Spatial modeling of climate change in watersheds: Systematic review

Abstract

Climate change modeling in watersheds is part of the technical inputs that enable land-use planning processes to be developed from an environmental perspective. In these modeling processes, techniques that combine the use of mathematical methods and software are a clear trend in new methodologies, which are constantly being optimized. Spatial modeling techniques are widely used in the modeling of environmental systems, as they relate the representation of these systems to mathematical models. Based on this principle, dynamics in environmental systems such as land use changes, forest fires, water quality, deforestation, and even land urbanization processes have been modeled. In this regard, there is particular interest in understanding the applicability of spatial modeling techniques in climate change modeling processes in watersheds, considering watersheds as environmental systems in which the dynamics of different phenomena are present. Thus, the objective of this systematic review is to establish the state of the art regarding the aforementioned interest. To this end, basic bibliometric analysis techniques were used, combining the usability of scientific and academic information databases with software tools such as VosViewer, which allowed us to identify clusters of topics related to the subject addressed in this review.