Flunets: A new matlab-based tool for drainage network ordering by Horton and hack hierarchies

Abstract

This work presents FLUNETS (FLUvial NETwork Sorting tool), a new MATLAB-based tool designed for channel network ordering by Horton and Hack hierarchies. Differently to Strahler and Shreve hierarchies, Hack and Horton orderings allow organizing a drainage network in a hierarchy, identifying the parent segment over the child segment, giving as a result a network where the value of a river remains unchanged from the mouth upstream to the headwater. The novelty of FLUNETS is that it allows the user to choose the hierarchy attribute. Therefore, a fluvial network can be ordered by distance to the mouth or by accumulation upstream. In addition, FLUNETS offers a wide set of optional parameters, which turns it into a friendly tool to attain a highly tailored ordered fluvial network. A continuous fluvial network is the starting point for multiple landscape analysis applications. The source code is available in the authors’ GitHub account (https://github.com/geouned/FLUNETS).