Mohammed Safwan, Hussien Mais, Alsafadi Karam, Mokhtar Ali, Rianna Guido, Kbibo Issa, Barkat Mona, Talukdar Swapan, Szabó Szilárd, Harsanyi Endre
Institution of Land Utilization, Technology and Regional Planning, University of Debrecen, 4032, Böszörményi út 138, Debrecen, Hungary.
Department of Soil Science, Faculty of Agriculture and Natural Resources, Tehran University, Tehran, Iran.
Heliyon. 2021 Apr 24;7(4):e06764. doi: 10.1016/j.heliyon.2021.e06764. eCollection 2021 Apr.
Soil erosion is one of the main threats facing the agriculture and natural resources sector all over the world, and the same is true for Syria. Several empirical and physically based tools have been proposed to assess erosion induced soil losses and runoff driving the processes, from plot to regional spatial scales. The main goal of this research is to evaluate the performance of the Water Erosion Prediction Project (WEPP) model in predicting runoff in comparison with field experiments in the Al-Sabahia region of Western Syria in three ecosystems: agricultural lands (AG), burned forest (BF) and forest (FO). To achieve this, field experimental plots (2∗1.65∗0.5 m) were prepared to obtain runoff observation data between September 2012 and December 2013. In addition, the input data (atmospheric forcing, soil, slope, land management) were prepared to run the WEPP model to estimate the runoff. The results indicate that the average observed runoffs in the AG, BF and FO were 12.54 ± 1.17, 4.81 ± 0.97 and 1.72 ± 0.16 mm/event, respectively, while the simulated runoffs in the AG, BF and FO were 15.15 ± 0.89, 9.23 ± 1.48 and 2.61 ± 0.47mm/event, respectively. The statistical evaluation of the model's performance showed an unsatisfactory performance of the WEPP model for predicting the run-offs in the study area. This may be caused by the structural flaws in the model, and/or the insufficient site-specific input parameters. So, to achieve good performance and reliable results of the WEPP model, more observation data is required from different ecosystems in Syria. These findings can provide guidance to planners and environmental engineers for proposing environmental protection and water resources management plans in the Coastal Region in Syria.
土壤侵蚀是全球农业和自然资源部门面临的主要威胁之一，叙利亚也是如此。已经提出了几种基于经验和物理的工具，用于评估从地块到区域空间尺度上侵蚀引起的土壤流失和驱动这些过程的径流。本研究的主要目标是，与叙利亚西部萨巴希亚地区三种生态系统（农田（AG）、火烧林地（BF）和森林（FO））的田间试验相比，评估水蚀预测项目（WEPP）模型在预测径流方面的性能。为实现这一目标，准备了田间试验地块（2×1.65×0.5米），以获取2012年9月至2013年12月期间的径流观测数据。此外，准备了输入数据（大气强迫、土壤、坡度、土地管理）来运行WEPP模型以估算径流。结果表明，AG、BF和FO中观测到的平均径流分别为12.54±1.17、4.81±0.97和1.72±0.16毫米/事件，而AG、BF和FO中模拟的径流分别为15.15±0.89、9.23±1.48和2.61±0.47毫米/事件。对模型性能的统计评估表明，WEPP模型在预测研究区域的径流方面表现不尽人意。这可能是由模型的结构缺陷和/或特定地点输入参数不足造成的。因此，为了使WEPP模型具有良好的性能和可靠的结果，需要从叙利亚不同的生态系统获取更多的观测数据。这些发现可为规划者和环境工程师在叙利亚沿海地区提出环境保护和水资源管理计划提供指导。
