Boundary extraction of watershed is an important step in forest landscape research. The boundary of the upriver wa-tershed of the Hunhe River in the sub-alpine Qingyuan County of eastern Liaoning Province, China was e...Boundary extraction of watershed is an important step in forest landscape research. The boundary of the upriver wa-tershed of the Hunhe River in the sub-alpine Qingyuan County of eastern Liaoning Province, China was extracted by digital elevation modeling (DEM) data in ArcInfo8.1. Remote sensing image of the corresponding region was applied to help modify its copy according to Enhanced Thematic Mapper (ETM) image抯 profuse geomorphological structure information. Both the DEM-dependent boundary and modified copy were overlapped with county map and drainage network map to visually check the effects of result. Overlap of county map suggested a nice extraction of the boundary line since the two layers matched precisely, which indicated the DEM-dependent boundary by program was effective and precise. Further upload of drainage network showed discrepancies between the boundary and the drainage network. Altogether, there were three sections of the extraction result that needed to correct. Compared with this extraction boundary, the modified boundary had a better match to the drainage network as well as to the county map. Comprehensive analysis demonstrated that the program extraction has generally fine precision in position and excels the digitized result by hand. The errors of the DEM-dependant extraction are due to the fact that it is difficult for program to recognize sections of complex landform especially altered by human activities, but these errors are discernable and adjustable because the spatial resolution of ETM image is less than that of DEM. This study result proved that application of remote sensing information could help obtain better result when DEM method is used in extraction of watershed boundary.展开更多
In China′s Loess Plateau area, gully head is the most active zone of a drainage system in gully areas. The differentiation of loess gully head follows geospatial patterns and reflects the process of the loess landfor...In China′s Loess Plateau area, gully head is the most active zone of a drainage system in gully areas. The differentiation of loess gully head follows geospatial patterns and reflects the process of the loess landform development and evolution of its drainage system to some extent. In this study, the geomorphic meaning, basic characteristics, morphological structure and the basic types of loess gully heads were systematically analysed. Then, the loess gully head′s conceptual model was established, and an extraction method based on Digital Elevation Model(DEM) for loess gully head features and elements was proposed. Through analysing the achieved statistics of loess gully head features, loess gully heads have apparently similar and different characteristics depending on the different loess landforms where they are found. The loess head characteristics reflect their growth period and evolution tendency to a certain degree, and they indirectly represent evolutionary mechanisms. In addition, the loess gully developmental stages and the evolutionary processes can be deduced by using loess gully head characteristics. This study is of great significance for development and improvement of the theoretical system for describing loess gully landforms.展开更多
A grid-based distributed hydrological model, the Block-wise use of TOPMODEL （BTOPMC）, which was developed from the original TOPMODEL, was used for hydrological daily rainfall-runoff simulation. In the BTOPMC model, ...A grid-based distributed hydrological model, the Block-wise use of TOPMODEL （BTOPMC）, which was developed from the original TOPMODEL, was used for hydrological daily rainfall-runoff simulation. In the BTOPMC model, the runoff is explicitly calculated on a cell-by-cell basis, and the Muskingum-Cunge flow concentration method is used. In order to test the model＇s applicability, the BTOPMC model and the Xin＇anjiang model were applied to the simulation of a humid watershed and a semi-humid to semi-arid watershed in China. The model parameters were optimized with the Shuffle Complex Evolution （SCE-UA） method. Results show that both models can effectively simulate the daily hydrograph in humid watersheds, but that the BTOPMC model performs poorly in semi-humid to semi-arid watersheds. The excess-infiltration mechanism should be incorporated into the BTOPMC model to broaden the model＇s applicability.展开更多
Topographic shielding of cosmic radiation flux is a key parameter in using cosmogenic nuclides to determine surface exposure ages or erosion rates. Traditionally, this parameter is measured in the field and uncertaint...Topographic shielding of cosmic radiation flux is a key parameter in using cosmogenic nuclides to determine surface exposure ages or erosion rates. Traditionally, this parameter is measured in the field and uncertainty and/or inconsistency may exist among different investigators. This paper provides an ArcGIS python code to determine topographic shielding factors using digital elevation models （DEMs）. This code can be imported into ArcGIS as a geoprocessing tool with a user-friendly graphical interface. The DEM-derived parameters using this method were validated with field measurements in central Tian Shan. Results indicate that DEM-derived shielding factors are consistent with field-measured values. It provides a valuable tool to save fieldwork efforts and has the potential to provide consistent results for different regions in the world to facilitate the comparison of cosmogenie nuclide results.展开更多
Soil salinity is one of the most severe environmental problems worldwide. It is necessary to develop a soil-salinity-estimation model to project the spatial distribution of soil salinity. The aims of this study were t...Soil salinity is one of the most severe environmental problems worldwide. It is necessary to develop a soil-salinity-estimation model to project the spatial distribution of soil salinity. The aims of this study were to use remote sensed images and digital elevation model(DEM) to develop quantitative models for estimating soil salinity and to investigate the influence of vegetation on soil salinity estimation. Digital bands of Landsat Thematic Mapper(TM) images, vegetation indices, and terrain indices were selected as predictive variables for the estimation. The generalized additive model(GAM) was used to analyze the quantitative relationship between soil salt content, spectral properties, and terrain indices. Akaike's information criterion(AIC) was used to select relevant predictive variables for fitted GAMs. A correlation analysis and root mean square error between predicted and observed soil salt contents were used to validate the fitted GAMs. A high ratio of explained deviance suggests that an integrated approach using spectral and terrain indices with GAM was practical and efficient for estimating soil salinity. The performance of the fitted GAMs varied with changes in vegetation cover.Salinity in sparsely vegetated areas was estimated better than in densely vegetated areas. Visible red and near-infrared bands, and the second and third components of the tasseled cap transformation were the most important spectral variables for the estimation. Variable combinations in the fitted GAMs and their contribution varied with changes in vegetation cover. The contribution of terrain indices was smaller than that of spectral indices, possibly due to the low spatial resolution of DEM. This research may provide some beneficial references for regional soil salinity estimation.展开更多
