The Effects of DEM Resolution on Hydrological Simulation in BASINS-HSPF Modeling

In this study, the effect of DEM resolution (15m, 30m, 50m, 70m, 100m, 200m, 300m) on the hydrological simulation was examined using BASINS (Better Assessment Science Integrating point and Nonpoint Source) for Heukcheon watershed (303.3km2) data from 1998 to 1999. Generally, as the cell size of DEM increased, topographical changes were observed as the original range of elevation decreased. The processing time of watershed delineation and river network needed more time and effort on smaller cell size of DEM. The larger DEM demonstrated had some errors in the junction of river network which might effects on the simulation of water quantity and quality. The area weighted average watershed slope became lower but the length weighted average channel slope became higher as the DEM size increased. DEM resolution affected substantially on the topographical parameter but less on the hydrological simulation. Considering processing time and accuracy on hydrological simulation DEM mesh size of 100m is recommended for this watershed.