Recent Estimations of Hydrologic Cycle Components in Gaza

Strip Catchment

TAMER M. ALSLAIBI1 and YUNES K. MOGHEIR2

1: Islamic University of Gaza, Palestine, tamer_2004@hotmail.com

2: Environment Quality Authority (EQA), Palestine, yunesmogheir@yahoo.com

ABSTRACT

Accurate estimation of the hydrological cycle components is essential for an efficient

water resources management and planning. This is primary where there is a scarcity of
water resources like the case of Gaza Strip. This paper shows recent estimations of the
hydrologic cycle components: average annual precipitation, interception,
evapotranspiration, infiltration and the resulted runoff in the Gaza Strip catchment.

Various methods where selected from the literature such as Thiessen method and Penman
Equation and other estimation methods. The data where collected from the water
institutions in the Gaza Strip to perform the analyses. The analyses are considered as
recent since the data collected for years 2005 and 2006.

The results revealed that the average annual precipitation of rainfall in Gaza Strip is 350
mm/year and the interception percentage by agricultural, urban, road and industrial uses
are 5.8%, 4.3%, 2.3% and 1.8% respectively. The average annual evapotranspiration in
Gaza Strip is 128.2mm/year, which represents 36.6%. In addition, the net rainfall
infiltrates through the soil is 77.8mm/year, which represents 22.2%. Therefore, for the
steady state conditions, the water budget of the Gaza Strip indicates that the percentage
of rainfall water which is generated as a runoff is 27.0%.

The findings of this paper can be used to update the water budget of the Gaza catchment
area. Meanwhile, this could update the water resources management and planning studies
which are used regularly by many institutions and researches.

Keywords: Gaza catchment, hydrologic cycle, water budget, management and

planning

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1. INTRODUCTION:

The hydrological cycle components can be classified as: precipitation, infiltration,

evaporation, transpiration, surface runoff and groundwater flow. The cyclic movement of
the water from the sea to the atmosphere and then by the precipitation to the earth, where
it collects in streams and runs back to the sea, is referred to as the hydrological cycle.
Such cyclic order of events dose occur but it is not so simple as that (Figure 1). The cycle
may short-circuit at several stage, for example, the precipitation may fall directly into the
sea, lakes or river courses. In addition, there is no uniformity in the time a cycle takes.
During droughts it may appear to have stopped altogether, during floods it may seem to
be continuous. The intensity and frequency of the cycle depend on geography and
climate, since it operates as a result of solar radiation, which varies according to latitude
and season of the year. The various parts of the cycle can be quite complicated and man
can exercise some control only on the last part, when the rain has fallen on the land and is
making its way back to the sea.

Water in the sea evaporates under solar radiation and clouds of water vapor move over
land areas. Precipitation occurs as snow, hail, rain and condensate in the form of dew,
over land and sea. Snow and ice on land are water in temporary storage. Rain falling over
land surfaces may be intercepted by vegetation and evaporate back to the atmosphere.
Some of it infiltrates into the soil and moves down or percolates into the saturated ground
zone beneath the water- table, or phreatic surface. The water in this zone flows slowly
through aquifers to river channels or sometime directly to the sea. The water that
infiltrates also feeds the surface plant life and some gets drawn up into this vegetation
where transpiration takes place from leafy plant surfaces [1 and 2].

The water remaining on the surface partially evaporates back to vapour, but the bulk of it
coalesces into streamlets and runs as surface runoff to the river channels. The river and
lake surfaces also evaporate, so still more is removed here. Finally, the remaining water
that has not infiltrated or evaporated arrives back at the sea via the river channels. The
groundwater, moving much more slowly, either emerges into the stream channels or
arrives at the coastline and seeps into the sea, and the whole cycle starts again [1 and 2].

The change of the land uses has a direct impact of the quantities of the hydrological
components. For example, land uses in Gaza Strip vary between agricultural, industrial,
urban and roads. In this article the recent changes of the quantity of the hydrologic cycle
according to the recent changes of the land uses will be estimated for year 2006.

