Vasile Craciunescu - Academia.edu (original) (raw)

Papers by Vasile Craciunescu

The study presents an assessment of climate suitability for outdoor leisure activities in Romania... more The study presents an assessment of climate suitability for outdoor leisure activities in Romania using the Holliday Climate Index (HCI) for the near future (2021-2040), focusing on unfavorable and good climate conditions. The analysis employs data from an ensemble model in the context of RCP45 and RCP85 climate change scenarios. The results indicate that the number of days with low weather suitability is decreasing in almost the entire country, especially during the warm season, while during the winter and spring extended regions may be characterized by a higher number of days favorable for outdoor activities than during the current climate. An estimation of the impact of climate changes on tourism flux in Romania is further carried out, suggesting that the increasing attractivity of climate conditions may lead to an increased number of tourist overnights in the near future, more pronounced in rural destinations.

Atmosphere

Nature, landscape, relaxation, and outdoor activities are important motivations when choosing rur... more Nature, landscape, relaxation, and outdoor activities are important motivations when choosing rural destinations for vacations. Therefore, when selecting a rural area as a vacation destination, we assume that climate features are important. We investigated the appropriateness of the holiday climate index: urban (HCI:urban) in quantitatively describing the relationship between climate and tourism fluxes in such destinations. We employed data from 94 urban and rural tourist destinations in Romania and correlated the monthly mean HCI:urban values with sectoral data (overnight tourists) for 2010–2018. The results show that weather and climate influenced tourism fluxes similarly in rural and urban destinations, supporting the hypothesis that HCI:urban may be used for rural areas as well. The information derived from HCI:urban may be useful for tourists when planning their vacations as well as for tourism investors in managing their businesses and reducing the weather and climate-related ...

Sensors, 2021

This paper will assess the sensitivity of soil moisture anomaly (SMA) obtained from the Soil wate... more This paper will assess the sensitivity of soil moisture anomaly (SMA) obtained from the Soil water index (SWI) product Metop ASCAT, to identify drought in Romania. The SWI data were converted from relative values (%) to absolute values (m3 m−3) using the soil porosity method. The conversion results (SM) were validated using soil moisture in situ measurements from ISMN at 5 cm depths (2015–2020). The SMA was computed based on a 10 day SWI product, between 2007 and 2020. The analysis was performed for the depths of 5 cm (near surface), 40 cm (sub surface), and 100 cm (root zone). The standardized precipitation index (SPI), land surface temperature anomaly (LST anomaly), and normalized difference vegetation index anomaly (NDVI anomaly) were computed in order to compare the extent and intensity of drought events. The best correlations between SM and in situ measurements are for the stations located in the Getic Plateau (Bacles (r = 0.797) and Slatina (r = 0.672)), in the Western Plain (...

Engineering and Mathematical Topics in Rainfall, 2018

This study proposes a simple methodology for assessing future-projected evolution of water cycle ... more This study proposes a simple methodology for assessing future-projected evolution of water cycle components (precipitation, potential evapotranspiration, and potential runoff) based on the two-level Palmer model of the soil and their impact on drought conditions at basin level. The Palmer Drought Severity Index (PDSI) is used as drought metric. The catchments of rivers Arges, Mures, Prut, Siret and Somes (mid-and lower Danube basin) have been chosen as case studies. The present climate data consist of Romanian gridded dataset, monthly precipitation and values of streamflow from Romania and Republic of Moldova and potential evapotranspiration-related data from the Climate Research Unit (University of East Anglia). We used as future projections five numerical experiments with regional models obtained through the EURO-CORDEX initiative, under two Representative Concentration Pathway scenarios. The correlations between observed streamflow at the river basin outlets and PDSI-related components of the water cycle show that PDSI represents reasonably well processes taking place in the selected catchments. Depending on the specific scenario and catchment, droughts that in the Palmer classification were deemed as incipient, mild or severe under present climate will become a normal summer feature toward the end of this century, especially over catchments situated in the lower Danube basin.