On the basis of Digital Elevation Model data, the raster flow vectors, watershed delineation, and spatial topological relationship are generated by the Martz and Garbrecht method for the upper area of Huangnizhuang st...On the basis of Digital Elevation Model data, the raster flow vectors, watershed delineation, and spatial topological relationship are generated by the Martz and Garbrecht method for the upper area of Huangnizhuang station in the Shihe Catchment with 805 km<SUP>2</SUP> of area, an intensified observation field for the HUBEX/GAME Project. Then, the Xin’anjiang Model is applied for runoff production in each grid element where rain data measured by radar at Fuyang station is utilized as the input of the hydrological model. The elements are connected by flow vectors to the outlet of the drainage catchment where runoff is routed by the Muskingum method from each grid element to the outlet according to the length between each grid and the outlet. The Nash-Sutcliffe model efficiency coefficient is 92.41% from 31 May to 3 August 1998, and 85.64%, 86.62%, 92.57%, and 83.91%, respectively for the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and 4th flood events during the whole computational period. As compared with the case where rain-gauge data are used in simulating the hourly hydrograph at Huangnizhuang station in the Shihe Catchment, the index of model efficiency improvement is positive, ranging from 27.56% to 69.39%. This justifies the claim that radar-measured data are superior to rain-gauge data as inputs to hydrological modeling. As a result, the grid-based hydrological model provides a good platform for runoff computation when radar-measured rain data with highly spatiotemporal resolution are taken as the input of the hydrological model.展开更多
The spatial structure characteristics of landform are the foundation of geomorphologic classification and recognition.This paper proposed a new method on quantifying spatial structure characteristics of terrain surfac...The spatial structure characteristics of landform are the foundation of geomorphologic classification and recognition.This paper proposed a new method on quantifying spatial structure characteristics of terrain surface based on improved 3D Lacunarity model.Lacunarity curve and its numerical integration are used in this model to improve traditional classification result that different morphological types may share the close value of indexes based on global statistical analysis.Experiments at four test areas with different landform types show that improved 3D Lacunarity model can effectively distinguish different morphological types per texture analysis.Higher sensitivity in distinguishing the tiny differences of texture characteristics of terrain surface shows that the quantification method by 3D Lacu-narity model and its numerical integration presented in this paper could contribute to improving the accuracy of land-form classifications and relative studies.展开更多
Floods are one of the most common natural hazards occurring all around the world.However,the knowledge of the origins of a food and its possible magnitude in a given region remains unclear yet.This lack of understandi...Floods are one of the most common natural hazards occurring all around the world.However,the knowledge of the origins of a food and its possible magnitude in a given region remains unclear yet.This lack of understanding is particularly acute in mountainous regions with large degrees in Sichuan Province,China,where runoff is seldom measured.The nature of streamflow in a region is related to the time and spatial distribution of rainfall quantity and watershed geomorphology.The geomorphologic characteristics are the channel network and surrounding landscape which transform the rainfall input into an output hydrograph at the outlet of the watershed.With the given geomorphologic properties of the watershed,theoretically the hydrological response function can be determined hydraulically without using any recorded data of past rainfall or runoff events.In this study,a kinematic-wave-based geomorphologic instantaneous unit hydrograph (KW-GIUH) model was adopted and verified to estimate runoff in ungauged areas.Two mountain watersheds,the Yingjing River watershed and Tianquan River watershed in Sichuan were selected as study sites.The geomorphologic factors of the two watersheds were obtained by using a digital elevation model (DEM) based on the topographic database obtained from the Shuttle Radar Topography Mission of US's NASA.The tests of the model on the two watersheds were performed both at gauged and ungauged sites.Comparison between the simulated and observed hydrographs for a number of rainstorms at the gauged sites indicated the potential of the KW-GIUH model as a useful tool for runoff analysis in these regions.Moreover,to simulate possible concentrated rainstorms that could result in serious flooding in these areas,synthetic rainfall hyetographs were adopted as input to the KW-GIUH model to obtain the flow hydrographs at two ungauged sites for different return period conditions.Hydroeconomic analysis can be performed in the future to select the optimum design return period for determining the flood control work.展开更多
Displacement monitoring in open-pit mines is one of the important tasks for safe management of mining processes.Differential interferometric synthetic aperture radar(DInSAR),mounted on an artificial satellite,has the ...Displacement monitoring in open-pit mines is one of the important tasks for safe management of mining processes.Differential interferometric synthetic aperture radar(DInSAR),mounted on an artificial satellite,has the potential to be a cost-effective method for monitoring surface displacements over extensive areas,such as open-pit mines.DInSAR requires the ground surface elevation data in the process of its analysis as a digital elevation model(DEM).However,since the topography of the ground surface in open-pit mines changes largely due to excavations,measurement errors can occur due to insufficient information on the elevation of mining areas.In this paper,effect of different elevation models on the accuracy of the displacement monitoring results by DInSAR is investigated at a limestone quarry.In addition,validity of the DInSAR results using an appropriate DEM is examined by comparing them with the results obtained by global positioning system(GPS)monitoring conducted for three years at the same limestone quarry.It is found that the uncertainty of DEMs induces large errors in the displacement monitoring results if the baseline length of the satellites between the master and the slave data is longer than a few hundred meters.Comparing the monitoring results of DInSAR and GPS,the root mean square error(RMSE)of the discrepancy between the two sets of results is less than 10 mm if an appropriate DEM,considering the excavation processes,is used.It is proven that DInSAR can be applied for monitoring the displacements of mine slopes with centimeter-level accuracy.展开更多
Tropical mountainous areas not only provide substantial carbon storage and play an important role in global biological diversity, but also provide basic livelihood for a large number of poor ethnic minorities. However...Tropical mountainous areas not only provide substantial carbon storage and play an important role in global biological diversity, but also provide basic livelihood for a large number of poor ethnic minorities. However, there is no unified and explicit definition for mountainous areas. The local elevation range(LER) is a crucial structural parameter for delineating mountainous areas. However, current LER products are limited by the subjective selection of an optimum statistical window or coarser spatial resolution of topographical data. In this study, we presented an approach using thresholds for three topographic parameters, elevation, slope, and LER, derived from the Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer Global Digital Elevation Model(ASTER GDEM) to redelineate the vast mountainous areas of mainland Southeast Asia(MSEA). The mean change-point analysis method was applied to determine the optimum statistical window of the 1 arc second(approximately 30 m)-resolution GDEM LER. The results showed that: First, the optimum statistical window is 38 × 38 cell units(width × height) in a rectangular neighborhood, or an area of about 1.30 km^2 for calculating GDEM LER in MSEA. Second, the LER of more than 80% of the area ranges from 30 m to 499 m in MSEA. The LERs in the northern and northwestern MSEA are greater than their counterparts in the south and east. Third, the area of the re-delineated mountainous areas was 83.52 × 10~4 km^2, about 38.71% of the total area. Spatially, the mountainous areas are mainly distributed in the north and northeast of MSEA. The re-delineated 30-m resolution map of the mountainous areas will serve as a topographical dataset for monitoring mountainrelated land surface changes in MSEA. The parameter-modified mountain extraction procedure can be expanded to delineate global mountainous areas.展开更多
