and organizations. Conclusion: The social profile ratio, while determining and prioritizing the views of different decision-maker and stakeholder groups, can be useful in effectively managing actions based on the strengths and weaknesses of the watershed participation process. In this regard, strengthening the participation of stakeholders and effective groups as well as removing barriers in low-impact groups can be considered in the planning process.

Sustainability

Knowledge of landscape fragmentation is known to be important in ecological integrity, hydrologic... more 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 KoozehTopraghi Watershed, Ardabil Province, Iran, where covers by different land uses/covers, to (a) explore the spatial pattern of landscape fragmentation metrics comprehensively in different scales, (b) distinguish the landscape fragmentation hot spots, and (c) investigate the spatial clustering of landscape fragmentation metrics. The behaviors of 7, 10, and 13 fragmentation metrics concerning three levels of patch, class, and landscape across 36 sub-watersheds were explored using principal component analysis (PCA) and expert elicitation. The Getis-Ord Gi* and local Moran’s I indices were also used to analyze the hot spots and clusters of landscape f...

The Journal "Agriculture and Forestry"

Understanding the contribution of different land uses in soil erosion leads to optimal management... more 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 have a general view of soil erosion in the watersheds. Therefore, the present research was carried out to study the soil erodibility (S) and terrain influence (T) factors in different land uses in the Iranian part of the Caspian Sea Basin and identification of erosion critical areas based on topography and soil erodibility factors. In order to prepare land use, S and T maps for the study area, were prepared by using satellite data of moderate resolution imaging spectroradiometer (MODIS), shuttle radar topography mission (SRTM 90m) and harmonized world soil database (HWSD) and the use of geographic information system (GIS) and remote sensing (RS), respectively. The results showed that the mean soil erodibility in the Iranian part of the Caspian Sea Basin varied from zero (soilless areas) to 0.044 (t ha hr ha-1 MJ-1 mm-1). While, among eight studied land use, the highest and lowest mean values of soil erodibility were obtained in the rangeland and permanent snow-water body equal to 0.040 and zero (t ha hr ha-1 MJ-1 mm-1), respectively. Also, the mean terrain influence (T) factor varied from 0.01 to 35.83 and shows more changeability in the study basin. As a result, by considering the high soil erodibility and terrain influence, the maximum erosion potential in the study area are located in the middle parts of the basin, where the highest slope gradients have high soil erodibility values. These areas are mainly located in the south slopes of the Alborz mountains. In this regard, defined critical regions based on topography and soil erodibility factors along with natural and anthropogenic factors can be considered in the planning of soil erosion control in watersheds and soil and water conservation programs.

Hydrogeomorphology, May 22, 2019

Disaster Prevention and Management Knowledge (quarterly), May 10, 2021

Journal of Geography and Environmental Hazards, Dec 21, 2020

Iranian Journal of Applied Ecology, 2021

The aim of the study was to determine the most important environmental factors (topography, clima... more The aim of the study was to determine the most important environmental factors (topography, climate, and soil) affecting changes in production and canopy cover of plant variations and to prepare prediction maps, based on the most important factor, in semi-steppe rangelands of Hir-Baghrou, Ardabil province, Iran. First, by detecting the vegetation types and different classes of environmental factors, the production and canopy cover were estimated in 1-m 2 plots at full flower stage of dominant species. Then, to determine the most important environmental factors, affecting the production and canopy cover changes, the principal component analysis (PCA) was used. For modeling, first, the correlation between the most effective environmental factors was obtained from the PCA. Then, the highly correlated factors were eliminated and the quadratic polynomial models were obtained. Finally, the obtained models were simulated in GIS. The results of the PCA showed that the first six components with 71.65% had the greatest effect on the production and canopy cover changes. Based on the root mean squared error (RMSE), simulating maps of production (RMSE=0.76) and canopy cover (RMSE=0.48) by effective factor (annual precipitation) showed the highest accuracy. The results of this study can be used to manage the rangelands of Ardabil province to create a balance between supply and demand of production and also to balance carbon.

