Comparison of LiDAR-based morphometric analysis of a drainage basin with results obtained from UAV, TOPO, ASTER and SRTM-based DEMs

Abstract

Morphometric parameters are important elements in water and land resource management studies. In this study, 23 morphometric parameters of drainage networks were extracted using a Shuttle Radar Topography Mission (SRTM)-based digital elevation model (DEM), an Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer (ASTER)-based DEM, a 1:25,000 scale topographical map (TOPO)-based DEM, an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) -based DEM and an airborne light detection and ranging (LiDAR)-based DEM. Generally, LiDAR sensors provide more accurate results than other DEM sources, and for that reason, we used LiDAR-based DEM data as a reference for comparing results of analyses made by the other DEM sources. According to the results, as resolution increases, many morphometric parameter values also tend to increase. In addition, for all of the morphometric parameter values (basic, derived and shape), the values obtained using the TOPO, UAV, ASTER and SRTM DEMs closely resembled the values obtained using LiDAR DEM-based parameters.