A new algorithm to automatically extract drainage networks and catchments based on triangulation irregular networks(TINs) digital elevation model(DEM) was developed. The flow direction in this approach is determined b...A new algorithm to automatically extract drainage networks and catchments based on triangulation irregular networks(TINs) digital elevation model(DEM) was developed. The flow direction in this approach is determined by computing the spatial gradient of triangle and triangle edges. Outflow edge was defined by comparing the contribution area that is separated by the steepest descent of the triangle. Local channels were then tracked to build drainage networks. Both triangle edges and facets were considered to construct flow path. The algorithm has been tested in the site for Hawaiian Island of Kaho'olawe, and the results were compared with those calculated by ARCGIS as well as terrain map. The reported algorithm has been proved to be a reliable approach with high efficiency to generate well-connected and coherent drainage networks.展开更多
Due to the influences of local topographical factors and terrain inter-shielding, calculation of direct solar radiation （DSR） quantity of rugged terrain is very complex. Based on digital elevation model （DEM） data...Due to the influences of local topographical factors and terrain inter-shielding, calculation of direct solar radiation （DSR） quantity of rugged terrain is very complex. Based on digital elevation model （DEM） data and meteorological observations, a distributed model for calculating DSR over rugged terrain is developed. This model gives an all-sided consideration on factors influencing th a resolution of 1 km × 1 km for thDSR. Using the developed model, normals of annual DSR quantity wie Yellow River Basin was generated, with DEM data as the general characterization of terrain. Characteristics of DSR quantity influenced by geographic and topographic factors over rugged terrain were analyzed thoroughly. Results suggest that： influenced by local topographic factors, i.e. azimuth, slope and so on, and annual DSR quantity over mountainous area has a clear spatial difference; annual DSR quantity of sunny slope （or southern slope） of mountains is obviously larger than that of shady slope （or northern slope）. The calculated DSR quantity of the Yellow River Basin is provided in the same way as other kinds of spatial information and can be employed as basic geographic data for relevant studies as well.展开更多
A grid and Green-Ampt based （Grid-GA）distributed hydrologic physical model was developed for flood simulation and forecasting in semi-humid and semi-arid basin. Based on topographical information of each grid cell e...A grid and Green-Ampt based （Grid-GA）distributed hydrologic physical model was developed for flood simulation and forecasting in semi-humid and semi-arid basin. Based on topographical information of each grid cell extracted fi＇om the digital elevation model （DEM） and Green-Ampt infiltration method, the Grid-GA model takes into consideration the redistribution of water content, and consists of vegetation and root interception, evapotranspiration, runoff generation via the excess infiltration mechanism, runoff concentration, and flow routing. The downslope redis- tribution of soil moisture is explicitly calculated on a grid basis, and water exchange among grids within runoff routing along the river drainage networks is taken into consideration. The proposed model and Xin＇anjiang model were ap- plied to the upper Lushi basin in the Luohe River, a tributary of the Yellow River, with an area of 4 716 km2 for flood simulation. Results show that both models perform well in flood simulation and can be used for flood forecasting in semi-humid and semi-arid region.展开更多
In China, many scenic and tourism areas are suffering from the urbanization that results from physical development of tourism projects, leading to the removal of the vegetative cover, the creation of areas impermeable...In China, many scenic and tourism areas are suffering from the urbanization that results from physical development of tourism projects, leading to the removal of the vegetative cover, the creation of areas impermeable to water, in-stream modifications, and other problems. In this paper, the risk of soil erosion and its ecological risks in the West Lake Scenic Spots （WLSS） area were quantitatively evaluated by integrating the revised universal soil loss equation （RUSLE） with a digital elevation model （DEM） and geographical information system （GIS） software. The standard RUSLE factors were modified to account for local climatic and topographic characteristics reflected in the DEM maps, and for the soil types and vegetation cover types. An interface was created between the Areinfo software and RUSLE so that the level of soil erosion and its ecological risk in the WLSS area could be mapped immediately once the model factors were defined for the area. The results from an analysis using the Areinfo-RUSLE interface showed that the risk value in 93 % of the expanding western part of the WLSS area was moderate or more severe and the soil erosion risk in this area was thus large compared with that in the rest of the area. This paper mainly aimed to increase the awareness of the soil erosion risk in urbanizing areas and suggest that the local governments should consider the probable ecological risk resulting from soil erosion when enlarging and developing tourism areas.展开更多
The geomorphic studies are extremely dependent on the quality and spatial resolution of digital elevation model(DEM)data.The unique terrain characteristics of a particular landscape are derived from DEM,which are resp...The geomorphic studies are extremely dependent on the quality and spatial resolution of digital elevation model(DEM)data.The unique terrain characteristics of a particular landscape are derived from DEM,which are responsible for initiation and development of ephemeral gullies.As the topographic features of an area significantly influences on the erosive power of the water flow,it is an important task the extraction of terrain features from DEM to properly research gully erosion.Alongside,topography is highly correlated with other geo-environmental factors i.e.geology,climate,soil types,vegetation density and floristic composition,runoff generation,which ultimately influences on gully occurrences.Therefore,terrain morphometric attributes derived from DEM data are used in spatial prediction of gully erosion susceptibility(GES)mapping.In this study,remote sensing-Geographic information system(GIS)techniques coupled with machine learning(ML)methods has been used for GES mapping in the parts of Semnan province,Iran.Current research focuses on the comparison of predicted GES result by using three types of DEM i.e.Advanced Land Observation satellite(ALOS),ALOS World 3D-30 m(AW3D30)and Advanced Space borne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer(ASTER)in different resolutions.For further progress of our research work,here we have used thirteen suitable geo-environmental gully erosion conditioning factors(GECFs)based on the multi-collinearity analysis.ML methods of conditional inference forests(Cforest),Cubist model and Elastic net model have been chosen for modelling GES accordingly.Variable’s importance of GECFs was measured through sensitivity analysis and result show that elevation is the most important factor for occurrences of gullies in the three aforementioned ML methods(Cforest=21.4,Cubist=19.65 and Elastic net=17.08),followed by lithology and slope.Validation of the model’s result was performed through area under curve(AUC)and other statistical indices.The validation result of AUC has shown that Cforest is the most appropriate model for predicting the GES assessment in three different DEMs(AUC value of Cforest in ALOS DEM is 0.994,AW3D30 DEM is 0.989 and ASTER DEM is 0.982)used in this study,followed by elastic net and cubist model.The output result of GES maps will be used by decision-makers for sustainable development of degraded land in this study area.展开更多
