Spatial risk assessment of hydrological extremities: Inland excess water hazard, Szabolcs-Szatmár-Bereg County, Hungary

László Pásztor,János Körösparti,Csaba Bozán,Annamária Laborczi,Katalin Takács

doi:10.1080/17445647.2014.954647

Abstract

Inland excess water hazard was regionalized and digitally mapped using auxiliary spatial environmental information for a county in Eastern Hungary. Quantified parameters representing the effect of soil, geology, groundwater, land use and hydrometeorology on the formulation of inland excess water were defined and spatially explicitly derived. The complex role of relief was characterized using multiple derivatives computed from a DEM. Legacy maps displaying inland excess water events were used as a reference dataset. Regression kriging was applied for spatial inference with the correlation between environmental factors and inundation determined using multiple linear regressions. A stochastic factor derived through kriging the residual was added to the regression results, thus producing the final inundation hazard map. This may be of use for numerous land-related activities.

Highlights

Inland excess water is surplus surface water forming due to the lack of runoff, insufficient absorption capability of soil or the upwelling of groundwater (Rakonczai, Farsang, Mezo ́si, & Gal, 2011)
Most of the definitions have a common part, namely, that inland excess water is temporary water inundation that occurs in flat-lands due to both precipitation and groundwater emerging on the surface as substantial sources
Numerous digital environmental mapping methods (e.g. Franklin, 1995; Goovaerts, 2000; Hengl, 2009; Moran & Bui, 2002) have been developed to integrate geostatistical and data mining tools with detailed spatial information available for various environmental factors, providing ancillary data for these prediction techniques. These methods are mainly used in soil mapping, forming a wide community of digital soil mapping (DSM; Boettinger, Howell, Moore, Hartemink, & Kienast-Brown, 2010; Hartemink, Mcbratney, & Mendonca-Santos, 2008; Lagacherie, Mcbratney, & Voltz, 2007)

Summary

Introduction

Inland excess water is surplus surface water forming due to the lack of runoff, insufficient absorption capability of soil or the upwelling of groundwater (Rakonczai, Farsang, Mezo ́si, & Gal, 2011) This interrelated natural and human induced phenomenon causes several problems in the flat-land regions of Hungary, which cover nearly half of the country. Franklin, 1995; Goovaerts, 2000; Hengl, 2009; Moran & Bui, 2002) have been developed to integrate geostatistical and data mining tools with detailed spatial information available for various environmental factors, providing ancillary data for these prediction techniques These methods are mainly used in soil mapping, forming a wide community of digital soil mapping (DSM; Boettinger, Howell, Moore, Hartemink, & Kienast-Brown, 2010; Hartemink, Mcbratney, & Mendonca-Santos, 2008; Lagacherie, Mcbratney, & Voltz, 2007). In our paper a significantly revised and improved version (inspired by our DSM experiences) of our earlier approach (hereafter cited as CEWHI1) – implemented in several counties of the Great Hungarian Plain, and published in various forms, mostly in Hungarian (e.g. Bozan, Palfai, Pasztor, Kozak, & Korosparti, 2005; Bozan et al, 2009; Palfai et al, 2004; Pasztor et al, 2009) – is presented

Materials and methods

Conclusions