Geospatial Analysis of Rainfall Erosivity Using Remote Sensing and GIS Techniques
Volume 12 , Issue 1 , December 2025 , Pages 43-56
Authors
Eman Shamsaldin 1 ; Jehan M. Sheikh Suleimany Suleimany 2
1 Civil Engineering Department/ Collage of Engineering/ Salahaddin University/ Erbil/ Kurdistan Region/Iraq.
2 Department of Water Resource Engineering, College of Engineering, Salahaddin University, Erbil, KR, Iraq.
10.17656/sjes.102001
Keywords
Abstract
The rainfall erosivity is considered of rainfall events as intensity and kinetic energy, which is a crucial factor for evaluating the soil erosion risks under future land use and climate change. Remote sensing (RS) and geographic information systems (GIS) have been employed in this research for the mapping of the geospatial expression of the rainfall erosivity of the Dibis Basin, which is situated in the north of Iraq, to the northwest of Kirkuk city, between the longitudes of 43°44'10" E and 44°6'40" E and latitudes of 35°30'30" N and 35°50'00" N. Rainfall data were collected from three meteorological stations during a period of 24 years (2000-2024). The data were interpolated with the inverse distance weighted (IDW) method employing software of ArcGIS version 10.8.1 in order to achieve geospatial representation of the average annual rain and the rainfall erosivity of the study area. The average annual precipitation and average rainfall erosivity of Dibis Basin ranged from 272.537 to 302.772 mm and from 242 to 338 , respectively. From this research, a new formula for calculating the rainfall erosivity for all the world's watersheds and basins has emerged. This work emphasizes the significance of the integration of climate data, spatial tools, and geomorphological analysis for the evaluation of the requisite rainfall erosivity for water, soil, and environmental development and management.