In the last years, important floods occurred in Romania, engulfing wide areas and triggering loss... more In the last years, important floods occurred in Romania, engulfing wide areas and triggering loss of life and heavy damage. The modern management of geospatial data related to river flood risk relies on the functional facilities supplied by the GIS, combined with Earth Observation information and hydrological modelling, in view of establishing a methodology, which should further allow the elaboration of products useful for flooding risk analysis, such as: updated maps of land cover/land use, thematic maps with the extent of the flooded areas and the affected zones, maps of the hazard prone areas, risk maps for several probabilities of the maximum discharge occurrence, etc. These kinds of products started to contribute to preventive consideration of flooding in land development and special planning in the flood-prone areas, and for optimizing the distribution of flood-related geo-information to end-users.

recent years floods and accompanying landslides, have occurred quite frequently in Romania. Some ... more recent years floods and accompanying landslides, have occurred quite frequently in Romania. Some of these have been isolated and others have affected large areas of Romania. One region, which suffers from floods on a regular basis, is the transboundary area of the Crisul Alb, Crisul Negru and Kőrős River. An important objective of the NATO SfP 978016 project entitled "Monitoring of extreme flood events in Romania and Hungary using Earth Observation data" is the development of a dedicated sub-system based on remote sensing and GIS technology (FLOODSAT), in order to improve the flood management and implementation of mitigation programmes, in these areas. The FLOODSAT sub-system is web-based with a distributed architecture and consists of a core server, that handles the interactions between the various modules, the end-users management, the display and manipulation of data. The GIS database is interconnected with the modelling modules and integrates the hydrological and hydra...

E3S Web of Conferences, 2016

Recently, the National Meteorological Administration initiated and started to implement user-driv... more Recently, the National Meteorological Administration initiated and started to implement user-driven services, based on satellite remote sensing and geo-information capacities. The paper presents this downstream emergency response service whose aim is to provide updated and accurate cartographic information in river flood prevention and post-crisis phase. The service is targeted to develop an interoperable framework for the management of the available geo-information using cutting-edge techniques and satellite data in order to provide high quality and accurate spatial products. An appropriate methodology was developed and tested, in order to process the optical or radar satellite imagery, with medium and high range spatial resolution, to rapid mapping the flood extent, to integrate the information in a GIS environment and finally to obtain standardized, cartographic products. The service is able to provide customized flood geospatial products (updated reference maps for the area affected, near real-time flood delineation maps, maximum flood extent maps, flooded area classification, flood evolution maps, damage assessment maps and reports) tailored to specific users and featuring near-real time delivery. A dedicated geo-portal, was developed to display, query, analyse and retrieve the spatial products. The end-users are able to access the system using a simple web browser to view and query the flood related product archive or download the selected products.

Journal of Hydrology and Hydromechanics, 2016

Flooding remains the most widely distributed natural hazard in Europe, leading to significant eco... more Flooding remains the most widely distributed natural hazard in Europe, leading to significant economic and social impact. Earth observation data is presently capable of making fundamental contributions towards reducing the detrimental effects of extreme floods. Technological advance makes development of online services able to process high volumes of satellite data without the need of dedicated desktop software licenses possible. The main objective of the case study is to present and evaluate a methodology for mapping of flooded areas based on MODIS satellite images derived indices and using state-of-the-art geospatial web services. The methodology and the developed platform were tested with data for the historical flood event that affected the Danube floodplain in 2006 in Romania. The results proved that, despite the relative coarse resolution, MODIS data is very useful for mapping the development flooded area in large plain floods. Moreover it was shown, that the possibility to ad...

Starting with 1975, the North-West part of the Moldavia Principality was occupied by the Habsburg... more Starting with 1975, the North-West part of the Moldavia Principality was occupied by the Habsburg Monarchy and become known as Duchy of Bukovina. During the 143 years of Austrian rule (1775 - 1918), this territory was the subject of several topographic and cadastral surveys. The paper will focus on the cadastral maps produced under the Stabile cadaster (also known as Franciscan cadastre). In the Habsburg Empire, this cadastral survey was started in 1817, at an order of the Emperor Francis I of Austria, as a base for his land taxation reform. In Bukovina, the land registration system was introduced in 1832. The base maps, known as Katastralmappe or Parzellenplan, were drawn under the 1:2880 scale, using Viennese Klafter (fathom) as length unit (1 Viennese Klafter = 1.89648 meters). Each taxation parish (usually centered on the most important cities/villages) was surveyed and mapped individually. The map sheets were accompanied by several registers (e.g. register of building plots, re...

