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Chinese Agricultural Science Bulletin ›› 2017, Vol. 33 ›› Issue (24): 74-79.doi: 10.11924/j.issn.1000-6850.casb17040014

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Contrastive Analysis of Stream Gradient Based on Multiscale DEM

  

  • Received:2017-04-05 Revised:2017-08-15 Accepted:2017-06-23 Online:2017-09-05 Published:2017-09-05

Abstract: The aim of this study is to calculate river gradient by DEM, analyze the influence of DEM resolution and threshold on gradient and extract the best resolution and optimal threshold. The ASTER GDEM and SRTM3 DEM of Yan River were selected, the drainage line was extracted by ArcGIS under the resolution of 60, 150, 200 and 300 m, and then the stream gradient was calculated. The results showed that the average stream gradient was 3.39‰, gradient was affected by DEM resolution and threshold. When the DEM resolution was less than 150 m, the gradient decreased with the increase of threshold; when the resolution was greater than 150 m, the gradient increased gradually. Therefore, the resolution of DEM should not exceed 150 m, when the resolution was 90 m, the results accorded with the physical situation of Yan River; when the resolution of DEM were 30, 60, 90, 150, 200 and 300 m, the optimal threshold were 65000, 60000, 30000, 70000, 40000 and 20000, respectively. The results calculated with 85% drainage line polyline information were close to the true value. In this study, the calculation and the analysis of stream gradient of Yan River are beneficial for the application of DEM in hydrology.