A water balance model of the Natura 2000 protected area “Nestos delta”

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to develop the water balance of the Natura 2000 protected area “Nestos delta” on a monthly time step. The most significant ecosystem of the delta is the aquatic forest (dominated by Salix alba and Populus alba) which remains along the river course near the mount and the poplar plantation. During the last decade two large dams have been constructed upstream of the study area for hydropower generation and irrigation, resulting in the dramatic modification of the hydrologic regime of the site. The research is based on the analysis of the available geographical and hydrological data of the study area for the period 1985-2006. Through the integration of Geographical Information Systems (G.I.S.) and computational hydrology techniques, the water balance of the study area is constructed and the need of decision making has raised in order to prevent further deterioration of the unique aquatic forest.

Keywords

• Water balance model
• GIS
• Nestos delta
• Surplus