Soils formed on different rock base has some different characteristics in terms of runoff and sed... more Soils formed on different rock base has some different characteristics in terms of runoff and sediment production based on the source minerals, structure of rocks, differences in their physical, chemical and mineralogical characteristics. In the same way, geological formations have different nature based on differences in texture, composition, resistance and sensitivity to erosion and sediment production, and the erodibility of various types of rocky and sedimentary units and the quantitative and qualitative characteristics of petrography and their physical and chemical properties. Different methods exist for measuring the amount of erosion, sediment and runoff produced in different formations, and the most common method is the use of a rainfall simulator. The characteristics of geologic formations and investigating the resistance of rock units to erosion are important in erosion and sediment and soil conservation studies. Considering the importance of this issue, in this study, the...

Environmental Science and Pollution Research, 2020

In the present paper, province-level variations of novel coronavirus (COVID-19) disease incidence... more In the present paper, province-level variations of novel coronavirus (COVID-19) disease incidence across Iran were investigated. To this end, a geo-database from infected cases, deaths, total population, death-to-population ratio, and infected case-to-death ratio for 31 provinces of Iran and during seven successive periods

Environmental Earth Sciences, 2015

Reflecting the shape and drainage characteristics of the watershed, time–area histogram (TAH) see... more Reflecting the shape and drainage characteristics of the watershed, time–area histogram (TAH) seems to be the most important parameter for derivation of the transformation hydrograph. In this study, a semi-distributed instantaneous unit hydrograph was established and applied to the steep 103 km2-Galazchai watershed in Iran to improve the results of the rainfall–runoff modelling. Towards this attempt, twenty-three runoff producing events with wide different characteristics were used for the analysis. The direct surface runoff hydrographs (DSRHs) were obtained and consequently compared for the study area using Clark’s instantaneous unit hydrograph (IUH) and through applying different TAHs calculated based on channel profile, dimensionless TAH, average velocity and spatially distributed travel time methods. A weight grid developed from kinematic wave travel time equation for overland flow was prepared and used as input to derive the spatial TAH of the watershed. The results indicated that the different TAHs had noticeable impacts on the estimated hydrographs. The results also proved that the spatial TAH method performed well with efficiency criteria of 0.75 and 0.69 in calibration and validation steps. The implemented method also offered the advantages of flexibility, efficiency and physically powerful links to the spatial data set and GIS software.

شبیه‌سازی و نظارت بر روند آتی تغییرات کاربری اراضی یکی از چالش‌های مهم برای محققان و تصمیم‌گیرندگ... more شبیه‌سازی و نظارت بر روند آتی تغییرات کاربری اراضی یکی از چالش‌های مهم برای محققان و تصمیم‌گیرندگان است. این مطالعه با استفاده از داده‌ها و مدل‌های زمانی-مکانی به شبیه‌سازی و ارزیابی روند آتی تغییرات کاربری اراضی در آبخیز کوزه‌تپراقی در استان اردبیل پرداخته است. در همین راستا، از 3 تصویر ماهواره‌ای لندست ETM+ (2000)، TM (2010) و OLI (2018) استفاده شد. مدل CA مارکوف برای شبیه‌سازی نقشه تغییرات کاربری اراضی در سال 2036 استفاده شد. سپس، مدل‌ساز تغییر سرزمین LCM برای بررسی روند آتی کاربری اراضی در آبخیز مطالعه گردیده به‌کار گرفته شد. برای بررسی صحت مدل CA مارکوف، ابتدا نقشه‌ی تغییرات پیش‌بینی شده سال 2018 با نقشه طبقه‌بندی 2018 صحت‌سنجی شد و براساس ضریب کاپا دقت بالای 0/8 مدل در پیش‌بینی تغییرات به‌دست آمد. به‌منظور تحلیل و آشکارسازی تغییرات کاربری اراضی سال 2000 تا 2036 و هم‌چنین شناخت روند تغییرات کاربری‌ها از مدل‌ساز تغییر سرزمین استفاده شد. نتایج حاصل به‌ترتیب نشان‌دهنده‌ی این است که سطح کاربری‌های کشاورزی آبی 80/52 %، مرتع 36/90 و اراضی درختی 5/76 % در آبخیز کوزه‌تپراقی افزایش خوا...

