" Using Geographic Information System in Studying the Characteristic of Wadi Shuaib Basin in Jordan"

Abstract

The aim of this research is to produce maps of drainage network, streams order, basin and sub basin of Wadi Shuaib by using digitizing method, and automatic method from digital elevation model (DEM). Different kinds of data has been used to accomplish this research such as topographic maps, aerial photos, and satellite images of Landsat and SPOT using GIS and remote sensing software (ENVI, ARC/VIEW,ARC GIS). The digitizing method is used to produce boundary of the basin, drainage network and streams order maps from topographic maps, aerial photos and satellite images, while digitize contour is used to produce DEM in ARC GIS software. Automatic method is used to produce from DEM basin, sub basin, drainage network, streams order, shaded relief, slope and aspect maps employing ARC GIS and ARC/VIEW software, and GIS software is also used to calculate the area, drainage network length and number of streams order and sub basin. The results of this study showed a clear difference in the achieved results represented in the total length of drainage network and the number of steams order, and the limitation of digitizing method of delineation all the steams of first order, due to the lack of resolution and the hardness of delineation of sub basins, while the automatic method showed speed and accurate results in producing maps. The result of the study is also showed shortage of some GIS software in measuring all of morphometric characteristics.