The Institute of Military Geography in Vienna has completed the mapping of central Europe in the ... more The Institute of Military Geography in Vienna has completed the mapping of central Europe in the scale of 1:200,000 in the first decade of the 20th century. The map sheets cover a one degree (latitude) by one degree (longitude) extent piece of the terrain, that's why these sheets are referred to as 'degree maps'. The longitude is shown with respect to the Ferro prime meridian. The integer degree lines are the horizontal and vertical central lines of the sheets. The map sheets has no uniform projections, not even inside one sheet. The basic units of these maps were the 1:75,000 scale sheets of the cartography of the Habsburg Monarchy, each covering a half degree (longitude) by quarter degree (latitude) piece of terrain. Each 1:75,000 sheets have their own oblique Stereographic projection, with the projection centre at the geometric centre of the sheet. The set of these Stereographic systems is called Lichtenstern-type polyedric projection system. Each degree maps contains...

Some sheets of the 1864 topographic map of South Romania were geo‐referred in order to be co‐anal... more Some sheets of the 1864 topographic map of South Romania were geo‐referred in order to be co‐analyzed with satellite‐based 2006 flood inundation map of the Bechet area (Dolj County, Romania). The rectification was based on the corners of the old map sheets as control points, using the previously gathered metadata (geodetic datum and map projection parameters, map sheet structure and labelling) of the historical cartographic material. The horizontal accuracy of the geo‐reference of the old map was well below the pixel size of the MODIS imagery. The historical map reveals that a considerable part of the croplands along the Danube River was a regularly inundated area and the result gave a hint that an old village was forced to move to a new place after 1864 because of the floods.

The historical region of Bukovina is one of the most forested areas of Romania. The name itself, ... more The historical region of Bukovina is one of the most forested areas of Romania. The name itself, beech land, suggest the high wood resources located here. The systematic wood exploitation started in Bukovina during the Austrian rule (1775 - 1918). To fully asses the region's wood potential and to make the exploitation and replantation processes more efficient, the Austrian engineers developed a dedicated mapping system. The result was a series of maps, surveyed for each forest district. In the first editions, we can find maps crafted at different scales (e.g. 1:50 000, 1: 20 000, 1: 25 000). Later on (after 1900), the map sheets scale was standardized to 1: 25 000. Each sheet was accompanied by a register with information regarding the forest parcels. The system was kept after 1918, when Bukovina become a part of Romania. For another 20 years, the forest districts were periodically surveyed and the maps updated. The basemap content also changed during time. For most of the maps,...

Extended Abstracts Volume (332 pages) + full paper CD-ROM (1772 pages), 2008

ABSTRACT In the latest years floods and accompanying landslides, occurred quit frequently in Roma... more ABSTRACT In the latest years floods and accompanying landslides, occurred quit frequently in Romania, some of which isolated, others-affecting wide areas of the country’s territory. One region, which suffers from flood damages on a regular basis, is the transboundary area of the Crisul Alb, Crisul Negru and Ko˝ro˝s River. An important objective of the NATO SfP 978016 project “Monitoring of extreme flood events in Romania and Hungary using Earth Observation data” is the development of a dedicated sub-system based on remote sensing and GIS technology (FLOODSAT), in order to improve the flood management and implementation of mitigation programs, in the mentioned area. The FLOODSAT sub-system is web-based with a distributed architecture and consists in a core server, which handles the interactions between the various modules, the end-users management, the display and manipulation of data. The GIS database interconnected with the modeling modules, integrates the hydrological and hydraulical models into the sub-system.

