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Nondispersive Drainage Direction Simulation Based on Flexible Triangular Facets
Author(s) -
Wu Pengfei,
Liu Jintao,
Han Xiaole,
Liang Zhongmin,
Liu Yangyang,
Fei Junyuan
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
water resources research
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.863
H-Index - 217
eISSN - 1944-7973
pISSN - 0043-1397
DOI - 10.1029/2019wr026507
Subject(s) - terrain , drainage , digital elevation model , grid , flow (mathematics) , algorithm , computer science , drainage basin , ranging , geology , geometry , remote sensing , mathematics , geodesy , cartography , geography , ecology , biology
A new eight‐direction algorithm (iFAD8) for the simulation of drainage directions on grid digital elevation models (DEMs) is presented. In this algorithm, a flexible triangular facet construction technique (ND∞) is developed to provide local drainage directions ranging continuously from 0° to 360°. Subsequently, a flow aggregation technique using global deviations of local drainage directions is proposed to simplify the flow paths into a nondispersive format. Another algorithm (FAD8) accompanying the iFAD8 is also presented, which uses the D∞ directions as the local drainage directions. Then FAD8, iFAD8, and three existing algorithms are compared on 10 abstract terrains including nine basic terrains and a Himmelblau terrain. The algorithms are tested to reproduce exact slope lines and specific catchment areas derived from the terrain functions. The results show that iFAD8 has better performance than FAD8. Both iFAD8 and FAD8 outperform existing algorithms in most cases. The flow aggregation technique is shown to be an excellent choice for nondispersive drainage direction simulation based on infinite directions. The ND∞ direction based on flexible triangular facets is also an improvement to the local infinite direction of D∞. We conclude that the iFAD8 algorithm can provide better definitions of drainage directions.