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Overview
This tutorial introduces you to the basics of hydrologic modeling in a GIS environment.
Its focus is on flow modeling and watershed delineation. It is recommended that users be
comfortable operating in the ArcGIS environment and have familiarity with raster
datasets.
Disclaimer
The scenarios and the point data used in this exercise are fictional, and are presented for
educational purposes only.
Software
To complete this tutorial you will need ArcGIS version 8.3 (or higher), the Spatial
Analyst extension, and the Hydrology Modeling extension. The Hydrology Modeling
extension is included with the exercise data.
Data
You will need the following datasets to complete this tutorial:
Name Description Source
ned Elevation data extracted from the National USGS -
Elevation Dataset http://seamless.usgs.gov/
nlcd Land use/land cover extracted from the USGS -
National Land Cover Database http://seamless.usgs.gov/
streams Stream centerlines extracted from the VT VCGI - http://www.vcgi.org/
Hydrography Dataset
ecoli_sample Fictitious point data N/A
fuel_spill
Fill Sinks
Most DEMs will have sinks, or cells that are lower than all surrounding cells. Some sinks
are natural parts of the landscape (ponds), while others are due to errors present in the
DEM. In order to model flow all sinks in the DEM must be filled.
6) From the Hydrology menu choose Fill Sinks. Select nedburn as the input surface.
Save the output raster in the \HydroMod\Data directory as nedfill. Click OK.
7) The raster layer nedfill will automatically be added to the map session.
Flow Direction
Flow direction is determined by finding the direction of steepest descent from each cell.
Flow direction is what is ultimately used to compute the watershed for a given outlet.
Each cell in the flow direction layer has its flow direction coded according to the D8
model.
8) From the Hydrology menu choose Flow Direction. Select nedfill as the input
surface. Save the output raster in the \HydroMod\Data directory as flowdir. Click
OK. The raster layer flowdir will automatically be added to the map session.
NITLE: Teaching and Learning with GIS © Jarlath O’Neil-Dunne 2004 2 Hydrologic
Modeling Using GIS
Flow Accumulation
Flow accumulation creates a grid of accumulated flow to each cell, by accumulating the
weight for all cells that flow into each down slope cell. Flow accumulation is not a step in
delineating watersheds, but it does aid in ensuring that the outlet used to compute the
watershed falls on cell that receives a substantial amount of flow from upland cells.
9) From the Hydrology menu choose Flow Accumulation. Select flowdir as the
direction raster. Save the output raster in the \HydroMod\Data directory as
flowacc. The raster layer flowacc will automatically be added to the map session.
Watersheds
Watersheds are delineated from an outlet based on a flow direction grid. Outlets can
either be existing cells or defined interactively. If the outlet you are computing the
watershed for falls on a stream in the real world, it is important that it lies on a nearby
cell with high flow accumulation.
10) From the View menu choose Bookmarks > E. coli. Arrange the data in the table
of contents so that the point for E. coli sample #24 is displayed on top of flowacc.
11) Right-click on the flowacc layer and choose Properties. Click on the Symbology
tab. Change show to Classified. Change the number of classes in the drop-down
menu to 2. Click on the Classify button. Change the first break value to 1000.
Click OK. Double-click on the symbol of the cells with a range of 0-1000 to no
color. Change the symbol of the cells with a range of 0-1000 to blue.
12) Notice that E. coli sample point #24 falls close to a cell with high flow
accumulation, but not directly on it. You would expect the sample point to fall on
a cell with high flow accumulation since the sample was obtained from a stream.
This is obviously an error and could be due to the GIS data, GPS coordinates for
the sample, or both.
13) From the Hydrology menu choose Interactive Properties. Set the flow direction to
flowdir and the flow accumulation to flowacc. Uncheck the snap on for watershed
tool option. Click OK
14) Select the Watershed button from the Hydrology Modeling toolbar, and click on
the cell with the highest flow accumulation closest to point #24 (zoom in if
necessary). The watershed is defined based on this point, and appears as a new
layer – Watershed1.
References
Maidment, D.R. (ed). 2002. Arc Hydro, GIS for Water Resources. ESRI Press: Redlands,
CA.
Maidment, D.R. and D. Djokic (eds). 2000. Hydrologic and Hydraulic Modeling Support.
ESRI Press: Redlands, CA.
ArcHydro Online Support Systems -
http://www.crwr.utexas.edu/giswr/hydro/ArcHOSS/index.cfm
TauDEM tool - http://moose.cee.usu.edu/taudem/taudem.html