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Estimating flood exposure potentials in Turkish catchments through index-based flood mapping

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Abstract

Flooding is widely believed to be the most common natural disaster in Europe, and the changing climatic conditions are estimated to increase its adverse impacts. Effective flood strategies require thorough consideration of the factors underlying the flood generation mechanism and a widened display of mitigation priorities for spatially exhaustive assessments. Flood potential maps generated herein for indicating potential flood areas prove to be among powerful tools for comprehensive flood assessments. In the presented study, a countrywide characterization is achieved in this context by analyzing catchment units, which constitute the river basin systems in Turkey, through a series of spatial indices adapted from different factors effective in flood generation. The study aims to contribute to depicting priorities for in-depth flood assessments and to the re-orientation of subsequent control measures. The flood potential maps obtained for river catchments and designating individual locations with comparably higher flood potentials are expected to set light to the selection of case studies for local flood research in Turkey while contributing to decision making and policy implementation on flood control at the macroscale.

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Acknowledgments

The study presented in this paper is part of research performed within the ARTEMIS (Assessment of Flood Frequency Estimation Procedures under Environmental Changes—TUB/110M375) project, funded by the Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey (TUBITAK) and coordinated under the COST Action ES0901 (FloodFreq) of the European Union. The Author gratefully acknowledges the research contribution of Dr. Ali GÜL, researcher in the ARTEMIS project, especially into the spatial analyses covered in the study.

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  1. Department of Civil Engineering, Dokuz Eylül University, Tınaztepe Campus, 35160, Buca, Izmir, Turkey

    Gülay Onuşluel Gül

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  1. Gülay Onuşluel Gül
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Correspondence to Gülay Onuşluel Gül.

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Onuşluel Gül, G. Estimating flood exposure potentials in Turkish catchments through index-based flood mapping. Nat Hazards 69, 403–423 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11069-013-0717-8

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