Charalampos Skoulikaris

Aristotle University of Thessaloniki | AUTH · School of Civil Engineering

Transboundary water management is a complex multidisciplinary thematic, with many of the factors involved to have a distinct tendency of exacerbation due to climate change. At the same time, hydrodiplomacy aims at securing cooperation at transboundary scale and fostering conflicts resolution among riparian countries. The research proposes a Hydrodi...

Floods have a direct impact on the society and the environment, causing human losses, affecting individual incomes and national economic activity including infrastructure damages. Atmospheric circulation is strongly related to both mean and extreme climate, with the latter being the driving force of adverse phenomena, such as inundations. The overa...

Proxy data and qualitative information are important assets in water resources and floods management. In the research, the river water bodies with characteristic toponyms (hydronyms) in Greece that potentially reflect the water’s quality or the occurrence of floods are evaluated in comparison to the European Union’s (EU) Water Framework and Flood D...

The utilization of rubber dams for water supply and irrigated agriculture is becoming an emerging practice in developing countries. In this study, based on the SWOT (strengths, weaknesses , opportunities, threats) analysis, a variety of standards and processes in project management (PM) are integrated within the framework of the strategic managemen...

Triggering hydrological simulations with climate change gridded datasets is one of the prevailing approaches in climate change impact assessment at a river basin scale, with bias correction and spatio-temporal interpolation being functions routinely used on the datasets preprocessing. The research object is to investigate the dilemma arisen when cl...

Renewable energy sources, due to their direct (e.g., wind turbines) or indirect (e.g., hydropower, with precipitation being the generator of runoff) dependence on climatic variables, are foreseen to be affected by climate change. In this research, two run-of-river small hydropower plants (SHPPs) located at different water districts in Greece are be...

The object of the research is an advanced review and comparative analysis of the last two decades’ main international programmes and initiatives on the management of Transboundary Aquifers in South-Eastern Europe. The aquifers’ delineation and occurrence, identified pressures, and water quality and use are compared with those derived by the EU’s Wa...

Coordination on the management of transboundary waters is crucial for the development of riparian regions; nevertheless, lack of common legislation frameworks and communication channels jeopardize any cooperation among transboundary parties. The paper investigates the progress that has been conducted before and after the implementation of European...

Services and uses arising from surface water‘s availability, such as hydropower production, are bound to be affected by climate change. The object of the research is to evaluate climate change impacts on energy generation produced by run-of-river small hydropower plants with the use of future river discharges derived from two up-to-date Regional Cl...

Simulating ungauged basins is a challenging process both for current and climate change conditions. In the research Geographic Information Systems (GIS) tools and methods are applied to extract necessary topographic and hydrologic parameters for the parametrization of the HEC-HMS hydrological model used for the case study basin simulation. The sens...

Global climate change is associated with impacts on the regional regime of sea level variations, i.e. influencing the intensity and frequency of occurrence of extreme storm surges. In the present work, the storm surge patterns in the coastal zone of the Mediterranean Sea are investigated for a period from 1971 to 2100 covering the observed past- an...

In deltaic areas, riverine and coastal waters interact; hence, these highly dynamic environments are particularly sensitive to climate change. This adds to existing anthropogenic pressures from irrigated agriculture, industrial infrastructure, urbanization, and touristic activities. The paper investigates the estimated future variations in the dyna...

Aristotle University of Thessaloniki Special Account of Research Funds' Newsletter #9 (January 2021) about the dissemination of completed Research Projects: MEDAQCLIM

i) Agricultural drought assessment and indicators while aiming at setting up an operational tool to identify indicators at different scales that reflect critical processes or state variables related to the integrity and sustainability of the use of water resources. The most important issue that was investigated is the assessment of drought. ii) Cou...

i) The definition and analysis of the concepts related to vulnerability assessment, such as the hazard, capacity, risk, risk assessment, and multirisk assessment concepts. ii) The development of a conceptual modeling framework to simulate and index the locally important processes in the coastal zone of Nestos river delta within an integrated risk a...

