Mojtaba Shafiei
Post Doctor
(+47) 412 48 742
mojtaba.shafiei@nibio.no
Place
Ås O43
Visiting address
Oluf Thesens vei 43, 1433 Ås
Attachments
Curriculum VitaeBiography
A highly skilled researcher with more than 10 years of experience in diverse projects—from hydrological modelling to water resources management—spanning both research and consulting.
My main interests and areas of expertise are:
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(Agro/eco) hydrological modelling and water accounting
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Climate adaptation and nature-based solutions (NBS)
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Nexus studies and composite indicator development
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Sustainability assessment and strategic planning
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Environmental and human impact assessment
My passion for sustainability and the science–policy–practice nexus also drives me to initiate and engage in capacity-building programs and initiatives that make a positive impact both in the workplace and in society at large.
At NIBIO, my research focuses on simulating catchment–nature-based solutions (NBS) interactions using SWAT+, and on developing hydrological assessment frameworks to optimize climate adaptation measures within nationally funded projects and Horizon Europe projects.
Abstract
ABSTRACT This study evaluated the SWAT+ model in a Norwegian catchment with mixed forest-agriculture land use, tile drainage, and multiple lakes, and examined the added value of incorporating soft data as process-based constraints during calibration. The primary aim was to test whether such constraints improve hydrological consistency in addition to statistical fit. A stepwise methodology was applied, including parameter initialization, model verification, water balance soft calibration, and constraint-based hard calibration. We showed how each stage incrementally improved model performance. Three hydrological constraints were defined to represent water balance components (runoff coefficient), streamflow signatures (baseflow index), and expert knowledge of catchment behavior (tile flow ratio). Constraint-based calibration achieved slightly lower efficiency scores (NSE = 0.61, KGE = 0.72) than unconstrained calibration (NSE = 0.65, KGE = 0.77), reflecting the trade-off between optimizing performance metrics and ensuring realistic hydrological processes. The baseflow index was the most influential constraint, eliminating about 77% of non-behavioral simulations when assessed individually. The results also highlight the importance of lake initialization and the need for multiple performance metrics when tuning lake release parameters. Overall, integrating process-based knowledge strengthened internal consistency and increased confidence that SWAT+ performs well for the right reasons.
Authors
Hannu Marttila Joy Bhattacharjee Katrin Bieger Brian Kronvang Mikołaj Piniewski Svajunas Plunge Ignacy Kardel Marek Giełczewski Csilla Farkas Moritz Shore Mojtaba Shafiei Arturs Veinbergs Ieva Siksnane Kaspars Abramenko Ainis Lagzdins Kristina Mårtensson Sara Sandström Katarina KyllmarAbstract
This document describes comparison of SWAT+ model with national/regional hydrogeochemical models as well as graphs and maps of the most relevant outputs documenting the model performance and comparison. Case and demonstration study-specific model descriptions and inputs are in the report as appendices.
Authors
Csilla Farkas Moritz Shore Christoph Schürz Agota Horel Gökhan Cücelöglu Dorota Mirosław-Świątek Maria Eliza Turek Annelie Holzkaemper Joana Eichenberger Piroska Kassai Brigitta Szabo Tibor Zsigmond Natalja Cerkasova Peter Fucik Antonin Zajicek Stepan Marval Mojtaba ShafieiAbstract
Within the EU Horizon project OPTAIN (OPtimal strategies to reTAIN and re-use water and nutrients in small agricultural catchments across different soil-climatic regions in Europe, optain.eu) project, the effects of Natural/Small Water Retention Measures (NSWRMs) on water regime, soil erosion, and nutrient transport are evaluated at both catchment- and field scales for present and future climate conditions. The goal of this study was to assess the effectiveness of selected management-based NSWRMs on soil water retention using the field-scale SWAP soil hydrological model and to compare the results with those simulated by the catchment-scale SWAT+ model. Improved water retention and reduced surface and subsurface runoff are indicators of reduced nutrient and soil particle losses towards the surface and subsurface water bodies. The field-scale assessment was based on the adaptation of the two models to seven pilot sites across three European biogeographical regions and on combined NSWRM – projected climate scenario analyses. The SWAP model was calibrated for all the pilot fields with good or satisfactory results. The impact of four infield NSWRMs - reduced tillage, shifting to grassland, afforestation and drought tolerant crops - on the water balance elements was evaluated. The scenario results indicate that the effects of measures on soil water retention and other water balance elements have some regional pattern, but can be strongly dependent on local conditions (e.g. soil, crop, slope). According to the scenario results, for most of the cases the studied NSWRMs contributed to reducing evaporation, surface and subsurface runoff and percolation to deeper layers, which resulted in increased soil water retention or plant water uptake within the fields. The cross-validation of the field-scale SWAP and catchment-scale SWAT+ models was a challenging task and could only be performed for selected water balance elements (evaporation, transpiration and drainage outflow). Comparable results were obtained in most of the cases for the baseline scenario, but the differences between the soil water balance elements simulated by the two models increased when implementing the different measures.