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This paper is a result of many years of field and laboratory research of the soils in Crna River Basin, spread out on 497 514,81 ha, with the altitudes ranging from 150 to 2601 m above sea level with the main goal of gaining better understanding of the productive capacities of soils and soil conservation measures for their improvement. The catchment area of the Crna River is a spatial area that extends in two states in the southwest of the Republic of North Macedonia and the northern part of the Republic of Greece. The filed research of the soils and preparation of soil samples has been done according to ISO 10381-1 and ISO 10381-2 protocols. Soil samples were analysed in the laboratory: hygroscopic moisture; mechanical composition; pH of the soil solution; humus content and total nitrogen; content of carbonates; available nutrients P2O5 and K2O. The mechanical composition and chemical properties of the soils were determined by standard methods. Physical-geographical conditions of the studied area are heterogeneous, with numerous relief forms; different expositions and inclinations, and with great differences of altitude. There are several geological formations of a very heterogeneous petrographic-mineralogical composition and climate-vegetation zones. Long-term effects of human participation should also be noted. The vast diversity of the factors required for soil formation in the catchment area of the Crna River are the reason for the formation of many different soil types as well as the lower taxonomic units. There are 14 (fourteen) different soil types distributed in the Crna River Basin together with a considerable amount of subtypes, varieties and forms. The most significant soil types are: Fluvisol and Cambisol. These types of soils are characterized by different properties (chemical, physical, physical-mechanical and productive). Therefore, they have varied effects on agricultural production (field crop, viticulture and fruit production). The aim of this research was to present combined measures of soil conservation for soils from mountain terrains, lake terraces and undulating-hilly terrains, including from sloping terrains and from plain terrains, based on the research that was implemented. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) is a well-established eco-hydrological model that has been extensively applied to watersheds across the globe. This work reviews over two decades (2002–2022) of SWAT studies conducted on Mediterranean watersheds. A total of 260 articles have been identified since the earliest documented use of the model in a Mediterranean catchment back in 2002; of which 62% were carried out in Greece, Italy, or Spain. SWAT applications increased significantly in recent years since 86% of the reviewed papers were published in the past decade. A major objective for most of the reviewed works was to check the applicability of SWAT to specific watersheds. A great number of publications included procedures of calibration and validation and reported performance results. SWAT applications in the Mediterranean region mainly cover water resources quantity and quality assessment and hydrologic and environmental impacts evaluation of land use and climate changes. Nevertheless, a tendency towards a multi-purpose use of SWAT is revealed. The numerous examples of SWAT combined with other tools and techniques outline the model's flexibility. Several studies performed constructive comparisons between Mediterranean watersheds' responses or compared SWAT to other models or methods. The effects of inputs on SWAT outputs and innovative model modifications and improvements were also the focus of some of the surveyed articles. However, a significant number of studies reported difficulties regarding data availability, as these are either scarce, have poor resolution or are not freely available. Therefore, it is highly recommended to identify and develop accurate model inputs and testing data to optimize the SWAT performance. [Display omitted] • SWAT review on Mediterranean hydro-climatic studies. • Lack of SWAT assessment on Mediterranean catchments. • A comparison of data from different Mediterranean basins. • Enhancing data availability for SWAT applications. • Developing a comprehensive knowledge of Mediterranean watersheds. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a viable approach for flood management strategy in a river basin based on the European Floods Directive. A reliable flood management plan has two components: (a) a proper flood management strategy, and (b) the determination of the flood-hazard areas. A method to evaluate the benefits of a flood warning system is presented herein, as well as a method to estimate the flood-hazard areas. Six factors were considered in order to estimate the spatial distribution of the hazardous areas: flow accumulation, slope, land use, rainfall intensity, geology and elevation. The study area was divided into five regions characterized by different degrees of flood hazard ranging from very low to very high. The produced map of flood-hazard areas identifies the areas and settlements at high risk of flooding. The proposed methodology can be applied to any river basin and here was applied to the Koiliaris River basin in Greece. Citation Kourgialas, N. N. & Karatzas, G. P. (2011) Flood management and a GIS modelling method to assess flood-hazard areas-a case study. Hydrol. Sci. J. 56(2), 212-225. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Using satellite data for flood forecasting in catchments located in mid-latitudes is challenging to engineers and model developers, in no small part due to the plethora of data sets that need to be retrieved, combined, calibrated and used for simulation in real time. The differences between the various satellite rainfall data products and the continuous improvement in their quantity and quality render the development of a single software tool, able to read and process all the different data sets, particularly difficult. Even if such an endeavour was undertaken, the degree of flexibility and extensibility that such a tool would require to accommodate future versions of data sets, available in different file formats as well as different temporal and spatial resolution should not be underestimated. This paper describes the development of a flood forecasting system that addresses this issue through a modular architecture based on the use of the Open Modeling Interface (OpenMI) standard, which facilitates the interaction between a number of separate software components. It is suggested that this approach greatly simplifies programming and debugging and eliminates the need to create spatial and temporal transformation functions without significantly compromising the overall execution speed. The approach and system were tested for forecasting flood events within a particularly challenging transboundary catchment, the Evros catchment, extending between Greece, Bulgaria and Turkey. The system uses two sets of data sources, as an example (NASA’s TRMM 3B42 and 3B42RT satellite data sets) to forecast flooding in the Evros catchment. Results indicate that OpenMI greatly facilitates the complex interaction of various software components and considerably increases the flexibility and extensibility of the overall system and hence its operational value and sustainability. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]