The development of human societies has altered the landscape of the watershed through remedial ac... more 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 this study, the water retention index, one of the indicators of multifunctional ecosystem services, was quantified using InVEST software. For this purpose, variables including rainfall, land use, soil hydrological groups, and curve numbers related to 28 watersheds in Ardabil province were prepared and introduced to InVEST software. Then, an accuracy assessment was conducted using error coefficients, including R2, RMSE, ME, and MAE. Additionally, to analyze auto-spatial correlation and identify runoff hotspots and water retention, global Moran's index and Enslin Moran's index were employed. The results showed that the minimum water re...

Improper use of water resources has caused significant changes in Natural River Flow (NRF), which... more 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 impact of the dam using the Borda Scoring Algorithm (BSA) based on Game Theory (GT) in Nir-Chay, Balkhlou-Chay and Qareh-Sou Rivers as consequent stations in northern Iran. Indicators of Hydrological Alteration (IHA) software was used to quantify river flow indices. 26 HI and 21 EFC have been quantified and were used to identify critical watersheds. Principal Component Analysis (PCA) was used to determine the most significant indicators. After the data reduction, the initial matrix and comparative preferences of Game Theory (GT) were used, and the scores were assigned to watersheds based on Borda Scoring Algorithm (BSA). Based on the results,...

Modeling Earth Systems and Environment

journal of watershed management research

Gorgan University of Agricultural Science and Natural Resources (GUASNR), Aug 15, 2011

Remote Sensing

International Journal of Disaster Risk Reduction

journal of watershed management research

Sustainability

The Journal "Agriculture and Forestry"

Hydrogeomorphology, May 22, 2019

Disaster Prevention and Management Knowledge (quarterly), May 10, 2021

Journal of Geography and Environmental Hazards, Dec 21, 2020

Iranian Journal of Applied Ecology, 2021

Environmental Science and Pollution Research, 2020

Environmental Earth Sciences, 2015

Modeling Earth Systems and Environment

journal of watershed management research

In many parts of Iran flood events cause considerable losses and damages annually. Evaluation of ... more In many parts of Iran flood events cause considerable losses and damages annually. Evaluation of flood control projects to improve the design of these projects in future is an efficient and effective way to reduce the consequences of this event. Focus of this study is on evaluation of Jafar-Abad structural flood control project to examine the hydrological performance of the check dams constructed for the project. Also prediction of hydrological and economic effects of six potential structural management scenarios was second component of this study.
The Jafar-Abad watershed (109 Km2) is located in Golestan Province north of Iran. The six structural management scenarios have been developed considering changes on location, height, and numbers of check dams constructed along the water courses in the watershed. Calibrated HEC-HMS model was used to model rainfall-runoff relationships in sub-catchments. Design flood hydrographs for 2-100 year recurrence intervals was calculated for each scenario.
To predict the potential impacts of implementing the management scenarios on flood characteristics, some indices including peak flow, time to peak and time base of hydrographs, and construction costs were chosen and quantified for each management scenario at the different return periods. The indices then were standardised using the maximum method. To weight the indices expert knowledge was elicitated using the Delphi process.
Paired t-tests for before and after construction of 58 check dams were performed against the hydrologic indices using the flow data observed at a hydrometery station located at outlet of the watershed. The most appropriate management scenarios from hydrological and hydrologic-economic perspectives were assigned using a Multi Criteria Decision Making (MCDM) approach for the various return periods.
Sensitivity analysis on weighting of indices was conducted. The results of statistical t-test indicate that existing flood control measures had no significant hydrologic impacts. The MCDM results show that Scenario 7 (increasing number of check dams, from 58 to 69) would be the most appropriate management scenario from hydrological perspective. While, the most appropriate management scenarios from hydrologic and economic perspective, are predicted to be Scenario 1 (no action) and Scenario 5 (with only 15 check dam constructed on a upland sub-catchment) respectively. This kind of evaluation and prediction assists the designers of flood control projects to examine the hydrologic behavior of a river system towards different potential structural management scenarios.