Although many studies have investigated slope gradient uncertainty derived from Digital Elevation Models(DEMs), the research concerning slope length uncertainty is far from mature. This discrepancy affects the availab...Although many studies have investigated slope gradient uncertainty derived from Digital Elevation Models(DEMs), the research concerning slope length uncertainty is far from mature. This discrepancy affects the availability and accuracy of soil erosion as well as hydrological modeling. This study investigates the formation and distribution of existing errors and uncertainties in slope length derivation based on 5-m resolution DEMs of the Loess Plateau in the middle of China. The slope length accuracy in three different landform areas is examined to analyse algorithm effects. The experiments indicate that the accuracy of the flat test area is lower than that of the rougher areas. The value from the specific contributing area(SCA) method is greater than the cumulative slope length(CSL), and the differences between these two methods arise from the shape of the upslope area. The variation of mean slope length derived from various DEM resolutions and landforms. The slope length accuracy decreases with increasing grid size and terrain complexity at the six test sites. A regression model is built to express the relationship of mean slope length with DEM resolution less than 85 m and terrain complexity represented by gully density. The results support the understanding of the slope length accuracy, thereby aiding in the effective evaluation of the modeling effect of surface process.展开更多
This paper investigates the differences that result from applying different approaches to uncertainty modeling and reports an experimental examining error estimation and propagation in elevation and slope, with the la...This paper investigates the differences that result from applying different approaches to uncertainty modeling and reports an experimental examining error estimation and propagation in elevation and slope, with the latter derived from the former. It is confirmed that significant differences exist between uncertainty descriptors, and propagation of uncertainty to end products is immensely affected by the specification of source uncertainty.展开更多
Validation studies of global Digital Elevation Models(DEMs)in the existing literature are limited by the diversity and spread of landscapes,terrain types considered and sparseness of groundtruth.Moreover,there are kno...Validation studies of global Digital Elevation Models(DEMs)in the existing literature are limited by the diversity and spread of landscapes,terrain types considered and sparseness of groundtruth.Moreover,there are knowledge gaps on the accuracy variations in rugged and complex landscapes,and previous studies have often not relied on robust internal and external validation measures.Thus,there is still only partial understanding and limited perspective of the reliability and adequacy of global DEMs for several applications.In this study,we utilize a dense spread of LiDAR groundtruth to assess the vertical accuracies of four medium-resolution,readily available,free-access and global coverage 1 arc-second(30 m)DEMs:NASADEM,ASTER GDEM,Copernicus GLO-30,and ALOS World 3D(AW3D).The assessment is carried out at landscapes spread across Cape Town,Southern Africa(urban/industrial,agricultural,mountain,peninsula and grassland/shrubland)and forested national parks in Gabon,Central Africa(low-relief tropical rainforest and high-relief tropical rainforest).The statistical analysis is based on robust accuracy metrics that cater for normal and non-normal elevation error distribution,and error ranking.In Cape Town,Copernicus DEM generally had the least vertical error with an overall Mean Error(ME)of 0.82 m and Root Mean Square Error(RMSE)of 2.34 m while ASTER DEM had the poorest performance.However,ASTER GDEM and NASADEM performed better in the low-relief and high-relief tropical forests of Gabon.Generally,the DEM errors have a moderate to high positive correlation in forests,and a low to moderate positive correlation in mountains and urban areas.Copernicus DEM showed superior vertical accuracy in forests with less than 40%tree cover,while ASTER and NASADEM performed better in denser forests with tree cover greater than 70%.This study is a robust regional assessment of these global DEMs.展开更多
Researchers in P.R.China commonly create triangulate irregular networks(TINs) from contours and then convert TINs into digital elevation models(DEMs).However,the DEM produced by this method can not precisely describe ...Researchers in P.R.China commonly create triangulate irregular networks(TINs) from contours and then convert TINs into digital elevation models(DEMs).However,the DEM produced by this method can not precisely describe and simulate key hydrological features such as rivers and drainage borders.Taking a hilly region in southwestern China as a research area and using ArcGISTM software,we analyzed the errors of different interpolations to obtain distributions of the errors and precisions of different algorithms and to provide references for DEM productions.The results show that different interpolation errors satisfy normal distributions,and large error exists near the structure line of the terrain.Furthermore,the results also show that the precision of a DEM interpolated with the Australian National University digital elevation model(ANUDEM) is higher than that interpolated with TIN.The DEM interpolated with TIN is acceptable for generating DEMs in the hilly region of southwestern China.展开更多
High-quality height reference data are embedded in the accuracy verification processes of most remote sensing terrain applications.The Ice,Cloud,and Land elevation Satellite 2(ICESat-2)/ATL08 terrain product has shown...High-quality height reference data are embedded in the accuracy verification processes of most remote sensing terrain applications.The Ice,Cloud,and Land elevation Satellite 2(ICESat-2)/ATL08 terrain product has shown promising results for estimating ground heights,but it has not been fully evaluated.Hence,this study aims to assess and enhance the accuracy of the ATL08 terrain product as a height reference for the newest versions of the Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer(ASTER),the Shuttle Radar Topography Mission(SRTM),and TanDEM-X(TDX)DEMs over vegetated mountainous areas.We used uncertainty-based filtering method for the ATL08 strong and weak beams to enhance their accuracy.Then,the results were evaluated against a reference airborne LiDAR digital terrain model(DTM),by selecting 10,000 points over the entire area and comparing the accuracy of ASTER,SRTM,and TDX DEMs assessed by the LiDAR DTM to the accuracy of the ASTER,SRTM,and TDX DEMs assessed by the ATL08 strong beams,weak beams,and all beams.We also detected the impact of the terrain aspect,slope,and land cover types on the accuracy of the ATL08 terrain elevations and their relationship with height errors and uncertainty.Our findings show the accuracy of the ATL08 strong beams was enhanced by 43.91%;while the weak beams accuracy was enhanced by 74.05%.Furthermore,slope strongly influenced ATL08 height errors and height uncertainty;especially on the weak beams.The errors induced by the slope significantly decreased when the uncertainty levels were reduced to<20 m.The evaluations of ASTER,SRTM,and TDX DEMs by ATL08 strong and weak beams are close to those assessed by LiDAR DTM points within 0.6 m for the strong beams.These findings indicate that ATL08 strong beams can be used as a height reference over vegetated mountainous regions.展开更多
基金This work was supported by Knowledge Innovation Pro-gram Chinese Academy of Sciences (No. KZCX2-SW-320-3 & KZCX3-SW-425).
