Use of geomorphological units to improve drainage network extraction from a DEM : Comparison between automated extraction and photointerpretation methods in the Carraixet catchment (Valencia, Spain)

Drainage networks are one of the main elements characterizing basins, and network topology and geometry form the basis of many hydrological and geomorphological models (eg Geomorphological Unitary Hydrograph). The identification and manual delineation of channel networks from maps or aerial photographs requires much time and effort. In the last two decades, algorithms and procedures for automated extraction of drainage networks from digital elevation data have been developed and implemented in many specialized software applications. Nevertheless, automatically delineated channel networks do not always show close agreement with manually delineated networks. This paper describes a comparative analysis between a drainage network automatically extracted from a gridded digital elevation model, and the drainage network delineated manually from stereographic pairs of aerial photographs. The analysis showed that the automatic extraction technique may be adequate for catchment headwaters, but is inappropriate in the middle and lower basins, especially for alluvial fans and calcareous platforms. The paper suggests improving the automatic extraction technique by adapting it to operate with different parameters for each of the geomorphological units within the catchment.