Watershed Delineation with Triangle‐Based Terrain Models
Publication: Journal of Hydraulic Engineering
Volume 116, Issue 10
Abstract
An algorithm is presented for tracing the path of steepest descent from a given starting point on a terrain model defined by a triangulated irregular network. This algorithm is then extended to solve several problems. The flow patterns for a site are generated by tracing flow paths from a large number of starting points. The approximate stream network or channel network is found by tracing the channels upstream from pits or exit points. Once the stream network is found, the source areas or contributing areas for each of the sections of the stream are delineated. The source areas are then used to delineate the watersheds of selected nodes in the channel network. The format of a possible data structure for the channel network is presented along with pseudocode examples for traversing the channel network and the source areas. Execution times on a desktop computer are presented along with suggestions for optimal use of the algorithms.
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Information & Authors
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Published In
Journal of Hydraulic Engineering
Volume 116 • Issue 10 • October 1990
Pages: 1232 - 1251
Copyright
Copyright © 1990 ASCE.
History
Published online: Oct 1, 1990
Published in print: Oct 1990
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