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Forest Hydrology and Biogeochemistry pp 69–100Cite as

Digital Terrain Analysis Approaches for Tracking Hydrological and Biogeochemical Pathways and Processes in Forested Landscapes

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Part of the book series: Ecological Studies ((ECOLSTUD,volume 216))

Abstract

Digital terrain analysis (DTA) comprises a set of tools that use digital elevation models (DEMs) to model earth surface processes at a range of scales. DEM and its derivatives are part of a larger set of digital terrain models (DTMs) used in various fields to model the flow of energy and materials across surfaces. The ubiquity of DTMs in the hydrologist’s toolkit has led to the widespread use of terrain attributes such as slope and upslope contributing area to characterize the way water and associated nutrients move across landscapes. Algorithms to compute terrain attributes are now programmed into all commercial Geographic Information System (GIS) software (e.g., ArcGIS, Idrisi) and with a push of the button users can map patterns of potential surface hydrological flows. While the derived layers always look visually stimulating, field hydrologists have often raised the question: are DTMs often merely interesting spatial patterns with not much relevance to predicting actual hydrological behavior? This synthesis critically answers this question by discussing the relevance of DTA for practicing forest hydrologists in the twenty-first century.

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by an NSERC Discovery grant to IFC and an NSERC Postdoctoral fellowship to GZS.

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  1. Department of Biology, The University of Western Ontario, London, Canada

    Irena F. Creed & Gabor Z. Sass

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  1. Irena F. Creed
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  2. Gabor Z. Sass
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Correspondence to Irena F. Creed .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Dept. of Geography, Center for Climate Research, University of Delaware, Newark, 19716-2541, Delaware, USA

    Delphis F. Levia

  2. , Department of Geography, Thompson Rivers University, Kamloops, V2C 5N3, British Columbia, Canada

    Darryl Carlyle-Moses

  3. , Department of International Affairs, University of Tsukuba, Ibaraki, 305-8577, Japan

    Tadashi Tanaka

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Creed, I.F., Sass, G.Z. (2011). Digital Terrain Analysis Approaches for Tracking Hydrological and Biogeochemical Pathways and Processes in Forested Landscapes. In: Levia, D., Carlyle-Moses, D., Tanaka, T. (eds) Forest Hydrology and Biogeochemistry. Ecological Studies, vol 216. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-1363-5_4

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