**3.1. Preparation for model input data**

The image was classified into seven land use/land cover classes, e.g., conifer forest, scrub forest, agriculture land, rangeland, bare soil, built-up land, and water bodies. The image classification was undertaken using the maximum likelihood rule, which provides reliable classification results [26]. Rainfall-runoff model SWAT was calibrated for the target watershed. The statistical measures, such as coefficient of determination (*R2* ) and Nash-Suttchiffe Simulation Efficiency (*Ews*), were used to evaluate model prediction. The *R2* value is an indicator of strength of relationship between the observed and simulated values, while the latter coefficient indicates how well the plot of observed versus simulated value fits the 1:1 line.