NATO Science for Peace and Security Series C: Environmental Security, 2009

ABSTRACT The use of remote sensing and GIS techniques for rapid mapping and monitoring is an impo... more ABSTRACT The use of remote sensing and GIS techniques for rapid mapping and monitoring is an important tool of information for decision-makers. In 2005 and 2006, the worst floods in the last 40 years affected several regions in Romania. In this paper, we describe the methodology used to map the flood-affected areas. MODIS TERRA and AQUA images were acquired during the flood events and used as the main input to map the affected areas. Considering the fact that MODIS is an optical sensor, one of the main difficulties encountered was the cloud cover. The temporal resolution proved to be one of the strongest points of the MODIS imagery. The water identification is dependent on NDVI threshold-values.

The satellite-based inundation maps of the 2006 Danube floods in Romania were fit geometrically t... more The satellite-based inundation maps of the 2006 Danube floods in Romania were fit geometrically to the 1864 topographic map sheets covering the Romanian regions of Oltenia and Muntenia. The old maps were systematically geo-referenced using the data of the original geodetic control and cartographic details; their Cassini-Soldner projection was properly parametrized and completed by the data of the original geodetic datum. The sheets were geo-referred using ground control points only at their four corners, knowing their coordinates in their own projection. The coupled satellite data was provided by the Landsat and MODIS data, all transformed to the modern grid system of Romania. The inundation patterns in the Danube embayments of Ghidici, Bechet and Calara¸si were analyzed on the historical map content layer. The comparison was made in two aspects: (1) how the low floodplain, inundated by the recent big flood was marked in the historical sheets, reflecting its old, almost original env...

NATO Science for Peace and Security Series C: Environmental Security, 2009

ABSTRACT For Romania, as for many European countries, the most damaging geophysical events are fl... more ABSTRACT For Romania, as for many European countries, the most damaging geophysical events are floods, which cause significant damage every year over large areas, with the loss of human lives and economic consequences. Flood forecasting, warning and emergency response play important roles in reducing flood risk during the event. Options for flood risk management range from structural measures, such as raising dikes or channel enlargement, to non-structural measures to reduce exposure and vulnerability. The April 2000 floods in the western part of Romania (Crisuri River Basin) represented the starting point in creating a dedicated system for flood management using Earth Observation (EO) data. Starting from April 2005 this satellite-based surveillance system, connected to a dedicated GIS database, was extended to cover the whole Romanian territory. In order to obtain high-level thematic products, the data extracted from EO images were integrated with other spatial ancillary data (topographical, pedological, meteorological) and hydrological/hydraulic model outputs. A series of specific image processing operations were performed, using the ERDAS Imagine software: geometric correction and geo-referencing, image improvement, statistic analyses, etc. The optical and microwave satellite data supplied by the new European and American orbital platforms like the EOS-AM “Terra” and EOS—PM “Aqua”, DMSP, Quikscat, SPOT, ERS, RADARSAT, Landsat7 have been used to identify and highlight flooded areas. This approach is used in different phases of establishing the sensitive areas such as: the database management; the calculation of risk indices from morpho-hydrographical, meteorological and hydrological data; interfacing with the models in order to improve their compatibility with input data; recovery of results and the possibility of working out scenarios; presentation of results as synthesis maps easy to access and interpret, adequate to also be combined with other information layouts resulted from the GIS database. The products which are useful for flood risk analysis include: accurately updated maps of land cover/land-use, comprehensive thematic maps at various spatial scales with the extent of the flooded areas and the affected zones, maps of hazard-prone areas. The satellite-based products contributed to a preventive consideration of extreme flood events by developing plans for flood mitigation, building infrastructure in flood-prone areas and by optimizing the distribution of spatial flood-related information to local and river authorities.

Development of urban centers throughout history can be reconstructed using graphical documents (p... more Development of urban centers throughout history can be reconstructed using graphical documents (photos, prints, etc.), but mainly based on cartographical documents that spatially locate the informations. Starting from this premise (in the broader context of reconsidering the cartographic heritage of Central and South-East Europe), the present study aims to depict the territorial evolution stages of the Cluj-Napoca city (Kolozsvár, Klausenburg).

