Snow avalanche based susceptibility assessment of selected districts in northern zone of Pakistan applying MCDA approach in GIS
Keywords:
Snow avalanche, Avalanche susceptibility, Northern areas of Pakistan, MCDA, GIS, Topographic factorsAbstract
Snow avalanche is considered a critical natural hazard that actively occurs globally in snow-covered mountainous terrain. These physical phenomena have adversely affected the natural system and human lives due to variations and complexness in occurrence. The data and information about its probability are mostly lacking and inaccessible in complex terrains. The present study is an attempt to determine avalanche susceptibility of the selected districts in the northern areas of Pakistan using multi-criteria decision analysis (MCDA) approach in a GIS environment. The critical topographic factors; elevation, slope, aspect, plan curvature, and profile curvature as avalanche causation parameters are incorporated as local functions in MCDA model. Available high-resolution digital elevation model (SRTM 30 m) was used to generate considered factors. The final spatial index based avalanche susceptibility mapping indicates that the districts in the northwest and southeast areas of the northern zone have the highest avalanche susceptibility. For validation of the final results, Global Hazard Distribution 2.5 minute grid-based developed map of global snow avalanche hazards and landslide was used on spatial based comparison of the resultant cell values, which shows spatial agreement on the distribution of avalanche susceptibility indexes for the assessed susceptible study districts. For better preparedness and planning of avalanche hazard, the present study approach can be applied prospectively by decision-makers on local and regional level.
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