Stuart, Neil

Aherin, Ryan

2023-11-17T11:51:43Z

2023-11-17T11:51:43Z

2023-11

This study focuses on the River Brora, which is located in the Scottish Highlands where it flows into the Moray Firth. The Brora and its tributaries transverse several Sites of Special Scientific Interest which include vulnerable peatland and habitats for protected wader bird species. Within 10km of the Brora's outlet is the Golspie coast, which has been identified as an area vulnerable to sea level rise and coastal erosion. An increase of sediment flows as a result of peat degradation could have a negative impact on this vulnerable coastal system and impede efforts to provide nature based solutions to prevent coastal erosion. The Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) has been used to successfully model river catchments around the world. However, its use in the UK is not as widespread as it is in other localities. Recent updates to the SWAT model have improved the ability to analyse spatial relationships between land use practices and river systems. This project set out to model the River Brora using a QGIS plugin designed for the SWAT+ model and validate the model against streamflow observations to determine if SWAT+ can produce an accurate hydrological model of the river. Through several processes of manual and automated calibration, the model performed with a NSE of 0.79, which is accurate enough for predictive modelling according to prescribed standards. Furthermore, the model was able to demonstrate sensitivity between peat degradation and sediment flows in the study area.

https://hdl.handle.net/1842/41204

http://dx.doi.org/10.7488/era/3940

en

The University of Edinburgh

Soil and Water Assessment Tool

Brora

Peatland

Hydrologic Model

SWAT

GIS

Application of the soil & water assessment tool (SWAT) to simulate land use and climate change impacts on the River Brora

Thesis or Dissertation

Masters

MSc Master of Science