2. ESTIMATION APPROACHES

2.1 Data Collection

The approach followed in this article is a disk study approach which mainly depends on
collecting the updated and recent data. The data can be grouped in two categories:

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 1. The data related to the land use up to year 2006 which mainly collected from
Ministry of Agriculture and Ministry of Planning [3 and 5].
2. The data related to the hydrological cycle components up to year 2006 such as
rainfall, daily temperature, relative humidity, wind velocity and hour of
sunshine. These data were collected from Ministry of Transportation [4].

Figure (1): Typical Hydrological Cycle

2.2 Data screening and analyses

The collected data were screened to check the errors that might be encountered in the
several steps of measurements and data transmittion. Some of the collected data is used
in a direct way for the estimation procedures such as the estimation of rainfall. Other data
are used indirectly to compute some of the hydrological components such as evaporation.

2.3 Hydrological Components Estimations

The hydrological components were estimated and computed by using empirical methods,
equations from the literature. Some computer programs such as Excel spread sheets,
AutoCAD, Geographical Information System (GIS) are used for carrying out the
computations and to visualize the results of the analyses.

2.3.1 Precipitation

The average amount of regional precipitation in Gaza Strip is computed using Thiessen
Method as follows [1 and 2]:

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p =
∑P* A (1)
avg
∑A
Where,

Pavg : is the average amount of perception in mm/year

A : is the area of the polygon determined by Thiessen method in Km2.

In Thiessen method the rainfall recorded at each station is given a weightage on the
basis of an area closest to the station [1 and 2]. The method mainly consists of to divide
the catchment area into Thiessen polygons depend on the locations of the rainfall station
as shown in Figure 2.

Figure (2): Estimation of average precipitation over Gaza Strip by Thiessen Method and
the soil classifications.

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2.3.2 Evapotranspiration

Evapotranspiration in Gaza strip is calculated for year 2006 using The Penman method
[1], as follows:

ΔH + 0.27 E
ET = (2)
Δ + 0.27
E = 0.35(eο − ea )(1 + 0.0098 u 2) (3)
0.5
H = R(1 − r )(0.18 + 0.55S ) − B(0.56 − 0.092 ed )(0.1 + 0.9S ) (4)

Where,

∆ : the slope of the saturated vapour curve of air at absolute temperature (mm
Hg/oF)
H : the daily heat budget at the surface (estimate of net radiation mm/day)
E : daily evaporation (mm)
ET : the evaportranspirtaion (mm/day)
R : the mean monthly radiation
r : reflection coefficient (ranges between 0.05 to 0.12)
B : a temperature – dependent coefficient
S : the estimated ratio of actual duration of bright sunshine to maximum possible
duration of bright sunshine
ed : the actual vapour pressure of the air at a standard height (usually 2 m)
ea : the saturation vapour pressure
U2 : wind velocity in m/s at 2m height

2.3.3 Interception

The interception of rainfall by different land uses in Gaza Strip is computed as follows
[1]:

Li = S + KET (5)

Where,
Li : the volume of water intercepted (mm, in)
S : the interception storage whose values varies from 0.25 to 1.5 depending on the
nature of vegetation
K : ration of vegetal surface area to its projected area
E : evaporation rate in (mm/h) during the precipitation
T : duration of rainfall in hours

2.3.4 Infiltration

The infiltration of rainfall by different type of soil in Gaza Strip is computed as follows:

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Q = P× A× C (6)

Where
P :Net rainfall for each station in (mm)
A :Area of each type of soil for each station (Km2)
C :Recharge coefficient.

2.3.5 Runoff

The quantity of rainfall run over the surface in Gaza Strip is computed by considering
the water budget of the Gaza Strip catchment area which is describes as follows:

R = P-ET-Li-I (7)

Where

R : runoff in mm/y
P : precipitation in mm/y (Eq. 1)
ET : evapotranspiration in mm/y (Eq. 2).
Li : interception in mm/y (Eq. 5)
I : infiltration in mm/y (Eq. 6)

3. RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS:

The average perception in Gaza Strip of years 2000 up to 2006 is computed using Eq. 1
and the results was tabulated in Table 1. The average precipitation in Gaza Strip is
350.24 mm/year. In frequent studies conducted in the Gaza Strip for the past 10 years,
380 mm/year was considered as an average precipitation. This number was computed as
an arithmetic mean of the yearly rainfall in each station. However, the result of the
current article which sows the average perception is 350 is more accurate since it is the
first time that a well known method such as Thiessen is used for such analyses.

