IPH-Hydro Tools: a GIS coupled tool for watershed topology acquisition in an open-source environment

Vinícius Siqueira,,Pedro Jardim,Fernando Fan,Ayan Fleischmann,Walter Collischonn

doi:10.21168/rbrh.v21n1.p274-287

Vinícius Siqueira,, Pedro Jardim + Show 3 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.21168/rbrh.v21n1.p274-287

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Journal: RBRH	Publication Date: Feb 25, 2016
Citations: 26	License type: cc-by

Affiliation: Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul

Abstract

Watershed delineation, drainage network generation and determination of river hydraulic characteristics are important issues in hydrological sciences. In general, this information can be obtained from Digital Elevation Models (DEM) processing within GIS commercial softwares, such as ArcGIS and IDRISI. On the other hand, the use of open source GIS tools has increased significantly, and their advantages include free distribution, continuous development by user communities and full customization for specific requirements. Herein, we present the IPH-Hydro Tools, an open source tool coupled to MapWindow GIS software designed for watershed topology acquisition, including preprocessing steps in hydrological models such as MGB-IPH. In addition, several tests were carried out assessing the performance and applicability of the developed tool, given by a comparison with available GIS packages (ArcGIS, IDRISI, WhiteBox) for similar purposes. The IPH-Hydro Tools provided satisfactory results on tested applications, allowing for better drainage network and less processing time for catchment delineation. Regarding its limitations, the developed tool was incompatible with huge terrain data and showed some difficulties to represent drainage networks in extensive flat areas, which can occur in reservoirs and large rivers.

Highlights

Watershed delineation, drainage network generation and determination of river hydraulic characteristics are key factors in hydrological studies
Digital elevation models can be obtained from the interpolation of digital topographic maps (BURROUGH; MCDONELL, 1998; MARTZ; GARBRECHT, 1999; PIRES et al, 2005; ZEILHOFER, 2001), from aerial surveys, e.g. the Shuttle Radar Topography Mission - SRTM - (FARR et al, 1997) and the Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer Global Digital Elevation Model - ASTER GDEM - (TACHIKAWA et al, 2011), as well as from the airborne laser scanning, for instance the Light Detection And Ranging - LIDAR - (LIU, 2008)
One of the main motivations of its development was the possibility to process a DEM within the same platform, i.e MapWindow Geographic Information Systems (GIS), in which the MGB-IPH graphical user interface is functional (FAN; COLLISCHONN, 2014)

Summary

Introduction

Drainage network generation and determination of river hydraulic characteristics are key factors in hydrological studies. With the emergence of new techniques and computational advances, these procedures are widely performed using Geographic Information Systems (GIS) (BUARQUE et al, 2009; BURROUGH; MCDONNEL, 1998; FAN et al, 2013; MENDES; CIRILO, 2001; MIRANDA, 2005; PAZ; COLLISCHONN, 2008). Digital elevation models can be obtained from the interpolation of digital topographic maps (BURROUGH; MCDONELL, 1998; MARTZ; GARBRECHT, 1999; PIRES et al, 2005; ZEILHOFER, 2001), from aerial surveys, e.g. the Shuttle Radar Topography Mission - SRTM - (FARR et al, 1997) and the Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer Global Digital Elevation Model - ASTER GDEM - (TACHIKAWA et al, 2011), as well as from the airborne laser scanning, for instance the Light Detection And Ranging - LIDAR - (LIU, 2008)

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