Synopsis of the Program: ERANET-MED Project: MEDAQCLIM management processes that were followed during the project implementation and focused on: i) The presentation of all Deliverables’ abstracts during the life cycle of the project. ii) The demonstration of the appeared obstacles during the implementation process of the various WPs, as well as the...

i) The description of the methodology for the developed scenarios and relevant case studies; the presentation of the 36 discrete cases that were finally developed; the analysis of the developed scenarios and case studies; the analysis of the assumptions that are used in the case studies development. ii) The detailed presentation of the hydrologic s...

This publication is a result of the long-lasting collaboration between professors and scientists from the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering at the Ss. Cyril and Methodius University in Skopje, North Macedonia, and the School of Civil Engineering at the Aristotle University in Thessaloniki, Greece. Over the last years, there was a continuous effort...

Chapter 2 tries to shed light on the water resources management of the transboundary Vardar/Axios river basin located in the Balkan Peninsula and shared between North Macedonia and Greece. The main problems related to the management of the Vardar/Axios River were identified and comprised of political tensions, lack of closer cross-border collaborat...

United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals set the policy priorities for confronting the economic, social and environmental risks that our planet is facing, with equitable education and clean water and sanitation to be designated among these goals. As the main United Nations organization focusing on education, science and culture, UNESCO fully s...

The recorded increased emissions of Green House Gases (GHGs), with electricity production having a key role to this increase, are bound to impact the anthropogenic and natural environment as well as jeopardize the world's sustainable development. The European Union's response to climate resilience and mitigation promotes, among others, decarbonizat...

The availability of environmentally related data is a crucial issue in simulating natural processes. The proposed research demonstrates that although currently there is a plethora of data published on the internet, by national and international official sources, their retrieval is sometimes hard to be achieved; hence smart programming tools/technol...

The aim of the research is the re-assessment of the flood risk when the sensitivity criteria used to evaluate the vulnerability are enhanced with adaptive-recovery capacity criteria and the exposure. Hence, in the proposed methodology, the vulnerability to flooding is addressed as a synthesis between the adaptive-recovery capacity, the exposure, an...

The aim of the research is the re-assessment of the flood risk when the sensitivity criteria that are used to evaluate the vulnerability are enhanced with adaptive-recovery capacity criteria and the exposure. Hence, in the proposed methodology the vulnerability to flooding is addressed as a synthesis between the adaptive-recovery capacity, the expo...

Based on the climate change projections derived by global and regional climate models, as well as the evident fluctuations of climatic variables, such as temperature and precipitation, holistic concepts, approaches and policies are considered as the most appropriate ways for the adaptation to the climate change. In this research, the energy-water-f...

One of the most common questions in hydrological modeling addresses the issue of input data resolution. Is the spatial analysis of the meteorological/climatological data adequate to ensure the description of simulated phenomena, e.g., the discharges in rainfall–runoff models at the river basin scale, to a sufficient degree? The aim of the proposed...

Transboundary water management has a crucial global role, with one of the major challenges to be the allocation of shared water resources and their benefits between upstream and downstream countries. At the same time, different economic, social and political drivers hinder the understanding of the changing conditions in response to changing stresse...

The selection of development measures is not merely a financial issue, but crucial parameters, such as environmental protection and socioeconomic security ought to be taken into consideration. In this research, the measures proposed by the Programmes of Measures (PoMs) through the Water Framework Directive implementation process are evaluated with...

i) Further evaluation of the selected datasets of climate variables used as input for hydrologic modelling led by thorough validation and bias correction of modelled atmospheric parameters (only precipitation and temperature) compared against in situ observations via statistical analysis. ii) The setup, validation, calibration, and parametric fine-...

The capability of mathematical models to accurately simulate the environmental processes plays a vital role in the sustainable management of the environment, since development projects as well as protection measures are based on the model's outputs. When dealing with water resources, although there is a number of uncertainties, hydrological modelli...

The management of deltaic areas requires a multidisciplinary approach since irrigated agriculture, fish farm industry, touristic activities and environmentally protected areas are conflicted water users. The present study aims at investigating the vulnerability of the water-food-environment nexus in the Mediterranean coastal zone under climate chan...

Data availability and the existence of exchange mechanisms are considered crucial issues for the management of water bodies shared among riparian countries. Moreover, common legislative and technical frameworks are assets that foster the management of transboundary waters in an integrated and sustainable manner. The River Basin Management Plans of...

