Analysis of spatial interactions in the run-off process

Abstract

The level of risk is defined by two standards : uncertainty and vulnerability. The latter is commonly estimated by an overlay of the different information layers, in order to obtain a local quantitative measure of the exposed properties. This approach is convenient for hazardous events clearly delimited and without any spatial diffusion, such as landslides or soil pollution. This approach is however soon bounded in the case of a dynamic process, such as the hydrological hazard. The overlay of different data gives a valuable appreciation of the streaming surfaces, but this remains insufficient to express the spatial dynamics of the flow. The global sensibility of a basin is not merely the sum of the local sensibilities. The global hazard is defined by the spatial organisation of the production or infiltration areas, and by their mutual relations, which validates the cellular automata approach to measure the level of organisation of the sensitive areas and to model the diffusion of the flows between these areas.

Keywords

• GIS
• spatial analysis
• cellular automata
• watershed
• simulation
• upstream