Identification of Critical Sub-Watersheds Prone to Soil Erosion using Remote Sensing Data and Geospatial Techniques in Thiririka Watershed, Kenya
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Date
2023
Authors
Inyele, Juliet
Murimi, Shadrack
Kweyu, Raphael
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
IOSR
Abstract
Morphometric Studies And Land Use/Land Cover Analysis Play A Key Role In Integrated Watershed
Management. Sustainable Resource Utilization At A Watershed Level Requires An In-Depth Understanding Of
Land Use, Drainage, And Hydrological Patterns Of The Watershed. In Developing Countries, Poverty Has Led
To Unsuitable Land Management Practices (E.G. Deforestation, Continuous Tillage), Contributing To Increased
Soil Erosion In Watersheds. To Reduce Soil Erosion At The Watershed Level, Watershed Managers Need To Make
Informed Decisions Such As Developing Vegetative Cover And Agroforestry. However, This Is Limited Due To A
Lack Of Readily Available Data To Guide The Process. This Study Explores The Potential Use Of Basin
Morphometry And Land Use /Land Cover Parameters With Geographic Information Systems (GIS) And Remote
Sensing (RS) Tools To Identify Areas Susceptible To Soil Erosion In Thiririka Watershed In Kenya. Five SubWatersheds Were Delineated And Assigned A Code From SW1 To SW5 Using The Shuttle Radar Topographic
Mission (SRTM) 30-Meter Resolution Digital Elevation Model (DEM) In Arcgis Software, Followed By
Morphometric Analysis Of Linear, Aerial, And Relief Aspects Of The Watershed. Land Use/Land Cover Classes
Were Generated From A Median Composite Of Sentinel-2 2020 Image. A Supervised Classification Scheme Was
Used To Develop A Random Forest Classifier To Perform The Classification. Finally, The Effects Of Each
Morphometric And Land Use/Land Cover Parameters On Soil Erosion Were Assessed And Assigned Ranks 1 To
5. These Ranks Were Averaged To Get The Compound Priority (CP) In GIS Tabular Database. Results Showed
That Sub-Watershed 5 Is Highly Susceptible To Soil Erosion Needing Immediate Management Actions, While
Sub-Watershed 4 (SW4) Shows Less Susceptibility To Soil Erosion. The Study Recommends The Use Of Remote
Sensing And GIS In Watershed Prioritization Management
Description
Article
Keywords
Soil Erosion, , Land Use / Land Cover, Morphometric Analysis, GIS, Watersheds, Prioritization
Citation
Inyele, J., Murimi, S., & Kweyu, R. Identification Of Critical Sub-Watersheds Prone To Soil Erosion Using Remote Sensing Data And Geospatial Techniques In Thiririka Watershed, Kenya.