The evapotranspiration (ET) in Gaza Strip is computed using Eqs. 2, 3 and 4. The
results of the computations are presented in Table 2. It was found that the average ET
for the non rainy days was 1646 mm/y and that one for the rainy days was 128
mm/year. In average the total ET amount is around 36.6 % of the total rainfall. It is
believed that this quantity is more precise than that was used in most of ET estimation
studies. In current study the total ET in Gaza Strip was computed, while other studies
computed ET for one station and mostly the Gaza Station was used as a typical for all
Gaza Strip. For instance, Palestinian Meteorological Office computed the ET for rainy
months as 641 mm/y while the current study revealed that ET is 577 mm/y.

The interception of rainfall by different land uses in Gaza Strip is computed and
simplified using Eq.5. The results of the computation are shown in Table 3. It can be

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concluded that the average interception quantity for year 2006 is 20.38 mm/y which
form 5.82 % of the total rainfall.

The infiltration of rainfall by different type of soil in Gaza Strip is computed using Eq. 6
and the results of the calculation are presented in Table 4. Notice that classification of
different soil types is used in the computations. Figure 2 shows the description of the
soil type in Gaza Strip. Another parameter which may influence the infiltrated amount
is the runoff coefficient which mainly depends on the land use. This coefficient varies
between 0.025 to 0.7. As a result the average infiltration rate for year 2006 is 77.83
mm/y which form 22.23 % of the total rainfall in the Gaza Strip.

As shown in Eq. 7, the water budget method is used to compute the remaining runoff
quantity. It was found that the quantity of rainfall run over the surface in Gaza Strip for
year 2006 was 94.6 mm/y that form 27 % of the total rainfall.

5. CONCLUSION :

The effect of land uses changes, in the Gaza Strip, on the hydrological cycle
components was studied for year 2006. Thiessen method was used to estimate the
amount of rainfall that precipitate in Gaza Strip and it revealed that it equals 350
mm/year. Penman method indicated that 128 mm of the rainfall is lost as
evapotranspiration every year. This quantity is transferred to the atmosphere as water
vapor in a rainy days of a year which represents 36.62% of the rainfall quantity. The
study indicated that the percentage of the intercepted rainfall by different uses of land
such as agricultural, urban, roads and industrial are 5.82%, 4.25%, 2.32%, and 1.78%
respectively. About 77.83 mm/year of the rainfall quantity infiltrates to the ground,
which represent 22.23%. At the end, approximately 94.6 mm/year run over the land
which represents 27.03% from the total rainfall.

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Table (1): Estimation of the average precipitation over Gaza Strip area by Thiessen method fro year 2006.
RAINGAGE STATIONS
Date Year
Khan
B Hanon B Lahia Jabalia Shati Remal Tuffah Moghragah Nussirate Dr-Elbalah Younis Khuzaa Rafah

Sum 99/00 (mm/y) 406.4 390.5 388.5 425.1 334.8 357.2 368.3 278.5 256.7 191.8 142.2 198.5

Sum 00/01 (mm/y) 497.5 490.4 540 478.9 511.9 533.4 563.6 558.3 550.5 381 284.3 308

Sum 01/02 (mm/y) 548.4 542 565.5 522.1 544.4 604.3 660.5 545.5 390.6 311.7 258.5 241.7

Sum 02/03 (mm/y) 801.5 724 692.6 627 599 653.5 790.7 446.2 372.6 298 261.2 220.8

Sum 03/04 (mm/y) 349.4 393.1 366.4 324.5 378.2 429.6 466.1 316.5 316.4 207 186 173.5

Sum 04/05 (mm/y) 358.7 320.6 345.5 296.6 310.7 350.7 323.6 405.0 345.5 373.0 368.0 360.2
Average Precipitation
448.73 433.38 439.12 405.14 405.87 443.70 480.67 386.33 338.19 293.75 250.03 227.66
(P) (mm/y)
Area of each station*
27.36 15.35 14.11 2.98 12.50 25.50 34.40 28.93 38.40 86.70 43.40 35.00
(km2)
P × Area 12277.2 6652.4 6196.0 1207.3 5073.4 11314.3 16535.1 11176.4 12986.6 25468.1 10851.3 7968.1
Annual precipitation
350.24
(mm/year)
* The Thiessen method is used to determine the area as shown in Figure 2

