The Shuttle Radar Topography Mission Digital Elevation Model as an alternative data source for deriving hydrological characteristics in lowland catchment — Rogożynek catchment case study

Abstract

This paper describes possibility of supplementing digital topography data needed for hydrologic modeling (WetSpa model) of lowland catchment with existing, freely available DEM data obtained from Shuttle Radar Topography Mission launched on February 11th, 2000. Rogożynek basin (Upper Biebrza) as case study is given. Authors compared three DEMs: topographic — TOPO DEM 20 (20 m resolution), radar — SRTM DEM 90 (90 m res.) and resampled radar — SRTM DEM 20 (20 m res.). There were several characteristics compared and analyzed like: relative height differences, slopes, generated river network and generated subwatersheds (subbasins).