Analysis of the development of a hydrological balance for future decades in the Senianska depression in the Eastern Slovak lowland

The goal of the article was to analyze the hydrological balance for future decades in a pilot area in the Eastern Slovak lowland. The aim was to set up the physically-based Mike SHE hydrological model for the modeling hydrological balance in the selected wetland ecosystem in the Eastern Slovak Lowland. The pilot area - the Senianska depression is located near the village of Senne, between the Laborec and Uh Rivers. Specifically, it is a traditional landscape of meadows, marshes, cultivated soil, small water control structures and forests. To get a complete model set up for simulating elements of the hydrologic balance in the pilot area, it was necessary to devise a model for a larger area, which includes the pilot area - the Senianska depression. Therefore, both the Mike SHE model was set up for the Laborec River basin (a model domain of 500 × 500 m) and the Čierna voda River basin (a model domain of 100 × 100 m), for the simulation period of 1981-2007, is order to get the boundary conditions (overland flow depth, water levels, discharges and groundwater table) for the model of the pilot area. The Mike SHE model constructed for the pilot area - the Senianska depression (a model domain of 1 × 1 m) -was used to simulate the elements of the hydrological balance for the existing conditions during the simulation period of 1983-2007 and for climate scenarios for the simulation period of 1983-2100. The results of the simulated elements of the hydrological balance for the existing conditions were used for a comparison of the evolution of the hydrologic conditions in the past, for identifying wet and flooded areas and for identifying the spatial distribution of the actual evapotranspiration in the pilot area. The built-up model with setting values was used for modeling the hydrological balance in changed conditions - climate change.