During the last few decades, the utilization of the data from climate models in hydrological studies has increased as they can provide data in the regions that lack raw meteorological information. The data from climate models data often present biases compared to the observed data and consequently, several methods have been developed for correcting...

i) The selection, acquisition, management, and processing of a unified set of IPCC’s Climate Change data under different GHG concentration scenarios, namely RCP4.5 and RCP8.5, to be used as input in all hydrologic and hydrodynamic models in MEDAQCLIM Project. ii) The evaluation of the selected datasets of climate variables led by thorough validatio...

The projection of extreme precipitation events with higher accuracy and reliability that engender severe socioeconomic impacts more frequently is considered a priority research topic in the scientific community. Although large-scale initiatives for monitoring meteorological and hydrological variables exist, the lack of data is still evident particu...

The Programmes of Measures (PoMs) are included in the River Basin Management Plans (RBMPs). They comprise the outputs on the analysis of pressures, impacts and status of the water bodies, by designating those actions that need to be employed for the amelioration of the water quality status. In this research a methodology based on the coupling of hy...

Sustainability is a crucial and at the same time vital approach for satisfying future generations’ rights on natural resources. Toward this direction, global policies, supported by international organizations such as UNESCO and its international science programs, foster sustainable development as principal concept for the management of various them...

Reservoir management usually considers short-to medium-term operation horizons. However, climate change and other longer term societal changes pose a challenge for planning water utilization from reservoirs. The key aspect is how to incentive behaviour change towards gradual adaptation. We propose an evolutionary approach to model adaptation, consi...

Sustainability is a crucial and at the same time vital approach for satisfying future generations’ rights on natural resources. Toward this direction, global policies, supported by international organizations such as UNESCO and its international science programs, foster sustainable development as principal concept for the management of various them...

Adaptation to climate change should be taken into consideration by water resources management-development plans. In this paper, climate variability and change are assessed in a hydraulic agriculture project, with the latter to form part of the Programme of Measures proposed in the River Basin Management Plan of the Water District of Thrace, Greece....

Large-scale hydraulic projects and water infrastructures have direct impacts on the social and ecological landscape in which they are located and vice versa. In accordance to the sustainable development concept, multipurpose hydroelectric plants apart from power generation and thus profitability, should cover socioeconomic and environmental service...

River bathymetry has a crucial role in numerical modelling of flow hydrodynamics. The aim of the present study is to i) investigate the capability of three different methods to trace the river bed, with the geodetic data derived from in situ survey of the river bed topography to be used as reference data, and moreover ii) assess the impact of the d...

Annual changes in precipitation, temperature and evapotranspiration in a Greek catchment were investigated by statistical analysis of various time-series records. Climate change was evident not only in increased temperature but also in altered precipitation patterns including a longer dry period, shorter precipitation duration and changes in the ch...

Despite any delays on the implementation process of the European Union (EU) Water Framework Directive (WFD), the first River Basin Management Plans (RBMPs) for all of their respective Water Districts (WD) at EU scale have been completed. Following the six year planning cycle of action and review that has been set as the sequential time frame for th...

The integration of results from 3 regional climate models to a cascade of water resources simulation models is proposed in this paper, in order to investigate the river runoff potential to cover augmented irrigation demands resulting from future reclamation works. The proposed methodology demonstrates that the reference data of climate models, name...

The work, analyzed in the present paper, aims at the development of an integrated, state of the art sea-state forecasting system (WaveForUs) for the Thermaikos Gulf. The system provides 3-day forecasts for: (a) wave characteristics, (b) three-dimensional circulation fields and (c) sea level heights using state of the art numerical models. Input atm...

A state-of-the-art forecasting system (WaveForUs: Wave climate and coastal circulation Forecasts for public Use) is implemented, delivering 3-day forecasts of spectral wave characteristics, hydrodynamic circulation and storm surges for the Thermaikos Gulf (North Aegean Sea). The forecasts are disseminated to the public via television broadcasts and...

The design and functioning of water infrastructures have direct impacts on the ecological and social landscape in which they are located and vice versa, as the prevailing social systems and processes form the physical infrastructure used for the management of water. This research work evaluates the way social benefits, in terms of farmers' compensa...

