A comparative assessment of multi-criteria decision-making methods for prioritizing urban flood hazard potential based on geomorphometric parameters

Document Type : Applied Article

Authors

1 M.Sc. in Environmental Hazards, Faculty of Geography, University of Tehran, Tehan, Iran

2 Associate Professor, Department of Physical Geography, Faculty of Geography, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran

3 Department of Watershed Science, Faculty of Natural Resources, University of Tehran, Karaj, Iran

10.22059/jhsci.2026.413162.934

Abstract

Objective: Prioritizing sub-watersheds is a key component of watershed management, particularly in regions prone to hydrological extremes. This study investigates the influence of morphometric characteristics on flood hazard assessment in the Kan watershed, located in northwest Iran.
Methodology: To achieve this, the weights of morphometric parameters were determined using three different weighting approaches, and ArcGIS 10.2 was employed to derive 17 morphometric indices for flash-flood modeling. Subsequently, multi-criteria decision-making (MCDM) models were applied to rank the sub-watersheds based on their flood-generating potential.
Findings: The Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) identified the Imamzadeh Davood, Talun, and Sangan sub-watersheds as the highest-priority zones with scores of 0.74, 0.50, and 0.41, respectively. Using the Analytic Network Process (ANP), the highest rankings were assigned to Imamzadeh Davood (0.97), Talun (0.51), and Doab (0.48). The Shannon Entropy method similarly ranked Imamzadeh Davood, Talun, and Rendan as the top three sub-watersheds with scores of 0.97, 0.68, and 0.52. Imamzadeh Davood and Talun consistently appeared as high-priority areas across all methods. Validation using the HEC-HMS hydrological model and statistical analyses confirmed the reliability of the MCDM techniques, with TOPSIS, ANP, and Shannon Entropy emerging as the most robust approaches.
Conclusion: Overall, the findings demonstrate that integrating morphometric analysis with MCDM frameworks provides an effective and practical tool for flood hazard prioritization and watershed management in arid and semi-arid regions.

Keywords

References

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Environmental Management Hazards
Volume 13, Issue 1
April 2026
Pages 1-19

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