Abstract

Land Use and Land Cover (LULC) change is widely acknowledged as a pivotal driver of environmental change, exerting an escalating influence on surface hydrological processes. The accelerating pace of LULC alterations in response to burgeoning human populations underscores the pressing need for a comprehensive evaluation of their ramifications on surface runoff dynamics. This study investigates the impacts of LULC changes on flood behavior in a Mediterranean watershed in Crete, Greece (Geropotamos watershed). LULC data spanning the years 1990, 2006, and 2018 were procured from the European CORINE Land Cover database at a refined spatial resolution. The HEC-HMS hydrological model is employed to simulate peak discharge and associated hydrograph characteristics under varying recurrence intervals. Subsequently, selected river segments within the studied catchments undergo hydrodynamic flood modelling using the HEC-RAS hydraulic model. Flood depth maps are generated to illustrate the evolution of inundated areas relative to LULC change. The overarching objective of this research is to furnish a comprehensive understanding of how spatiotemporal variations in land use and land cover in-fluence flood characteristics, thereby facilitating informed decision making for sustainable planning.

IPC Classification

Keywords