文摘Boundary extraction of watershed is an important step in forest landscape research. The boundary of the upriver wa-tershed of the Hunhe River in the sub-alpine Qingyuan County of eastern Liaoning Province, China was extracted by digital elevation modeling (DEM) data in ArcInfo8.1. Remote sensing image of the corresponding region was applied to help modify its copy according to Enhanced Thematic Mapper (ETM) image抯 profuse geomorphological structure information. Both the DEM-dependent boundary and modified copy were overlapped with county map and drainage network map to visually check the effects of result. Overlap of county map suggested a nice extraction of the boundary line since the two layers matched precisely, which indicated the DEM-dependent boundary by program was effective and precise. Further upload of drainage network showed discrepancies between the boundary and the drainage network. Altogether, there were three sections of the extraction result that needed to correct. Compared with this extraction boundary, the modified boundary had a better match to the drainage network as well as to the county map. Comprehensive analysis demonstrated that the program extraction has generally fine precision in position and excels the digitized result by hand. The errors of the DEM-dependant extraction are due to the fact that it is difficult for program to recognize sections of complex landform especially altered by human activities, but these errors are discernable and adjustable because the spatial resolution of ETM image is less than that of DEM. This study result proved that application of remote sensing information could help obtain better result when DEM method is used in extraction of watershed boundary.
基金Under the auspices of National Youth Science Foundation of China(No.41001294)Key Project of National Natural Science Foundation of China(No.40930531)Research Fund of State Key Laboratory Resources and Environment Information System(No.2010KF0002SA)
文摘In China′s Loess Plateau area, gully head is the most active zone of a drainage system in gully areas. The differentiation of loess gully head follows geospatial patterns and reflects the process of the loess landform development and evolution of its drainage system to some extent. In this study, the geomorphic meaning, basic characteristics, morphological structure and the basic types of loess gully heads were systematically analysed. Then, the loess gully head′s conceptual model was established, and an extraction method based on Digital Elevation Model(DEM) for loess gully head features and elements was proposed. Through analysing the achieved statistics of loess gully head features, loess gully heads have apparently similar and different characteristics depending on the different loess landforms where they are found. The loess head characteristics reflect their growth period and evolution tendency to a certain degree, and they indirectly represent evolutionary mechanisms. In addition, the loess gully developmental stages and the evolutionary processes can be deduced by using loess gully head characteristics. This study is of great significance for development and improvement of the theoretical system for describing loess gully landforms.
基金supported by the Research Fund for Commonweal Trades (Meteorology) (Grants No.GYHY200706037, GYHY (QX) 2007-6-1,GYHY200906007,and GYHY201006038)the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grants No.50479017 and 40971016)Program for Changjiang Scholars and Innovative Research Team in University (Grant No.IRT0717)
文摘A grid-based distributed hydrological model, the Block-wise use of TOPMODEL （BTOPMC）, which was developed from the original TOPMODEL, was used for hydrological daily rainfall-runoff simulation. In the BTOPMC model, the runoff is explicitly calculated on a cell-by-cell basis, and the Muskingum-Cunge flow concentration method is used. In order to test the model＇s applicability, the BTOPMC model and the Xin＇anjiang model were applied to the simulation of a humid watershed and a semi-humid to semi-arid watershed in China. The model parameters were optimized with the Shuffle Complex Evolution （SCE-UA） method. Results show that both models can effectively simulate the daily hydrograph in humid watersheds, but that the BTOPMC model performs poorly in semi-humid to semi-arid watersheds. The excess-infiltration mechanism should be incorporated into the BTOPMC model to broaden the model＇s applicability.
基金supported by the Professional Development Award of the University of Tennessee
文摘Topographic shielding of cosmic radiation flux is a key parameter in using cosmogenic nuclides to determine surface exposure ages or erosion rates. Traditionally, this parameter is measured in the field and uncertainty and/or inconsistency may exist among different investigators. This paper provides an ArcGIS python code to determine topographic shielding factors using digital elevation models （DEMs）. This code can be imported into ArcGIS as a geoprocessing tool with a user-friendly graphical interface. The DEM-derived parameters using this method were validated with field measurements in central Tian Shan. Results indicate that DEM-derived shielding factors are consistent with field-measured values. It provides a valuable tool to save fieldwork efforts and has the potential to provide consistent results for different regions in the world to facilitate the comparison of cosmogenie nuclide results.
基金financially supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Nos. 41001363 and 41471335)the Ocean Public Welfare Scientific Research Project, China (No. 201305021)
文摘Soil salinity is one of the most severe environmental problems worldwide. It is necessary to develop a soil-salinity-estimation model to project the spatial distribution of soil salinity. The aims of this study were to use remote sensed images and digital elevation model(DEM) to develop quantitative models for estimating soil salinity and to investigate the influence of vegetation on soil salinity estimation. Digital bands of Landsat Thematic Mapper(TM) images, vegetation indices, and terrain indices were selected as predictive variables for the estimation. The generalized additive model(GAM) was used to analyze the quantitative relationship between soil salt content, spectral properties, and terrain indices. Akaike's information criterion(AIC) was used to select relevant predictive variables for fitted GAMs. A correlation analysis and root mean square error between predicted and observed soil salt contents were used to validate the fitted GAMs. A high ratio of explained deviance suggests that an integrated approach using spectral and terrain indices with GAM was practical and efficient for estimating soil salinity. The performance of the fitted GAMs varied with changes in vegetation cover.Salinity in sparsely vegetated areas was estimated better than in densely vegetated areas. Visible red and near-infrared bands, and the second and third components of the tasseled cap transformation were the most important spectral variables for the estimation. Variable combinations in the fitted GAMs and their contribution varied with changes in vegetation cover. The contribution of terrain indices was smaller than that of spectral indices, possibly due to the low spatial resolution of DEM. This research may provide some beneficial references for regional soil salinity estimation.
基金The research is jointly supported financially by the National Natural Science Foundation of China under Grant No. 40171016 and 49794030.
