GIS for Watershed Characterization and Modeling

Abstract

AbstractThe protection and effective management of watersheds is critical in order to preserve water quality and healthy ecosystems and to provide ecosystems services. The importance of incorporating the spatial dimension of watershed features and processes in watershed models has long been recognized. Geographic information systems (GIS) provide capabilities to characterize, visualize, and analyze the spatial nature of watersheds. The integration of GIS and watershed models provide a powerful combination for analyzing spatiotemporal watershed processes and supporting watershed management. The purpose of this article is to provide a foundation for understanding GIS as applied to watershed characterization and modeling, in particular, for hydrologic modeling. This article discusses the co‐evolution of GIS and hydrologic modeling and their eventual integration. GIS topics include data models, data acquisition, metadata, georeferencing, fundamental thematic data layers, and issues of scale and data uncertainty. Forms of integration for GIS and hydrologic models are outlined and the range of applications of GIS and watershed models is presented. In addition, areas in which potential advancements may emerge are considered including the fields of geographic information science (GIScience) and geocomputation, new data sources, Web‐GIS, and integrated watershed management.