FLOOD HAZARD ASSESSMENT USING SATELLITE IMAGES AND THE ELEVATION MODEL FOR ȘONTEA – FORTUNA LACUSTRINE COMPLEX, DANUBE DELTA

 
Marian Mierlă, Danube Delta National Institute for Research and Development, Tulcea, Romania
Gheorghe Romanescu, "Al I Cuza" University of Iasi, Romania

Abstract

The place to be tested this method for Romania is the Danube Delta, fluvial delta to be more precisely. The importance of the area consists in the fact that is the third Delta of the Europe (after the Volga’s and Kuban’s). The paper is aiming to rise the knowledge about the potential of flooding the studied area and to be able to respond in an appropriate way to these in order to diminish the effects of this. For this paper there were taken into account the hydrological events occurred in 2003 (the exceptional drought) and in 2006 (the exceptional flood). To do the analysis there were used satellite images (LANDSAT) from the period that was taken into account and additional there was used the hypsometrical model of the Danube Delta for the specific area. The first two datasets (2003 and 2006 satellite images) give information about were the border of the water (in drought period and respective in flooding one) reached. The second dataset (the delta’s hypsometry) give information about the altitude of the terrain in order to establish which areas, at a certain water level, are flooded. The difference between data for each hydrological event gives information about the hydrological amplitude. This amplitude values have been sorted into classes taking into account the probability of the two extreme hydrological events to occur. Having these specified it has been made the flooding hazard maps in order evaluate the flooding hazard. The approach in this manner can be more concrete and makes easier to see on the cartographic support the hazard.  The utility of this hazard evaluation consists in fast preview of the phenomena.