Algorithm for Delineating and Extracting Hillslopes and Hillslope Width Functions from Gridded Elevation Data
Publication: Journal of Hydrologic Engineering
Volume 19, Issue 2
Abstract
The subdivision of catchments into appropriate topography-based hydrologic units is an essential step in rainfall-runoff modeling, with the hillslope serving as a common fundamental unit for this purpose. Hillslope-based modeling approaches can utilize, for instance, the hillslope width function as a one-dimensional representation of three-dimensional landscapes by introducing profile curvatures and plan shapes. In this work, an algorithm was developed to delineate and extract hillslopes and hillslope width functions based on a new approach to calculate average profile curvatures and plan shapes from digital terrain data. The proposed method uses fuzzy logic rules and provides a quick and reliable assessment of hillslope characteristics, classifying hillslopes according to nine elementary landscapes (the so-called Dikau shapes). The algorithm was first tested on two contrasting (flat and steep) catchments in Quebec, Canada. The hillslope width functions obtained with the proposed method were able to preserve the modeled hillslope surface areas within approximately 1% while preserving monotonicity. The algorithm was then applied to the Plynlimon catchments in the United Kingdom for comparison with a previously published scheme. Despite fundamental differences in slope metrics calculations, the proposed method produced qualitatively similar large-scale features.
Get full access to this article
View all available purchase options and get full access to this article.
Acknowledgments
The authors would like to thank Alain Royer and Ludovic Paul for their contribution to this work. The digital elevation model data of the Plynlimon catchments were kindly supplied by the Centre for Ecology and Hydrology (Wallingford, United Kingdom) and the British Natural Environment Research Council. Financial support from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada is also gratefully acknowledged.
References
Beven, K. J. (2001). Rainfall-runoff modelling: The primer, Wiley, New York.
Bogaart, P. W., and Troch, P. A. (2006). “Curvature distribution within hillslopes and catchments and its effect on the hydrological response.” Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 10(6), 925–936.
Brandt, C., Robinson, M., and Finch, J. W. (2004). “Anatomy of a catchment: The relation of physical attributes of the Plynlimon catchments to variations in hydrology and water status.” Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 8(3), 345–354.
Broda, S., Larocque, M., Paniconi, C., and Haitjema, H. (2012). “A low-dimensional hillslope-based catchment model for layered groundwater flow.” Hydrol. Process., 26(18), 2814–2826.
Camporese, M., Paniconi, C., Putti, M., and Orlandini, S. (2010). “Surface-subsurface flow modeling with path-based runoff routing, boundary condition-based coupling, and assimilation of multisource observation data.” Water Resour. Res., 46(2), W02512.
Carrillo, G., Troch, P. A., Sivapalan, M., Wagener, T., Harman, C., and Sawicz, K. (2011). “Catchment classification: Hydrological analysis of catchment behavior through process-based modeling along a climate gradient.” Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 15(11), 3411–3430.
Cochrane, T. A., and Flanagan, D. C. (2003). “Representative hillslope methods for applying the WEPP model with DEMS and GIS.” Trans. ASAE, 46(4), 1041–1049.
Côté, M. J., Lachance, Y., Lamontagne, C., Nastev, M., Plamondon, R., and Roy, N. (2006). “Atlas du bassin versant de la rivière Châteauguay.” Commission Géologique du Canada et Institut National de la Recherche Scientifique—Eau, Terre et Environnement, QC.
Daniels, M. H., Maxwell, R. M., and Chow, F. K. (2011). “Algorithm for flow direction enforcement using subgrid-scale stream location data.” J. Hydrol. Eng., 677–683.
Dikau, R. (1989). “The application of a digital relief model to landform analysis in geomorphology.” Three dimensional applications in geographical information systems, J. Raper, ed., Taylor and Francis, Philadelphia, 51–77.
Fan, Y., and Bras, R. L. (1998). “Analytical solutions to hillslope subsurface storm flow and saturation overland flow.” Water Resour. Res., 34(4), 921–927.
Florinsky, I. V., Eilers, R. G., Manning, G. R., and Fuller, L. G. (2002). “Prediction of soil properties by digital terrain modelling.” Environ. Model. Software, 17(3), 295–311.
Fortin, J., Turcotte, R., Massicotte, S., Moussa, R., Fitzback, J., and Villeneuve, J. (2001). “Distributed watershed model compatible with remote sensing and GIS data. I: Description of model.” J. Hydrol. Eng., 91–99.
Gallant, J. C., and Wilson, J. P. (1996). “TAPES-G: A grid-based terrain analysis program for the environmental sciences.” Comput. Geosci., 22(7), 713–722.
Grayson, R., and Blöschl, G. (2000). Spatial patterns in catchment hydrology: Observations and modelling, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, MA.
Gumiere, S. J., and Rousseau, A. N. (2011). “Development of VFDM: A riparian vegetated filter dimensioning model.” Proc., Int. Symp. on Erosion and Landscape Evolution, ASABE, St. Joseph, MI.
Hill, A. J., and Neary, V. S. (2005). “Factors affecting estimates of average watershed slope.” J. Hydrol. Eng., 133–140.
Kirby, C., Newson, M. D., and Gilman, K. (1991). “Plynlimon research: The first two decades.”, Institute of Hydrology, Wallingford, U.K.