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Table (2) Estimation of evapotranspiration quantity in Gaza Strip by Penman Method for year 2003
Penman Months
Method
Parameters JAN FEB MAR APR MAY JUN JUL AUG SEB OCT NOV DEC
T (Cْ ) 15.6 13.9 15.0 19.3 23.2 25.1 26.9 27.5 25.9 23.7 20.2 15.7
∆ 0.50 0.50 0.50 0.60 0.65 0.80 0.83 0.85 0.80 0.75 0.63 0.52
R.H. 0.64 0.64 0.68 0.64 0.72 0.76 0.73 0.73 0.65 0.70 0.65 0.62
e0 (mm Hg) 12.78 12.00 12.78 17.53 21.00 23.76 28.00 29.00 27.00 23.00 17.53 12.78
ea (mm Hg) 8.18 7.68 8.69 11.22 15.12 18.06 20.44 21.17 17.55 16.10 11.39 7.92
u (m/day) 168 235 205 168 140 144 153 154 163 158 147 157
R
8.50 10.50 12.70 14.80 16.00 16.50 16.20 15.30 13.50 11.30 9.10 7.90
(mm H2O/day)
B 14.00 13.70 14.00 14.80 15.50 15.80 16.34 16.34 16.00 15.90 15.00 14.00
r 0.09 0.09 0.09 0.09 0.09 0.09 0.09 0.09 0.09 0.09 0.09 0.09
n (hr) 4.5 4.6 6.4 7.9 10.2 10.8 11.1 10.3 9.4 8.6 5.9 4.4
N (hr) 10.1 10.9 11.8 12.8 13.6 14.1 13.9 13.2 12.2 11.2 10.3 9.9
S 0.45 0.42 0.54 0.62 0.75 0.77 0.80 0.78 0.77 0.77 0.57 0.44
E (mm) 4.26 4.99 4.31 5.85 4.88 4.81 6.61 6.88 8.59 6.15 5.24 4.31
H (mm/day) 1.21 1.93 3.15 4.55 6.20 6.92 7.20 6.69 5.20 3.79 1.80 0.94
EH (mm/day) 2.28 3.01 3.56 4.95 5.81 6.39 7.06 6.73 6.06 4.42 2.83 2.10
EH (mm/month) 70.6 93.2 110.2 153.6 180.1 198.0 218.8 208.8 187.7 137.0 87.7 65.0
Number of rain
9.00 11.00 9.00 5.00 0 0 0 0 0 0 1.00 7.00
days
EH (for rain
20.49 33.07 32.00 24.77 0 0 0 0 0 0 2.83 14.67
days)

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 AVG. EH (mm/year) for all months = 1711
AVG. EH (mm/year) for rainfall months = 580.3
AVG. EH (mm/year) for rain days = 127.83
Percentage of ET for rain days from total rainfall = 36.53%

Table (3): Estimation of interception of rainfall in Gaza Strip

Eq (5) MONTHS
Parameters JAN. FEB. MAR. APR. MAY JUN. JUL. AUG. SEB. OCT. NOV. DEC.

S (in) 0.03 0.03 0.03 0.03 0.03 0.03 0.03 0.03 0.03 0.03 0.03 0.03

K 0.494 0.494 0.494 0.494 0.494 0.494 0.494 0.494 0.494 0.494 0.494 0.494
AVG. E
2.26 2.83 3.66 4.83 5.33 6.12 6.56 6.57 5.39 4.47 3.04 2.00
(mm/day)
AVG. E
0.0037 0.0046 0.0060 0.0079 0.0087 0.0100 0.0108 0.0108 0.0088 0.0073 0.0050 0.0033
(in/hr)
Rain days
11.00 9.00 5.00 2.00 0 0 0 0 0 3.00 4.00 9.00
/month
Time period
6.00 6.00 6.00 6.00 0 0 0 0 0 6.00 6.00 6.00
(hr/day)

t (hr) 66.00 54.00 30.00 12.00 0 0 0 0 0 18.00 24.00 54.00

Li (in/month) 0.151 0.154 0.119 0.077 0 0 0 0 0 0.095 0.089 0.118

Li
3.83 3.91 3.02 1.96 0 0 0 0 0 2.42 2.26 2.99
(mm/month)

