Suitability maps of NBS in transboundary river basins

Are you interested in this MSc topic? Send an email with your CV to Jaap.Kwadijk@deltares.nl,  m.j.booij@utwente.nl, ruben.dahm@deltares.nl 

Participating institutes: Deltares, University of Twente

Areas under investigation: all JCAR ATRACE basins

Rationale and objective

Nature based solutions (NBS) are considered attractive to mitigate effects of extreme weather in river basins, such as floods and droughts. In JCAR ATRACE we investigate to what extent different types of NBS are effective in its mitigation of floods and droughts. Therefore, we are interested to build suitability maps of NBS in transboundary river basins, given physical (e.g. geomorphological, geological, topographical, soil) characteristics of these basins.

Approach

The catalogue with factsheets on different NBS available on nwrm.eu will be used as a basis to identify suitability factors per measure. For each measure, suitability maps will be created for one or more transboundary river basins in JCAR ATRACE, and preferably based on freely accessible and reliable data. The suitability maps can be used for hydrological/hydrodynamic modelling in order to calculate the potential benefits/costs of NBS for floods and droughts.

Deliverables

The student will deliver a thesis that answers the research questions, as well as the scripts and datasets that were used to get these answers, such that we can reproduce the results.

Requirements

• Successfully completed courses on hydrology and/or hydrological modellling and/or water resources management
• A reasonable acquaintance with Python or other script languages for programming