文摘On the basis of Digital Elevation Model data, the raster flow vectors, watershed delineation, and spatial topological relationship are generated by the Martz and Garbrecht method for the upper area of Huangnizhuang station in the Shihe Catchment with 805 km<SUP>2</SUP> of area, an intensified observation field for the HUBEX/GAME Project. Then, the Xin’anjiang Model is applied for runoff production in each grid element where rain data measured by radar at Fuyang station is utilized as the input of the hydrological model. The elements are connected by flow vectors to the outlet of the drainage catchment where runoff is routed by the Muskingum method from each grid element to the outlet according to the length between each grid and the outlet. The Nash-Sutcliffe model efficiency coefficient is 92.41% from 31 May to 3 August 1998, and 85.64%, 86.62%, 92.57%, and 83.91%, respectively for the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and 4th flood events during the whole computational period. As compared with the case where rain-gauge data are used in simulating the hourly hydrograph at Huangnizhuang station in the Shihe Catchment, the index of model efficiency improvement is positive, ranging from 27.56% to 69.39%. This justifies the claim that radar-measured data are superior to rain-gauge data as inputs to hydrological modeling. As a result, the grid-based hydrological model provides a good platform for runoff computation when radar-measured rain data with highly spatiotemporal resolution are taken as the input of the hydrological model.
基金Under the auspices of National Natural Science Foundation of China (No.40930531,41171320,41001301)
文摘The spatial structure characteristics of landform are the foundation of geomorphologic classification and recognition.This paper proposed a new method on quantifying spatial structure characteristics of terrain surface based on improved 3D Lacunarity model.Lacunarity curve and its numerical integration are used in this model to improve traditional classification result that different morphological types may share the close value of indexes based on global statistical analysis.Experiments at four test areas with different landform types show that improved 3D Lacunarity model can effectively distinguish different morphological types per texture analysis.Higher sensitivity in distinguishing the tiny differences of texture characteristics of terrain surface shows that the quantification method by 3D Lacu-narity model and its numerical integration presented in this paper could contribute to improving the accuracy of land-form classifications and relative studies.
基金supported by the key project of the National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC No. 50739002)the National Science Council of Taibei of China (NSC 97-2625-M-019-001)+1 种基金the Open Research Fund Program of State key Laboratory of Hydraulics and River Engineering,Sichuan University,China (No. 1001)Financial supports from the above organizations are fully acknowledged
文摘Floods are one of the most common natural hazards occurring all around the world.However,the knowledge of the origins of a food and its possible magnitude in a given region remains unclear yet.This lack of understanding is particularly acute in mountainous regions with large degrees in Sichuan Province,China,where runoff is seldom measured.The nature of streamflow in a region is related to the time and spatial distribution of rainfall quantity and watershed geomorphology.The geomorphologic characteristics are the channel network and surrounding landscape which transform the rainfall input into an output hydrograph at the outlet of the watershed.With the given geomorphologic properties of the watershed,theoretically the hydrological response function can be determined hydraulically without using any recorded data of past rainfall or runoff events.In this study,a kinematic-wave-based geomorphologic instantaneous unit hydrograph (KW-GIUH) model was adopted and verified to estimate runoff in ungauged areas.Two mountain watersheds,the Yingjing River watershed and Tianquan River watershed in Sichuan were selected as study sites.The geomorphologic factors of the two watersheds were obtained by using a digital elevation model (DEM) based on the topographic database obtained from the Shuttle Radar Topography Mission of US's NASA.The tests of the model on the two watersheds were performed both at gauged and ungauged sites.Comparison between the simulated and observed hydrographs for a number of rainstorms at the gauged sites indicated the potential of the KW-GIUH model as a useful tool for runoff analysis in these regions.Moreover,to simulate possible concentrated rainstorms that could result in serious flooding in these areas,synthetic rainfall hyetographs were adopted as input to the KW-GIUH model to obtain the flow hydrographs at two ungauged sites for different return period conditions.Hydroeconomic analysis can be performed in the future to select the optimum design return period for determining the flood control work.
基金partially supported by JSPS KAKENHI(Grant No.16H03153)the Limestone Association of Japan。
文摘Displacement monitoring in open-pit mines is one of the important tasks for safe management of mining processes.Differential interferometric synthetic aperture radar(DInSAR),mounted on an artificial satellite,has the potential to be a cost-effective method for monitoring surface displacements over extensive areas,such as open-pit mines.DInSAR requires the ground surface elevation data in the process of its analysis as a digital elevation model(DEM).However,since the topography of the ground surface in open-pit mines changes largely due to excavations,measurement errors can occur due to insufficient information on the elevation of mining areas.In this paper,effect of different elevation models on the accuracy of the displacement monitoring results by DInSAR is investigated at a limestone quarry.In addition,validity of the DInSAR results using an appropriate DEM is examined by comparing them with the results obtained by global positioning system(GPS)monitoring conducted for three years at the same limestone quarry.It is found that the uncertainty of DEMs induces large errors in the displacement monitoring results if the baseline length of the satellites between the master and the slave data is longer than a few hundred meters.Comparing the monitoring results of DInSAR and GPS,the root mean square error(RMSE)of the discrepancy between the two sets of results is less than 10 mm if an appropriate DEM,considering the excavation processes,is used.It is proven that DInSAR can be applied for monitoring the displacements of mine slopes with centimeter-level accuracy.
基金supported by the Strategic Priority Research Program of Chinese Academy of Sciences (Grant No. XDA20010203)
文摘Tropical mountainous areas not only provide substantial carbon storage and play an important role in global biological diversity, but also provide basic livelihood for a large number of poor ethnic minorities. However, there is no unified and explicit definition for mountainous areas. The local elevation range(LER) is a crucial structural parameter for delineating mountainous areas. However, current LER products are limited by the subjective selection of an optimum statistical window or coarser spatial resolution of topographical data. In this study, we presented an approach using thresholds for three topographic parameters, elevation, slope, and LER, derived from the Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer Global Digital Elevation Model(ASTER GDEM) to redelineate the vast mountainous areas of mainland Southeast Asia(MSEA). The mean change-point analysis method was applied to determine the optimum statistical window of the 1 arc second(approximately 30 m)-resolution GDEM LER. The results showed that: First, the optimum statistical window is 38 × 38 cell units(width × height) in a rectangular neighborhood, or an area of about 1.30 km^2 for calculating GDEM LER in MSEA. Second, the LER of more than 80% of the area ranges from 30 m to 499 m in MSEA. The LERs in the northern and northwestern MSEA are greater than their counterparts in the south and east. Third, the area of the re-delineated mountainous areas was 83.52 × 10~4 km^2, about 38.71% of the total area. Spatially, the mountainous areas are mainly distributed in the north and northeast of MSEA. The re-delineated 30-m resolution map of the mountainous areas will serve as a topographical dataset for monitoring mountainrelated land surface changes in MSEA. The parameter-modified mountain extraction procedure can be expanded to delineate global mountainous areas.
