Elaboration of a standardized methodological framework for the creation of flood hazard maps

The continuous movement of water on, above and below the surface of the earth is governed by the mass-balance principle, which is achieved through the successive water state changes (liquid, vapor, ice). This periodic set of changes forms the so called «hydrologic cycle» and can be described by the following equation: Runoff = [Precipitation - Infiltration - Interception – Evaporation] Flood can simply be defined as the physical phenomenon, during which an initially dry land area is covered by water. Floods are normally caused by climatic processes, while their evolution depends mainly on geomorphologic factors, such as soil stability and permeability, vegetation cover, as well as the geometrical characteristics of the river basin. The scope of the postgraduate thesis, entitled as: «Elaboration of a standardized methodological framework for the creation of flood hazard maps in Alfeios river basin» is the development of an integrated «from a to z» methodology, which combines the fields of hydrology, hydraulics, geomatics and cartography for the creation of several return-period flood maps. The study was accomplished through the use of the software, developed by the Hydrologic Engineering Center of the U.S. Army corps of Engineers. Specifically, the methodology takes advantage of the software HEC-HMS, which simulates the hydrologic processes of river basins and determines the design flood hydrographs in several return periods and the software HEC-RAS, which simulates open channel flow (river systems) and computes the energy gradients and piezometric levels along the river. Both packages are compatible with the well-known geographical information system ArcGIS, which can be used for further data processing and visualization for cartographical purposes.