Klingseisen, B., Metternicht, G., and Paulus, G. (2008). “Geomorphometric landscape analysis using a semi-automated GIS-approach.” Environ. Model. Software, 23(1), 109–121.
Lavigne, M.-P. (2007). “Modélisation du régime hydrologique et de l’impact des coupes forestières du ruisseau des Eaux-volées à l’aide d’Hydrotel.” M.S. thesis, Institut National de la Recherche Scientifique—Centre Eau, Terre et Environnement.
Lee, G., and Kim, J. C. (2011). “Comparative analysis of geomorphologic characteristics of DEM-based drainage networks.” J. Hydrol. Eng., 137–147.
Lindsay, J. B. (2005). “The terrain analysis system: A tool for hydro-geomorphic applications.” Hydrol. Process., 19(5), 1123–1130.
Liu, J., Chen, X., Zhang, X., and Hoagland, K. D. (2012). “Grid digital elevation model based algorithms for determination of hillslope width functions through flow distance transforms.” Water Resour. Res., 48(4), W04532.
Matonse, A. H., and Kroll, C. (2009). “Simulating low streamflows with hillslope storage models.” Water Resour. Res., 45(1), W01407.
Moore, I. D., Turner, A. K., Wilson, J. P., Jenson, S. K., and Band, L. E. (1993). “GIS and land-surface—subsurface process modeling.” Environmental modeling with GIS, M. F. Goodchild, B. O. Parks, and L. T. Steyaert, eds., Oxford University Press, New York, 196–230.
Olivera, F. (2001). “Extracting hydrologic information from spatial data for HMS modeling.” J. Hydrol. Eng., 524–530.
Orlandini, S., Moretti, G., Franchini, M., Aldighieri, B., and Testa, B. (2003). “Path-based methods for the determination of nondispersive drainage directions in grid-based digital elevation models.” Water Resour. Res., 39(6), 1144.
Paniconi, C., Troch, P. A., van Loon, E. E., and Hilberts, A. G. J. (2003). “Hillslope-storage Boussinesq model for subsurface flow and variable source areas along complex hillslopes: 2. Intercomparison with a three-dimensional Richards equation model.” Water Resour. Res., 39(11), 1317.
Rousseau, A. N., et al. (2011). “PHYSITEL, a specialized GIS for supporting the implementation of distributed hydrological models.” WaterNews, Technical Bureau Supplement, Canadian Water Resources Assoc., 31(1), 18–20.
Schmidt, J., Evans, I. S., and Brinkmann, J. (2003). “Comparison of polynomial models for land surface curvature calculation.” Int. J. Geogr. Inf. Sci., 17(8), 797–814.
Sulis, M., Paniconi, C., Rivard, C., Harvey, R., and Chaumont, D. (2011). “Assessment of climate change impacts at the catchment scale with a detailed hydrological model of surface-subsurface interactions and comparison with a land surface model.” Water Resour. Res., 47(1), W01513.
Tarboton, D. G. (1997). “A new method for the determination of flow directions and upslope areas in grid digital elevation models.” Water Resour. Res., 33(2), 309–319.
Troch, P. A., Paniconi, C., and van Loon, E. E. (2003). “Hillslope-storage Boussinesq model for subsurface flow and variable source areas along complex hillslopes: 1. Formulation and characteristic response.” Water Resour. Res., 39(11), 1316.
Turcotte, R., Fortin, L. G., Fortin, V., Fortin, J. P., and Villeneuve, J. P. (2007). “Operational analysis of the spatial distribution and the temporal evolution of the snowpack water equivalent in southern Quebec, Canada.” Nord. Hydrol., 38(3), 211–234.
Turcotte, R., Lacombe, P., Dimnik, C., and Villeneuve, J.-P. (2004). “Prévision hydrologique distribuée pour la gestion des barrages publics du Québec.” Can. J. Civil Eng., 31(2), 308–320.
Turcotte, R., Rousseau, A. N., Fortin, J.-P., and Villeneuve, J.-P. (2003). “A process-oriented multiple-objective calibration strategy accounting for model structure.” Calibration of watershed models, Q. Duan, V. K. Gupta, S. Sorooshian, A. N. Rousseau, and R. Turcotte, eds., American Geophysical Union, Washington, DC, 153–163.
Woods, R., Sivapalan, M., and Duncan, M. (1995). “Investigating the representative elementary area concept: An approach based on field data.” Hydrol. Process., 9(3–4), 291–312.
Zevenbergen, L. W., and Thorne, C. R. (1987). “Quantitative analysis of land surface topography.” Earth Surf. Processes Landforms, 12(1), 47–56.
Zhong, T., Cang, X., Li, R., and Tang, G. (2009). “Landform classification based on hillslope units from DEMs.” Proc., Asian Conf. on Remote Sensing, Curran Associates, Red Hook, NY.
Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Copyright
© 2014 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Apr 5, 2012
Accepted: Jan 7, 2013
Published online: Jan 9, 2013
Discussion open until: Jun 9, 2013
Published in print: Feb 1, 2014
Authors
Metrics & Citations
Metrics
Citations
Download citation
If you have the appropriate software installed, you can download article citation data to the citation manager of your choice. Simply select your manager software from the list below and click Download.