Effects of DTM resolution on slope steepness and soil loss prediction on hillslope profiles

Eder Paulo Moreira; William J. Elliot; Andrew T. Hudak

Treesearch

Effects of DTM resolution on slope steepness and soil loss prediction on hillslope profiles

Informally Refereed

Authors:

Eder Paulo Moreira, William J. Elliot, Andrew T. Hudak

Year:

2011

Type:

Paper

Station:

Rocky Mountain Research Station

Source:

Paper presented at the XXXIII Brazilian Congess of Soil Science symposium, Soils: Climate change and sustainability; July 31-Aug. 5, 2011; Uberlandia, Minas Gerais, Brazil. 4 p.

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Abstract

Topographic attributes play a critical role in predicting erosion in models such as the Water Erosion Prediction Project (WEPP). The effects of four different high resolution hillslope profiles were studied using four different DTM resolutions: 1-m, 3-m, 5-m and 10-m. The WEPP model used a common scenario encountered in the forest environment and the selected hillslope profiles to calculate the average annual runoff, average annual soil loss and average annual sediment delivery. The DTM resolution affects the slope steepness as well as the erosion and sediment delivery predicted by WEPP. The slope steepness values generated from higher resolution DTMs were less than from lower resolution DTMs. The trends in predicted average annual soil loss as a function of DTM resolution showed the same pattern as for slope steepness.

Keywords

WEPP, soil erosion, Digital Terrain Models, LiDAR

Citation

Moreira, Eder Paulo; Elliot, William J.; Hudak, Andrew T. 2011. Effects of DTM resolution on slope steepness and soil loss prediction on hillslope profiles. Paper presented at the XXXIII Brazilian Congess of Soil Science symposium, Soils: Climate change and sustainability; July 31-Aug. 5, 2011; Uberlandia, Minas Gerais, Brazil. 4 p.