The present work focuses on the methodology developed for the assessment of short-term forecasts of freshwater fluxes discharging into the Thermaikos Gulf by the main rivers of the area, namely Axios, Loudias and Aliakmon, and the integration of these fluxes in the sea water circulation modelling, as part of the WaveForUs operational forecasting sy...

Climatic variations and resulting future uncertainties, increasing anthropogenic pressures, changes in political boundaries, ineffective or dysfunctional governance of natural resources and environmental degradation are some of the most fundamental challenges with which worldwide initiatives fostering the "think globally, act locally" concept are c...

Hydrological processes at the river basin influence the quality of downstream water bodies by controlling the loads of nutrients and suspended solids. Although their monitoring is important for social, economic and environmental reasons, in-situ measurements are too expensive and thus too sparse to describe their relations. The aim of this study is...

The dissemination and management of water related data using web-based information systems is a promising technological approach for sharing knowledge both with water users and the general public. These synchronous information systems facilitate spatial data and descriptive information sharing over the cloud and are accessible through common web br...

Mountainous areas, which are the dominant orography of the Greek mainland, are considered ideal locations for small hydropower plants. The development of such projects should comply with legislation on environmental protection, considering also the maintenance of a minimum environmental flow. This flow is necessary mainly during the irrigation peri...

Water resources management is a comprehensive planning process dimensioning all water related components. With this in mind, the EU Water Framework Directive (WFD) requires reliable and continuous water monitoring and collection of qualitative information in order to support decision making concerning water pollution events, focusing primarily on c...

The use of satellite remote sensing products, such as Digital Elevation Models (DEMs), under specific computational interfaces of Geographic Information Systems (GIS) has fostered and facilitated the acquisition of data on specific hydrologic features, such as slope, flow direction and flow accumulation, which are crucial inputs to hydrology or hyd...

Impacts from climate change may affect vital factors of environmental and human security related to water uses, such as domestic water supply, hydropower and industrial production, agricultural irrigation and ecosystems needs. This is particularly important in regions with arid and semi-arid climates like the Mediterranean and the South Eastern Eur...

The operational sustainability of any water resources project, when expressed using monetary, social or environmental indicators and terms, is based on knowledge of the watershed water regime. Moreover, a prerequisite of flood protection projects is a comprehensive planning process dimensioning all water related components. The potential failure of...

In this paper a regional climate model has been used in combination with a distributed hydrological model in order to predict future river hydraulic characteristics, such as flow rate and water elevation under global climate change. This type of study is very important for analysing sustainability of new water related projects at the river basin sc...

Due to climate change, water availability for different uses such as domestic water supply, hydropower production and agricultural irrigation could be significantly reduced in the near future mainly in regions with arid and semi-arid climate. Precipitation data in the form of time series from different stations in South East Europe (SEE) as well as...

The sensitivity of Europe to climate change has a distinct north– south gradient with the projections from Global Climate Models indicating that southern Europe will be the more severely affected. Average global predicted precipitation demonstrate an increase during the 21st century in the Northern Hemisphere and particularly at mid-high latitudes,...

Implementation of Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM) in different river basins is problematic mainly because of various kinds of borders, not only between countries, in which case there are Transboundary Waters(TW) to share, but also at a national level, where borders exist between different groups of interests, regional administrations,...

Transboundary water resources are important sources of freshwater both globally and at a regional scale in many parts of the world. Effective protection and sustainable use of shared water resources should take into account not only the challenges of integrated water resources management but also additional constraints due to political boundaries....

Transboundary water resources are important sources of freshwater both globally and at a regional scale in many parts of the world. Effective protection and sustainable use of shared water resources should take into account not only the challenges of integrated water resources management but also additional constraints due to political boundaries....

La construction d'un grand barrage est un projet aux conséquences économiques et sociales importantes voila pourquoi elle doit être précédée d'une étude opérationnelle et socio-économique détaillée. En premier lieu, l'étude opérationnelle doit porter sur les dimensions et le régime d'utilisation du barrage, la configuration géographique de son bass...

New important dam projects and multipurpose water reservoirs are important parts of water resources management at the river basin scale in order to satisfy water needs in different sectors, such as hydroelectricity, water supply and agriculture. In an era of open market economy, investments for new dam projects are no longer covered by state budget...