Herramientas de Hidrologa para la elaboracin

de cuencas Hidrogrficas

Arc-Hydro Tools in ArcGIS 10.1

Gabriel Prez
Natalia Len

Introduction

Hydrologic Analysis Tools in ArcGIS contribute to

the understanding of how water flows across an
area and how changes in that area affect the
flow. This knowledge is of great relevance in
fields such as regional planning, agriculture,
forestry,

civil

engineering,

surveying, among many others.

geology,

and

Functions of the Hydrologic Analysis Tools

Model the movement of

water across a surface

Extract hydrologic
information from a Digital
Elevation Model (DEM).

Model drainage basins and

sinks in a given area.

Find and eliminate, peaks

and other surface
imperfections.

Calculate Streams shape and

lenght based on a filled
raster.

Other Hydrologic Analysis Tools

ArcGIS has a free extension called
ArcHydro Tools which orders all the
Hydrology Spatial Analyst tools and offers
the possibility of additional geoprocesses
for
advanced
users.
.

ArcHydro Tools not only offers Terrain

preprocessing tools but also gives the
possibility to do analysis in the following
fields:
Terrain Morphology
Watershed Processing
Network analysis

Example

Given the mask DEM of the

drainage basin of the Bogot
River to its middle part,
calculate and represent its
hydrography using ArcGIS
and Arc-Hydro Toolbox.

Define the drainage areas

(sub-basins)

Identify drainage lines (rivers)

Fill Sinks

Fills sinks and peaks in a surface raster to remove small

imperfections in the elevation data.

Input: Raw DEM - raster

Output: Filled DEM, without sinks or peaks - raster

Sinks and peaks are usual errors due to raster resolution.

Thus, the sinks must be filled in order to obtain a continuous
drainage network.

Fill Sinks

Arc Hydro Tools Terrain Preprocessing DEM Manipulation Fill

Sinks

Flow Direction

Creates a raster of flow direction from each cell to its

steepest downslope neighbor.

Input: Filled DEM - raster

Output: Flow Direction grid - raster

This tool takes a surface as input and outputs a raster showing the
direction of flow of each cell. There are eight valid output directions
relating to the eight adjacent cells into which flow could travel.

Flow Direction

Arc Hydro Tools Terrain Preprocessing Flow

Direction

Flow Accumulation

Creates a raster of accumulated flow into each cell.

Input: Flow Direction grid - raster

Output: Flow Accumulation grid - raster

The value of cells in the output raster is the number of cells

that flow to each cell. Cells with a flow accumulation of 0
are local topography highs.

Flow Accumulation

Arc Hydro Tools Terrain Preprocessing Flow Accumulation

Stream Definition

Computes a stream grid that contains a value of

1 for all the cells in the input flow accumulation
grid that have a value greater
than the
given threshold.
This tool classifies all cells with a flow accumulation greater
than the user-defined threshold as cells belonging to the
stream
network.

The default is 1% of the largest drainage area in the entire

DEM. The smaller the threshold chosen the greater the
number of sub-basins delineated in a following step.

Input: Flow Accumulation grid - raster

Output: Stream grid - raster

Stream Definition

Arc Hydro Tools Terrain Preprocessing Stream Definition

Stream Segmentation

Assigns unique values to sections of a raster linear

network between intersections.

Stream grid

Stream Link grid

Input: Stream grid - raster

Output: Stream Link grid - raster

Stream Segmentation

Arc Hydro Tools Terrain Preprocessing Stream

Segmentation

Catchment Grid Delineation

Delineates a sub-basin for every stream segment.

Stream Link grid

Catchment grid

Inputs: Flow Direction grid and Stream Link grid - rasters

Output : Catchment grid - raster

There are as many catchment zones (subbasins) as stream links were

defined in the Stream Segmentation grid.

Catchment Grid Delineation

Arc Hydro Tools Terrain Preprocessing Catchment Grid

Delineation

Catchment Polygon Processing

Creates a vector layer of sub-basins using the Catchment grid

computed previously.

Catchment grid
polygons

Catchment

Inputs: Catchment grid - raster

Output : Catchment polygons - vector

Catchment Polygon Processing

Arc Hydro Tools Terrain Preprocessing Catchment Polygon

Processing

Drainage Line Processing

Creates a vector stream coverage. This tool vectored

the stream segments previously identified.

Inputs: Stream Link grid and Flow Direction grid raster's

Output : Drainage Line - vector

Drainage Line Processing

Arc Hydro Tools Terrain Preprocessing Drainage Line

Processing

Other useful Hydrological Analysis Tools

Flow Length. Calculates the upstream or downstream distance, or
weighted distance, along the flow path of each cell.
Sink. Creates a raster identifying all sinks or areas of internal
drainage.
Snap pour point. Snaps pour points to the cell of highest flow
accumulation within a specified distance.
Watershed. Determines the contributing area above a set of cells in
a raster.

References
http://resources.arcgis.com/en/help/previous-help/index.html
[Recuperado el 11 de marzo de 2014]
http://acolita.com/delimitar-automaticamente-micro-cuenca-hidr
ografica-especifica-en-arcgis/
[Recuperado el 11 de marzo de 2014]
HEC-GeoHMS Users Manual.
ArcGIS 10.1 Help