• Journal of the Korean Geographical Society
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• v.44 no.3
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• pp.207-223
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• 2009

The TOPMODEL Topographic Index (TI) is widely used to predict the spatial distribution of soil moisture contents, The TI is one of terrain indices which are frequently used in spatially distributed environmental modelings. There have been studies on the evaluation and improvement of the TI. Most of them. however, have focused on only the modified multiple flow direction algorithm and algorithms for slope calculation have been paid little attention, In this research, we attempted to improve the TI by utilizing the infinitive flow direction (Dinf) algorithm and Horn slope algorithm. Then we attempt to analyze and evaluate the influence of the improved TI on hydrological responses of the TOPMODEL As a result. our approaching using the infinitive flow direction (Dinf) and Horn slope algorithm made the TI better than the multiple flow direction (MD8) - the multiple descent slope (MDS) algorithm. However, the model efficiency of discharges at the outlet was not increased. Our research may provide an insight to choose appropriate algorithms for calculating flow direction and slope in spatially distributed environmental modelings.