Spatiotemporal Evaluation of Environmental Flow Using Remote Sensing and GIS in Hooghly District, India

Abstract

The investigation presents a spatio-temporal assessment of environmental flow and climate variability in the Hooghly district. By combining multi-decadal climatic indices with remote sensing and GIS-based hydrological analysis, it offers a deeper understanding of environmental changes in a critical and vulnerable river basin in the Hooghly district, West Bengal. The time series analysis (TSA) is done from 1990 to 2020. Various thematic maps, including Digital Elevation Model (DEM), Flow Accumulation, Flow Direction, Stream Order, Basin and sub-basins, and Hill shade, were generated using Q-GIS and remote sensing (RS). The indices such as Customer Disruption Days (CDD), Cumulative standardised Drought Index (CSDI), Warm Spell Duration Index (WSDI), Climatic Water Deficit (CWD), Diurnal Temperature Range (DTR), etc derived by taking the help of R-Studio.  A combination of GIS and statistical software tools: ArcGIS 10.4, ERDAS, with SRTM DM data, the hydrological characteristics of the region, along with EXCEL software and R-Studio, the Time Series Analysis (TSA) of the maximum temperature (Tmax), minimum temperature (Tmin), and the precipitation in the Hooghly District has been performed and showing an increasing trend. The trends in climatic anomalies, interannual variability, and potential impacts of climate change in the region are identified and discussed. The findings provide valuable insights for improving flood management, environmental planning, and climate-resilient water-resource strategies. Thus, the work contributes to SDG-aligned scientific knowledge and policy frameworks for sustainable management of climate-sensitive riverine systems.