A topological system for delineation and codification of the Earth’s river basins

doi:10.1016/S0022-1694(99)00011-6

Journal of Hydrology

Volume 218, Issues 1–2, 10 May 1999, Pages 1-12

https://doi.org/10.1016/S0022-1694(99)00011-6 Get rights and content

Abstract

A comprehensive reference system for the Earth’s river basins is proposed as a support to river basin management, global change research, and the pursuit of sustainable development. A natural system for delineation and codification of basins is presented which is based upon topographic control and the topology of the river network. These characteristics make the system well suited for implementation and use with digital elevation models (DEMs) and geographic information systems. A demonstration of these traits is made with the 30-arcsecond GTOPO30 DEM for North America. The system has additional appeal owing to its economy of digits and the topological information that they carry. This is illustrated through presentation of comparisons with USGS hydrologic unit codes and demonstration of the use of code numbers to reveal dependence or independence of water use activities within a basin.

Introduction

The river basin has seen a renewed interest in recent years as a fundamental landscape unit for development planning and management. The 1992 Dublin Conference on Water and the Environment and the 1992 UN Conference on Environment and Development in Rio de Janeiro have formally focused their attention on this topic. Growing practical concerns have encouraged this emphasis in more immediate and compelling ways. Increasing human populations steadily raise demand for fresh water while often adversely affecting the quality of the available supply. Meanwhile, global climate changes threaten to alter the spatial and temporal patterns of precipitation and evapo-transpiration, further challenging the human capacity for adaptation.

River basin management is the intellectual basis for responding to these challenges (Newson, 1992). Among the problems that have impeded its successful application, Barrow (1998) cites the lack of baseline data and improved simulation modeling that they can support. Goulter and Forrest (1987) and Burton (1995) note the positive contribution that geographical information systems (GIS) can have in this regard. GIS can assemble available data and facilitate the visualization, modeling, and analysis needed to avoid planning decisions based on false assumptions.

Delineation of river basins is an indispensable step if GIS technology is to be used to support river basin planning. We feel that there is a need for a simple and globally applicable reference system that at once uniquely identifies and indicates the spatial nature of a hydrographic basin. To meet this need, we present a system for delineation and codification of basins on the basis of topography and the topology of the resulting drainage network.

Section snippets

Description of existing systems

Several codification systems for basins and stream gauges have been developed over the years by organizations with a need to organize hydrologic data. Basin codification schemes directly address the need for numbering natural landscape units that are the focus of river basin management. Stream gauge numbering systems implicitly identify upstream areas but they do not necessarily correspond to resource management units. Stream gauge locations are often dictated by logistical considerations, such

Topological characteristics of the proposed system

The system proposed here for the delineation and codification of the Earth’s river basins is founded upon concepts first articulated by the late Otto Pfafstetter, an engineer with the Departamento Nacional de Obras de Saneamento (DNOS), a civil works agency of the federal government of Brazil (Pfafstetter, 1989). It is a natural system based upon topographic control of areas drained on the Earth’s surface and the topology of the resulting hydrographic network.

At the heart of a basin’s identity

Implementation of the method for a continent

The USGS has developed a consistent set of DEMs with 30-arcsecond (approximately 1 km) postings for the land masses of the Earth (Gesch et al., 1999). They have been given the name GTOPO30 and are available to the public on the World Wide Web at http://edcwww.cr.usgs.gov/landdaac/gtopo30/gtopo30.html. Procedures for continental basin delineation and codification were developed using these data sets as input. The North American continent was chosen as the first for implementation of the

Characteristics of the numbering scheme

Identification numbers that end with an even digit represent basins, and numbers that end with an odd value represent interbasins. Upstream-downstream dependency between locations can be inferred by examining and comparing the topological information carried by the identification numbers. This is perhaps best explained by means of a few examples.

Fig. 5 provides a schematic representation of the relationships between a proposed dam, a cannery, and an irrigation diversion. Consider the cannery

Economy of digits

The Pfafstetter system is attractive not only because it is natural and topological, but also because of its economy of digits. Continents can be subdivided into small units of practical size without the need to carry lengthy identification numbers. A comparison with USGS hydrologic unit codes bears this out.

Consider a comparison of the fineness of a subbasin areal breakout and the number of digits in the corresponding identification numbers for two cases: the Pfafstetter subdivision of North

Conclusion

We have presented a system for delineation and codification of the Earth’s river basins that we believe is unique in its global extent and applicability. It is a natural system, defined by topographic control of drainage and the topology of the resulting network of rivers. It has been implemented by the USGS through application of GIS techniques to the North American portions of the GTOPO30 global DEMs. The identification numbers that are generated carry valuable topological information that

References (13)

C. Barrow
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World Development
(1998)
J. Burton
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Water Science and Technology
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Fernandes, D., 1987. Inventário das estações fluviomêtricas, Ministério das Minas e Energia, Departamento Nacional de...
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A topological system for delineation and codification of the Earth’s river basins

Abstract

Introduction

Section snippets

Description of existing systems

Topological characteristics of the proposed system

Implementation of the method for a continent

Characteristics of the numbering scheme

Economy of digits

Conclusion

World Development

Water Science and Technology

New land surface digital elevation model covers the Earth

Eos, Transactions, American Geophysical Union

Use of geographical information systems (GIS) in river basin management

Water Science and Technology