基金the National Basic Research Program(973)of China(No.2007CB714103)
文摘A new algorithm to automatically extract drainage networks and catchments based on triangulation irregular networks(TINs) digital elevation model(DEM) was developed. The flow direction in this approach is determined by computing the spatial gradient of triangle and triangle edges. Outflow edge was defined by comparing the contribution area that is separated by the steepest descent of the triangle. Local channels were then tracked to build drainage networks. Both triangle edges and facets were considered to construct flow path. The algorithm has been tested in the site for Hawaiian Island of Kaho'olawe, and the results were compared with those calculated by ARCGIS as well as terrain map. The reported algorithm has been proved to be a reliable approach with high efficiency to generate well-connected and coherent drainage networks.
文摘Due to the influences of local topographical factors and terrain inter-shielding, calculation of direct solar radiation （DSR） quantity of rugged terrain is very complex. Based on digital elevation model （DEM） data and meteorological observations, a distributed model for calculating DSR over rugged terrain is developed. This model gives an all-sided consideration on factors influencing th a resolution of 1 km × 1 km for thDSR. Using the developed model, normals of annual DSR quantity wie Yellow River Basin was generated, with DEM data as the general characterization of terrain. Characteristics of DSR quantity influenced by geographic and topographic factors over rugged terrain were analyzed thoroughly. Results suggest that： influenced by local topographic factors, i.e. azimuth, slope and so on, and annual DSR quantity over mountainous area has a clear spatial difference; annual DSR quantity of sunny slope （or southern slope） of mountains is obviously larger than that of shady slope （or northern slope）. The calculated DSR quantity of the Yellow River Basin is provided in the same way as other kinds of spatial information and can be employed as basic geographic data for relevant studies as well.
基金Supported by National Natural Science Foundation of China (No.50479017)Program for Changjiang Scholars and Innovative Research Team in University (PCSIRT) (No. IRT0717)
文摘A grid and Green-Ampt based （Grid-GA）distributed hydrologic physical model was developed for flood simulation and forecasting in semi-humid and semi-arid basin. Based on topographical information of each grid cell extracted fi＇om the digital elevation model （DEM） and Green-Ampt infiltration method, the Grid-GA model takes into consideration the redistribution of water content, and consists of vegetation and root interception, evapotranspiration, runoff generation via the excess infiltration mechanism, runoff concentration, and flow routing. The downslope redis- tribution of soil moisture is explicitly calculated on a grid basis, and water exchange among grids within runoff routing along the river drainage networks is taken into consideration. The proposed model and Xin＇anjiang model were ap- plied to the upper Lushi basin in the Luohe River, a tributary of the Yellow River, with an area of 4 716 km2 for flood simulation. Results show that both models perform well in flood simulation and can be used for flood forecasting in semi-humid and semi-arid region.
基金financial support from the National Natural Science Foundation of China(No.40201021)the Zhejiang Natural Science Foundation of China(M403040).
文摘In China, many scenic and tourism areas are suffering from the urbanization that results from physical development of tourism projects, leading to the removal of the vegetative cover, the creation of areas impermeable to water, in-stream modifications, and other problems. In this paper, the risk of soil erosion and its ecological risks in the West Lake Scenic Spots （WLSS） area were quantitatively evaluated by integrating the revised universal soil loss equation （RUSLE） with a digital elevation model （DEM） and geographical information system （GIS） software. The standard RUSLE factors were modified to account for local climatic and topographic characteristics reflected in the DEM maps, and for the soil types and vegetation cover types. An interface was created between the Areinfo software and RUSLE so that the level of soil erosion and its ecological risk in the WLSS area could be mapped immediately once the model factors were defined for the area. The results from an analysis using the Areinfo-RUSLE interface showed that the risk value in 93 % of the expanding western part of the WLSS area was moderate or more severe and the soil erosion risk in this area was thus large compared with that in the rest of the area. This paper mainly aimed to increase the awareness of the soil erosion risk in urbanizing areas and suggest that the local governments should consider the probable ecological risk resulting from soil erosion when enlarging and developing tourism areas.
文摘The geomorphic studies are extremely dependent on the quality and spatial resolution of digital elevation model(DEM)data.The unique terrain characteristics of a particular landscape are derived from DEM,which are responsible for initiation and development of ephemeral gullies.As the topographic features of an area significantly influences on the erosive power of the water flow,it is an important task the extraction of terrain features from DEM to properly research gully erosion.Alongside,topography is highly correlated with other geo-environmental factors i.e.geology,climate,soil types,vegetation density and floristic composition,runoff generation,which ultimately influences on gully occurrences.Therefore,terrain morphometric attributes derived from DEM data are used in spatial prediction of gully erosion susceptibility(GES)mapping.In this study,remote sensing-Geographic information system(GIS)techniques coupled with machine learning(ML)methods has been used for GES mapping in the parts of Semnan province,Iran.Current research focuses on the comparison of predicted GES result by using three types of DEM i.e.Advanced Land Observation satellite(ALOS),ALOS World 3D-30 m(AW3D30)and Advanced Space borne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer(ASTER)in different resolutions.For further progress of our research work,here we have used thirteen suitable geo-environmental gully erosion conditioning factors(GECFs)based on the multi-collinearity analysis.ML methods of conditional inference forests(Cforest),Cubist model and Elastic net model have been chosen for modelling GES accordingly.Variable’s importance of GECFs was measured through sensitivity analysis and result show that elevation is the most important factor for occurrences of gullies in the three aforementioned ML methods(Cforest=21.4,Cubist=19.65 and Elastic net=17.08),followed by lithology and slope.Validation of the model’s result was performed through area under curve(AUC)and other statistical indices.The validation result of AUC has shown that Cforest is the most appropriate model for predicting the GES assessment in three different DEMs(AUC value of Cforest in ALOS DEM is 0.994,AW3D30 DEM is 0.989 and ASTER DEM is 0.982)used in this study,followed by elastic net and cubist model.The output result of GES maps will be used by decision-makers for sustainable development of degraded land in this study area.
