Evaluation of extreme dry and wet conditions using climate and hydrological indices in the upper part of the Gallikos River Basin

Climate changes in the Mediterranean region especially those related to changes in rainfall distribution and occurrence of extreme events affect local economies. Agriculture is a sector strongly affected by climate conditions and concerns the majority of the Greek territory. The Gallikos river basin is an area of great interest regarding climate change impacts since it is an agricultural area depended on surface water resources and an area in which extreme events relatively often take place (e.g. floods). Long time series precipitation (27 years) and temperature data derived from measurement stations along with reanalysis data (ERA INTERIM) were used for the estimation of water availability and climate type over time in the area. The Standardized Precipitation Index and De Martonne aridity index was employed. The water flow measurements were correlated in order to investigate the interrelation between the different river branches and the extent of the meteorological changes effect in the basin. Descriptive statistics and cumulative curves were applied to check homogeneity of data. The results revealed that the climate type varies from semi arid to very wet and water availability ranges from moderately dry to extremely wet years. Reanalysis data overestimate precipitation. The meteorological changes affect at the same time the entire basin since the flow rate peaks occur simultaneously in the hydrographic network at different areas.