Abstract
The design of an optimum hydrometeorological and hydrometric station network constitutes a key factor for the collection of comprehensive and reliable hydrometeorological and flow data that are necessary both for decision making in water resources policy and management, and for the hydrometeorological risk assessment. This article describes a methodology developed in a geographic information system (GIS) using a multicriteria decision making (MCDM) approach, which combines several spatial criteria to propose suitable locations for installation of such a station network in the Sarantapotamos River Basin in the western part of the Attica Region, Greece. Through the design of two networks that meet different requirements, various aspects concerning this methodology are illustrated, such as criteria weights determination, which is a problem that arises frequently in many MCDM techniques. The criteria weights for the hydrometric station network design are estimated using both the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) and the Fuzzy Analytic Hierarchy Process (FAHP), while, for hydrometeorological station network design, all weights are equal. Hydrometeorological station final position selection is achieved by introducing the criteria of density and spatial distribution to the suitable locations. For hydrometric station network design, the analysis indicates that the criterion of slope mainly controls the MCDM outputs. According to station density thresholds proposed by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), an optimum hydrometeorological and hydrometric station network for the region should comprise three and two stations, respectively.
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Data Availability
The datasets generated and/or analysed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.
Code Availability
Not applicable.
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Acknowledgements
The methodological framework presented in this article is part of the corresponding author’s dissertation and it is implemented for the Sarantapotamos river basin station network design in the frame of the national action “Climpact – National etwork on Climate Change and its Impacts”, implemented under the sub-project 3 of the project “Infrastructure of national research networks in the fields of Precision Medicine, Quantum Technology and Climate Change”, funded by the Public Investment Program of Greece, General Secretary of Research and Technology/Ministry of Development and Investments.
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All authors contributed to the study conception and design. Material preparation and data collection were performed by Apollon Bournas. The GIS-based multicriteria decision analysis was performed by Aimilia-Panagiota Theochari. Review and editing were performed by Elissavet Feloni. Supervision, validation, final review and editing were performed by Evangelos Baltas. The first draft of the manuscript was written by Aimilia-Panagiota Theochari and all authors commented on previous versions of the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.
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Highlights
• GIS tools and MCDM methods are combined for station network site selection.
• Different approaches are used for a hydrometric and a hydrometeorological network.
• Scenarios regarding MCDM implementation are discussed.
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Theochari, AP., Feloni, E., Bournas, A. et al. Hydrometeorological - Hydrometric Station Network Design Using Multicriteria Decision Analysis and GIS Techniques. Environ. Process. 8, 1099–1119 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40710-021-00527-x
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s40710-021-00527-x