基金supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China(Grant Nos.41471316,41401456)A Project Funded by the Priority Academic Program Development of Jiangsu Higher Education Institutions-PAPD(Grant No.164320H101)+1 种基金Major University Science Research Project of Jiangsu Province(Grant No.13KJA170001)the financial support provided by the PhD Scholarship from Eurasic Pacific Uninet for collaboration research in Austria
文摘Although many studies have investigated slope gradient uncertainty derived from Digital Elevation Models(DEMs), the research concerning slope length uncertainty is far from mature. This discrepancy affects the availability and accuracy of soil erosion as well as hydrological modeling. This study investigates the formation and distribution of existing errors and uncertainties in slope length derivation based on 5-m resolution DEMs of the Loess Plateau in the middle of China. The slope length accuracy in three different landform areas is examined to analyse algorithm effects. The experiments indicate that the accuracy of the flat test area is lower than that of the rougher areas. The value from the specific contributing area(SCA) method is greater than the cumulative slope length(CSL), and the differences between these two methods arise from the shape of the upslope area. The variation of mean slope length derived from various DEM resolutions and landforms. The slope length accuracy decreases with increasing grid size and terrain complexity at the six test sites. A regression model is built to express the relationship of mean slope length with DEM resolution less than 85 m and terrain complexity represented by gully density. The results support the understanding of the slope length accuracy, thereby aiding in the effective evaluation of the modeling effect of surface process.
文摘This paper investigates the differences that result from applying different approaches to uncertainty modeling and reports an experimental examining error estimation and propagation in elevation and slope, with the latter derived from the former. It is confirmed that significant differences exist between uncertainty descriptors, and propagation of uncertainty to end products is immensely affected by the specification of source uncertainty.
基金supported by the(i)Commonwealth Scholarship Commission and the Foreign,Commonwealth and Development Office in the UK[Grant number NGCN-2021-239](ii)University of Cape Town Postgraduate Funding Office.
文摘Validation studies of global Digital Elevation Models(DEMs)in the existing literature are limited by the diversity and spread of landscapes,terrain types considered and sparseness of groundtruth.Moreover,there are knowledge gaps on the accuracy variations in rugged and complex landscapes,and previous studies have often not relied on robust internal and external validation measures.Thus,there is still only partial understanding and limited perspective of the reliability and adequacy of global DEMs for several applications.In this study,we utilize a dense spread of LiDAR groundtruth to assess the vertical accuracies of four medium-resolution,readily available,free-access and global coverage 1 arc-second(30 m)DEMs:NASADEM,ASTER GDEM,Copernicus GLO-30,and ALOS World 3D(AW3D).The assessment is carried out at landscapes spread across Cape Town,Southern Africa(urban/industrial,agricultural,mountain,peninsula and grassland/shrubland)and forested national parks in Gabon,Central Africa(low-relief tropical rainforest and high-relief tropical rainforest).The statistical analysis is based on robust accuracy metrics that cater for normal and non-normal elevation error distribution,and error ranking.In Cape Town,Copernicus DEM generally had the least vertical error with an overall Mean Error(ME)of 0.82 m and Root Mean Square Error(RMSE)of 2.34 m while ASTER DEM had the poorest performance.However,ASTER GDEM and NASADEM performed better in the low-relief and high-relief tropical forests of Gabon.Generally,the DEM errors have a moderate to high positive correlation in forests,and a low to moderate positive correlation in mountains and urban areas.Copernicus DEM showed superior vertical accuracy in forests with less than 40%tree cover,while ASTER and NASADEM performed better in denser forests with tree cover greater than 70%.This study is a robust regional assessment of these global DEMs.
基金Funded by the Natural Science Foundation of Chongqing under Grant No. CSTC2006AB1015.
文摘Researchers in P.R.China commonly create triangulate irregular networks(TINs) from contours and then convert TINs into digital elevation models(DEMs).However,the DEM produced by this method can not precisely describe and simulate key hydrological features such as rivers and drainage borders.Taking a hilly region in southwestern China as a research area and using ArcGISTM software,we analyzed the errors of different interpolations to obtain distributions of the errors and precisions of different algorithms and to provide references for DEM productions.The results show that different interpolation errors satisfy normal distributions,and large error exists near the structure line of the terrain.Furthermore,the results also show that the precision of a DEM interpolated with the Australian National University digital elevation model(ANUDEM) is higher than that interpolated with TIN.The DEM interpolated with TIN is acceptable for generating DEMs in the hilly region of southwestern China.
基金supported in part by the National Natural Science Foundation of China under grant of 42090012in part by the project supported by the Open Fund of Hubei Luojia Laboratory(220100009)+3 种基金in part by 03 special research and 5G project of Jiangxi province in China(20212ABC03A09)Zhuhai industry university research cooperation project of China(ZH22017001210098PWC)Sichuan Science and Technology Program(2022YFN0031)Zhizhuo Research Fund on Spatial-Temporal Artificial Intelligence(Grant No.ZZJJ202202).
文摘High-quality height reference data are embedded in the accuracy verification processes of most remote sensing terrain applications.The Ice,Cloud,and Land elevation Satellite 2(ICESat-2)/ATL08 terrain product has shown promising results for estimating ground heights,but it has not been fully evaluated.Hence,this study aims to assess and enhance the accuracy of the ATL08 terrain product as a height reference for the newest versions of the Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer(ASTER),the Shuttle Radar Topography Mission(SRTM),and TanDEM-X(TDX)DEMs over vegetated mountainous areas.We used uncertainty-based filtering method for the ATL08 strong and weak beams to enhance their accuracy.Then,the results were evaluated against a reference airborne LiDAR digital terrain model(DTM),by selecting 10,000 points over the entire area and comparing the accuracy of ASTER,SRTM,and TDX DEMs assessed by the LiDAR DTM to the accuracy of the ASTER,SRTM,and TDX DEMs assessed by the ATL08 strong beams,weak beams,and all beams.We also detected the impact of the terrain aspect,slope,and land cover types on the accuracy of the ATL08 terrain elevations and their relationship with height errors and uncertainty.Our findings show the accuracy of the ATL08 strong beams was enhanced by 43.91%;while the weak beams accuracy was enhanced by 74.05%.Furthermore,slope strongly influenced ATL08 height errors and height uncertainty;especially on the weak beams.The errors induced by the slope significantly decreased when the uncertainty levels were reduced to<20 m.The evaluations of ASTER,SRTM,and TDX DEMs by ATL08 strong and weak beams are close to those assessed by LiDAR DTM points within 0.6 m for the strong beams.These findings indicate that ATL08 strong beams can be used as a height reference over vegetated mountainous regions.