Research for Policy and Practice, 2012

The study presents an assessment of climate suitability for outdoor leisure activities in Romania... more The study presents an assessment of climate suitability for outdoor leisure activities in Romania using the Holliday Climate Index (HCI) for the near future (2021-2040), focusing on unfavorable and good climate conditions. The analysis employs data from an ensemble model in the context of RCP45 and RCP85 climate change scenarios. The results indicate that the number of days with low weather suitability is decreasing in almost the entire country, especially during the warm season, while during the winter and spring extended regions may be characterized by a higher number of days favorable for outdoor activities than during the current climate. An estimation of the impact of climate changes on tourism flux in Romania is further carried out, suggesting that the increasing attractivity of climate conditions may lead to an increased number of tourist overnights in the near future, more pronounced in rural destinations.

Atmosphere

Nature, landscape, relaxation, and outdoor activities are important motivations when choosing rur... more Nature, landscape, relaxation, and outdoor activities are important motivations when choosing rural destinations for vacations. Therefore, when selecting a rural area as a vacation destination, we assume that climate features are important. We investigated the appropriateness of the holiday climate index: urban (HCI:urban) in quantitatively describing the relationship between climate and tourism fluxes in such destinations. We employed data from 94 urban and rural tourist destinations in Romania and correlated the monthly mean HCI:urban values with sectoral data (overnight tourists) for 2010–2018. The results show that weather and climate influenced tourism fluxes similarly in rural and urban destinations, supporting the hypothesis that HCI:urban may be used for rural areas as well. The information derived from HCI:urban may be useful for tourists when planning their vacations as well as for tourism investors in managing their businesses and reducing the weather and climate-related ...

Sensors, 2021

This paper will assess the sensitivity of soil moisture anomaly (SMA) obtained from the Soil wate... more This paper will assess the sensitivity of soil moisture anomaly (SMA) obtained from the Soil water index (SWI) product Metop ASCAT, to identify drought in Romania. The SWI data were converted from relative values (%) to absolute values (m3 m−3) using the soil porosity method. The conversion results (SM) were validated using soil moisture in situ measurements from ISMN at 5 cm depths (2015–2020). The SMA was computed based on a 10 day SWI product, between 2007 and 2020. The analysis was performed for the depths of 5 cm (near surface), 40 cm (sub surface), and 100 cm (root zone). The standardized precipitation index (SPI), land surface temperature anomaly (LST anomaly), and normalized difference vegetation index anomaly (NDVI anomaly) were computed in order to compare the extent and intensity of drought events. The best correlations between SM and in situ measurements are for the stations located in the Getic Plateau (Bacles (r = 0.797) and Slatina (r = 0.672)), in the Western Plain (...

Engineering and Mathematical Topics in Rainfall, 2018

This study proposes a simple methodology for assessing future-projected evolution of water cycle ... more This study proposes a simple methodology for assessing future-projected evolution of water cycle components (precipitation, potential evapotranspiration, and potential runoff) based on the two-level Palmer model of the soil and their impact on drought conditions at basin level. The Palmer Drought Severity Index (PDSI) is used as drought metric. The catchments of rivers Arges, Mures, Prut, Siret and Somes (mid-and lower Danube basin) have been chosen as case studies. The present climate data consist of Romanian gridded dataset, monthly precipitation and values of streamflow from Romania and Republic of Moldova and potential evapotranspiration-related data from the Climate Research Unit (University of East Anglia). We used as future projections five numerical experiments with regional models obtained through the EURO-CORDEX initiative, under two Representative Concentration Pathway scenarios. The correlations between observed streamflow at the river basin outlets and PDSI-related components of the water cycle show that PDSI represents reasonably well processes taking place in the selected catchments. Depending on the specific scenario and catchment, droughts that in the Palmer classification were deemed as incipient, mild or severe under present climate will become a normal summer feature toward the end of this century, especially over catchments situated in the lower Danube basin.

