Evaluation shows Digital Elevation Models enhance drainage density understanding in river basins, indicating appropriate model selection is crucial.
This study evaluates the performance of various Digital Elevation Models (DEMs) and Survey of India (SOI) topographic sheets in fluvial morphometry using the upper part of the Jiadhal River basin as a case study. The primary objective is to compare and assess the interchangeability of data derived from SRTM, ASTER, AW3D, TanDEM-X, Cartosat 30m DEMs, and SOI 1:50,000 scale topographic sheets. Key morphometric parameters such as stream order, stream length, drainage density, drainage texture, basin area, perimeter, and relief aspects were derived from each dataset and compared to determine the influence of spatial resolution on hydrological studies. Results indicate that DEMs such as AW3D, Cartosat capture finer landform features better and provide added precision in stream delineation, mostly in flat terrains, as compared to other data sources. Despite variations in satellite’s spatial resolutions, parameters and sensor systems, the derived fluvial morphometric parameters and statistics from the DEMs and topographic sheets showed significant agreement overall. The study highlights that AW3D, Cartosat 30m DEM outperforms SRTM, ASTER and TanDEM-X in stream path delineation, and are recommended for future morphometric and river basin studies. This research highlights the significance of choosing appropriate DEMs based on their spatial resolutions as well as terrain characteristics of the river basin for improved morphometric and river basin analysis.
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Chetia et al. (2025) studied this question.
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