AVG. Li (mm/year)= 20.38

% OF Li from Rainfall = 5.82

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Table (4): Estimation of infiltration quantity in Gaza Strip for year 2006.
Rainfall Net rain Recharge Infiltration
Stations Soil types Area (km2) Evaporation
(mm/year) (m/year) coefficient (10 6 m3)
Dark brown / reddish
1 brown 18.5 448.73 128.0 0.321 0.025 0.15
Sandy regosols 10.58 448.73 128.0 0.321 0.7 2.38
2 Sandy regosols 15.55 433.38 128.0 0.305 0.70 3.32
Dark brown / reddish
3 brown 0.198 439.12 128.0 0.311 0.025 0.00
Sandy regosols 14.79 439.12 128.0 0.311 0.7 3.22
4 Sandy regosols 3 405.14 128.0 0.277 0.7 0.58
Dark brown / reddish
brown 0.13 405.87 128.0 0.278 0.025 0.00
5
Loess soils 1.95 405.87 128.0 0.278 0.15 0.08
Sandy regosols 10.1 405.87 128.0 0.278 0.7 1.96
Dark brown / reddish
brown 11.87 443.70 128.0 0.316 0.025 0.09
6
Loess soils 11.63 443.70 128.0 0.316 0.15 0.55
Sandy regosols 1.23 443.70 128.0 0.316 0.7 0.27
Dark brown / reddish
brown 15.38 480.67 128.0 0.353 0.025 0.14
7
Loess soils 8.09 480.67 128.0 0.353 0.15 0.43
Sandy loess soil 3.61 480.67 128.0 0.353 0.3 0.38
Dark brown / reddish 0.00205 386.33 128.0 0.258 0.025 0.00
Loess soils 2.23 386.33 128.0 0.258 0.15 0.09
8 Loessal sandy soil 6.98 386.33 128.0 0.258 0.25 0.45
Sandy loess soil 15.43 386.33 128.0 0.258 0.3 1.20
Sandy regosols 3.78 386.33 128.0 0.258 0.7 0.68
Dark brown / reddish
9
brown 1.32 338.19 128.0 0.210 0.025 0.01

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 Loessal sandy soil 18.38 338.19 128.0 0.210 0.25 0.97
Sandy loess soil 6.99 338.19 128.0 0.210 0.3 0.44
Sandy regosols 12.37 338.19 128.0 0.210 0.7 1.82
Dark brown / reddish
brown 3.21 293.75 128.0 0.166 0.025 0.01
Loessal sandy soil 25.8 293.75 128.0 0.166 0.25 1.07
10 Sandy loess soil 4.59 293.75 128.0 0.166 0.3 0.23
Sandy loess soil over
loess 21.47 293.75 128.0 0.166 0.35 1.25
Sandy regosols 27.35 293.75 128.0 0.166 0.7 3.17
Loessal sandy soil 13.35 250.03 128.0 0.122 0.25 0.41
11 Sandy loess soil 3.47 250.03 128.0 0.122 0.3 0.13
Sandy loess soil over
loess 35.59 250.03 128.0 0.122 0.35 1.52
Loessal sandy soil 17.95 227.66 128.0 0.100 0.25 0.45
Sandy loess soil over
12
loess 7.62 227.66 128.0 0.100 0.3 0.23
Sandy regosols 9.77 227.66 128.0 0.100 0.7 0.68
364.26 Total amount of water infiltrate to the ground= 28.35

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REFERENCES:

[1]Viessman W. Jr. and Gary L. L., Introduction to Hydrology, 5th ed, New York:
HarperCollins College, 2002.
[2]Wilson, E. M., Engineering Hydrology, 4th ed, University of Salford, 1998.
[3] Agricultural Ministry, Software data, Gaza, Palestine, 2006.
[4] Palestinian Meteorological Office, Software data, Gaza, Palestine, 2006.
[5] Palestinian Water Authority, Software data, Gaza, Palestine, 2006.

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