In the last years, important floods occurred in Romania, engulfing wide areas and triggering loss... more In the last years, important floods occurred in Romania, engulfing wide areas and triggering loss of life and heavy damage. The modern management of geospatial data related to river flood risk relies on the functional facilities supplied by the GIS, combined with Earth Observation information and hydrological modelling, in view of establishing a methodology, which should further allow the elaboration of products useful for flooding risk analysis, such as: updated maps of land cover/land use, thematic maps with the extent of the flooded areas and the affected zones, maps of the hazard prone areas, risk maps for several probabilities of the maximum discharge occurrence, etc. These kinds of products started to contribute to preventive consideration of flooding in land development and special planning in the flood-prone areas, and for optimizing the distribution of flood-related geo-information to end-users.

recent years floods and accompanying landslides, have occurred quite frequently in Romania. Some ... more recent years floods and accompanying landslides, have occurred quite frequently in Romania. Some of these have been isolated and others have affected large areas of Romania. One region, which suffers from floods on a regular basis, is the transboundary area of the Crisul Alb, Crisul Negru and Kőrős River. An important objective of the NATO SfP 978016 project entitled "Monitoring of extreme flood events in Romania and Hungary using Earth Observation data" is the development of a dedicated sub-system based on remote sensing and GIS technology (FLOODSAT), in order to improve the flood management and implementation of mitigation programmes, in these areas. The FLOODSAT sub-system is web-based with a distributed architecture and consists of a core server, that handles the interactions between the various modules, the end-users management, the display and manipulation of data. The GIS database is interconnected with the modelling modules and integrates the hydrological and hydra...

E3S Web of Conferences, 2016

Recently, the National Meteorological Administration initiated and started to implement user-driv... more Recently, the National Meteorological Administration initiated and started to implement user-driven services, based on satellite remote sensing and geo-information capacities. The paper presents this downstream emergency response service whose aim is to provide updated and accurate cartographic information in river flood prevention and post-crisis phase. The service is targeted to develop an interoperable framework for the management of the available geo-information using cutting-edge techniques and satellite data in order to provide high quality and accurate spatial products. An appropriate methodology was developed and tested, in order to process the optical or radar satellite imagery, with medium and high range spatial resolution, to rapid mapping the flood extent, to integrate the information in a GIS environment and finally to obtain standardized, cartographic products. The service is able to provide customized flood geospatial products (updated reference maps for the area affected, near real-time flood delineation maps, maximum flood extent maps, flooded area classification, flood evolution maps, damage assessment maps and reports) tailored to specific users and featuring near-real time delivery. A dedicated geo-portal, was developed to display, query, analyse and retrieve the spatial products. The end-users are able to access the system using a simple web browser to view and query the flood related product archive or download the selected products.

Journal of Hydrology and Hydromechanics, 2016

Flooding remains the most widely distributed natural hazard in Europe, leading to significant eco... more Flooding remains the most widely distributed natural hazard in Europe, leading to significant economic and social impact. Earth observation data is presently capable of making fundamental contributions towards reducing the detrimental effects of extreme floods. Technological advance makes development of online services able to process high volumes of satellite data without the need of dedicated desktop software licenses possible. The main objective of the case study is to present and evaluate a methodology for mapping of flooded areas based on MODIS satellite images derived indices and using state-of-the-art geospatial web services. The methodology and the developed platform were tested with data for the historical flood event that affected the Danube floodplain in 2006 in Romania. The results proved that, despite the relative coarse resolution, MODIS data is very useful for mapping the development flooded area in large plain floods. Moreover it was shown, that the possibility to ad...

Starting with 1975, the North-West part of the Moldavia Principality was occupied by the Habsburg... more Starting with 1975, the North-West part of the Moldavia Principality was occupied by the Habsburg Monarchy and become known as Duchy of Bukovina. During the 143 years of Austrian rule (1775 - 1918), this territory was the subject of several topographic and cadastral surveys. The paper will focus on the cadastral maps produced under the Stabile cadaster (also known as Franciscan cadastre). In the Habsburg Empire, this cadastral survey was started in 1817, at an order of the Emperor Francis I of Austria, as a base for his land taxation reform. In Bukovina, the land registration system was introduced in 1832. The base maps, known as Katastralmappe or Parzellenplan, were drawn under the 1:2880 scale, using Viennese Klafter (fathom) as length unit (1 Viennese Klafter = 1.89648 meters). Each taxation parish (usually centered on the most important cities/villages) was surveyed and mapped individually. The map sheets were accompanied by several registers (e.g. register of building plots, re...

