Thesis Title: Spatial and Temporal Changes in Irrigation Needs of Olive Oil Trees in the Prefecture of Heraklion

Tuesday 9 October 2018, at:13:00, Venue: Hall Κ2. Α1

Examination Committee

• Assistant Professor Nikolaos Paranychianakis (advisor)
• Professor Nikolaos Nikolaidis
• Dr. Emmanouil Varouchakis
• Alternate member: Professor George Karatzas

Abstract:

This diploma thesis present the irrigation needs for olive oil trees in the Prefecture of Heraklion in Crete (Greece).  The estimation of water needs was based on meteorological data for the period 1995-2005. Furthermore, water needs are presented for the periods 2016-2035, 2046-2065 and 2081-2100 according to data, which are generated by the climate change scenarios (RCPs) for these periods. According to these scenarios, the possible climatic changes for the area of Heraklion, which were taken into account for this thesis was the increase of temperature by 0.5 °C, 1.5 °C and 2 ° C respectively for the examined periods. These temperatures are compared to the period 1986-2005. It is also calculated the water needs for the period 2081-2100 by taking into account the maximum possible increase in temperature that can reach 3.7 °C.

The method which is used for the calculation of evapotranspiration is called modified Blaney-Criddle. The spatial display of the data (rainfall, temperature) and of the results (olive water needs) for the entire law of Heraklion is done by  ArcGIS Desktop 10.2.2 software with the help of geostatistical analyst tool. This tool calculates the percentage of influence of the neighbor stations, in the points where there are no measurements. Moreover, the final result is derived in relation to the altitude of each point and its distance from the southern coastline of the island of Crete.

Finally, the data for the period 1995-2005 and for the periods between 2016-2100 are presented and compared with each other. The results are appeared by diagrams and by maps which are showed the spatial dispersion.

It is very significant the large variation for the rainfall and water needs values in the law of Heraklion. It is also remarkable that the change in demand for irrigation water between the year with the highest needs during the period 1996-2004 and the value for the worst scenario of temperature increase in the period 2081-2100 is very small.