Skip to main content
ARS Home » Midwest Area » West Lafayette, Indiana » National Soil Erosion Research Laboratory » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #295432
Title: Watershed delineation in the field: A new approach for mobile applications using LiDAR elevation data

Author
item NOEL, SAMUEL - Purdue University
item AULT, AARON - Purdue University
item BUCKMASTER, DENNIS - Purdue University
item CHAUBEY, INDRAJEET - Purdue University
item ENGEL, BERNARD - Purdue University
item FRANKENBERER, JANE - Purdue University
item KROGMEIER, JAMES - Purdue University
item Flanagan, Dennis

Submitted to: Proceedings of the American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers International (ASABE)
Publication Type: Proceedings
Publication Acceptance Date: 7/1/2013
Publication Date: 7/21/2015
Citation: Noel, S., Ault, A., Buckmaster, D., Chaubey, I., Engel, B., Frankenberer, J., Krogmeier, J., Flanagan, D.C. 2015. Watershed delineation in the field: A new approach for mobile applications using LiDAR elevation data. In: Proceedings of the American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers International (ASABE). July 21-24, 2013, Kansas City, Missouri. 2013. CD ROM.

Interpretive Summary:

Technical Abstract: As mobile devices improve, the possibility of bringing watershed management tasks typically performed in the office to the field can be realized. High-resolution digital elevation models that capture microtopographic features such as natural depressions, road embankments, and ditches further enable field-scale analyses to take place. A sequential depression-filling algorithm (SDFA) designed to operate in mobile, resource-constrained environments has been developed to allow users to perform watershed delineations in the field. Depressions are filled based on their retention capacity and accumulation rate, and as they are filled, surface hydrologic connectivity increases. While complete hydrologic connectivity is assumed by many algorithms, natural depressions in specific terrains are filled only in extreme rainfall events by SDFAs. Additionally, users in the field may identify man-made structures such as culverts and tile risers that affect localized drainage, and means to integrate such features in the SDFA have been developed. Visualizations of hydrologically connected subcatchment polygons are presented and have been used in the field via the publicly available Android application.