The Institute of Military Geography in Vienna has completed the mapping of central Europe in the ... more The Institute of Military Geography in Vienna has completed the mapping of central Europe in the scale of 1:200,000 in the first decade of the 20th century. The map sheets cover a one degree (latitude) by one degree (longitude) extent piece of the terrain, that's why these sheets are referred to as 'degree maps'. The longitude is shown with respect to the Ferro prime meridian. The integer degree lines are the horizontal and vertical central lines of the sheets. The map sheets has no uniform projections, not even inside one sheet. The basic units of these maps were the 1:75,000 scale sheets of the cartography of the Habsburg Monarchy, each covering a half degree (longitude) by quarter degree (latitude) piece of terrain. Each 1:75,000 sheets have their own oblique Stereographic projection, with the projection centre at the geometric centre of the sheet. The set of these Stereographic systems is called Lichtenstern-type polyedric projection system. Each degree maps contains...

Some sheets of the 1864 topographic map of South Romania were geo‐referred in order to be co‐anal... more Some sheets of the 1864 topographic map of South Romania were geo‐referred in order to be co‐analyzed with satellite‐based 2006 flood inundation map of the Bechet area (Dolj County, Romania). The rectification was based on the corners of the old map sheets as control points, using the previously gathered metadata (geodetic datum and map projection parameters, map sheet structure and labelling) of the historical cartographic material. The horizontal accuracy of the geo‐reference of the old map was well below the pixel size of the MODIS imagery. The historical map reveals that a considerable part of the croplands along the Danube River was a regularly inundated area and the result gave a hint that an old village was forced to move to a new place after 1864 because of the floods.

The historical region of Bukovina is one of the most forested areas of Romania. The name itself, ... more The historical region of Bukovina is one of the most forested areas of Romania. The name itself, beech land, suggest the high wood resources located here. The systematic wood exploitation started in Bukovina during the Austrian rule (1775 - 1918). To fully asses the region's wood potential and to make the exploitation and replantation processes more efficient, the Austrian engineers developed a dedicated mapping system. The result was a series of maps, surveyed for each forest district. In the first editions, we can find maps crafted at different scales (e.g. 1:50 000, 1: 20 000, 1: 25 000). Later on (after 1900), the map sheets scale was standardized to 1: 25 000. Each sheet was accompanied by a register with information regarding the forest parcels. The system was kept after 1918, when Bukovina become a part of Romania. For another 20 years, the forest districts were periodically surveyed and the maps updated. The basemap content also changed during time. For most of the maps,...

Extended Abstracts Volume (332 pages) + full paper CD-ROM (1772 pages), 2008

ABSTRACT In the latest years floods and accompanying landslides, occurred quit frequently in Roma... more ABSTRACT In the latest years floods and accompanying landslides, occurred quit frequently in Romania, some of which isolated, others-affecting wide areas of the country’s territory. One region, which suffers from flood damages on a regular basis, is the transboundary area of the Crisul Alb, Crisul Negru and Ko˝ro˝s River. An important objective of the NATO SfP 978016 project “Monitoring of extreme flood events in Romania and Hungary using Earth Observation data” is the development of a dedicated sub-system based on remote sensing and GIS technology (FLOODSAT), in order to improve the flood management and implementation of mitigation programs, in the mentioned area. The FLOODSAT sub-system is web-based with a distributed architecture and consists in a core server, which handles the interactions between the various modules, the end-users management, the display and manipulation of data. The GIS database interconnected with the modeling modules, integrates the hydrological and hydraulical models into the sub-system.

