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Drainage networks from grid digital elevation models
Author(s) -
Fairfield John,
Leymarie Pierre
Publication year - 1991
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 - 10.1029/90wr02658
Subject(s) - digital elevation model , terrain , grid , elevation (ballistics) , drainage , geology , fault (geology) , computer science , current (fluid) , noise (video) , pixel , remote sensing , hydrology (agriculture) , artificial intelligence , geodesy , cartography , geotechnical engineering , geography , engineering , seismology , ecology , oceanography , structural engineering , image (mathematics) , biology
Current algorithms that deduce the drainage network from a digital elevation model (DEM) represented by a regular array of surface elevations share a fault: Unless the terrain is rugged, the derived water channels tend to flow in parallel lines along preferred directions engendered by the sampling grid orientation. We present a simple solution to the problem. A second difficulty is the presence of noise that creates artificial pits. We briefly describe a method which deals with pits in what we believe to be a more efficient manner for virtual memory environments than previous efforts. Our system has treated DEMs of nearly 9,000,000 pixels. We show how depth first search of the resulting drainage network permits segmentation of the DEM into basins by various criteria, analysis of stream‐sediment anomaly dilution profiles, improved hydrological models and other applications.