NATO Science for Peace and Security Series C: Environmental Security, 2009

ABSTRACT The use of remote sensing and GIS techniques for rapid mapping and monitoring is an impo... more ABSTRACT The use of remote sensing and GIS techniques for rapid mapping and monitoring is an important tool of information for decision-makers. In 2005 and 2006, the worst floods in the last 40 years affected several regions in Romania. In this paper, we describe the methodology used to map the flood-affected areas. MODIS TERRA and AQUA images were acquired during the flood events and used as the main input to map the affected areas. Considering the fact that MODIS is an optical sensor, one of the main difficulties encountered was the cloud cover. The temporal resolution proved to be one of the strongest points of the MODIS imagery. The water identification is dependent on NDVI threshold-values.

The satellite-based inundation maps of the 2006 Danube floods in Romania were fit geometrically t... more The satellite-based inundation maps of the 2006 Danube floods in Romania were fit geometrically to the 1864 topographic map sheets covering the Romanian regions of Oltenia and Muntenia. The old maps were systematically geo-referenced using the data of the original geodetic control and cartographic details; their Cassini-Soldner projection was properly parametrized and completed by the data of the original geodetic datum. The sheets were geo-referred using ground control points only at their four corners, knowing their coordinates in their own projection. The coupled satellite data was provided by the Landsat and MODIS data, all transformed to the modern grid system of Romania. The inundation patterns in the Danube embayments of Ghidici, Bechet and Calara¸si were analyzed on the historical map content layer. The comparison was made in two aspects: (1) how the low floodplain, inundated by the recent big flood was marked in the historical sheets, reflecting its old, almost original env...

NATO Science for Peace and Security Series C: Environmental Security, 2009

ABSTRACT For Romania, as for many European countries, the most damaging geophysical events are fl... more ABSTRACT For Romania, as for many European countries, the most damaging geophysical events are floods, which cause significant damage every year over large areas, with the loss of human lives and economic consequences. Flood forecasting, warning and emergency response play important roles in reducing flood risk during the event. Options for flood risk management range from structural measures, such as raising dikes or channel enlargement, to non-structural measures to reduce exposure and vulnerability. The April 2000 floods in the western part of Romania (Crisuri River Basin) represented the starting point in creating a dedicated system for flood management using Earth Observation (EO) data. Starting from April 2005 this satellite-based surveillance system, connected to a dedicated GIS database, was extended to cover the whole Romanian territory. In order to obtain high-level thematic products, the data extracted from EO images were integrated with other spatial ancillary data (topographical, pedological, meteorological) and hydrological/hydraulic model outputs. A series of specific image processing operations were performed, using the ERDAS Imagine software: geometric correction and geo-referencing, image improvement, statistic analyses, etc. The optical and microwave satellite data supplied by the new European and American orbital platforms like the EOS-AM “Terra” and EOS—PM “Aqua”, DMSP, Quikscat, SPOT, ERS, RADARSAT, Landsat7 have been used to identify and highlight flooded areas. This approach is used in different phases of establishing the sensitive areas such as: the database management; the calculation of risk indices from morpho-hydrographical, meteorological and hydrological data; interfacing with the models in order to improve their compatibility with input data; recovery of results and the possibility of working out scenarios; presentation of results as synthesis maps easy to access and interpret, adequate to also be combined with other information layouts resulted from the GIS database. The products which are useful for flood risk analysis include: accurately updated maps of land cover/land-use, comprehensive thematic maps at various spatial scales with the extent of the flooded areas and the affected zones, maps of hazard-prone areas. The satellite-based products contributed to a preventive consideration of extreme flood events by developing plans for flood mitigation, building infrastructure in flood-prone areas and by optimizing the distribution of spatial flood-related information to local and river authorities.

Development of urban centers throughout history can be reconstructed using graphical documents (p... more Development of urban centers throughout history can be reconstructed using graphical documents (photos, prints, etc.), but mainly based on cartographical documents that spatially locate the informations. Starting from this premise (in the broader context of reconsidering the cartographic heritage of Central and South-East Europe), the present study aims to depict the territorial evolution stages of the Cluj-Napoca city (Kolozsvár, Klausenburg).

Research for Policy and Practice, 2012