Geoscience Reference
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Development of a New D16 Algorithm
for Single Flow Direction Model
Wan Muhd Hairi Wan Ab Karim and Mohamad Ghazali Hashim
Abstract Currently, D8 algorithm is widely used on raster-based dataset to
illustrate the correlation and relationship between a particular pixel with its
neighbouring pixels in water flow direction model. Unfortunately, D8 algorithm
has some limitations, for instance, it is not being suitable to model flow divergence
in ridge area, sub-catchment identification, among others. Several applications on
drainage network, agricultural and some construction planning need accurate
information of flow direction. Thus, this study tries to develop a new algorithm,
which has the capability to improve the efficiency, accuracy, and reliability of the
current D8 algorithm on surface Single Flow Direction (SFD) modelling. The
proposed algorithm is called D16 algorithm. This D16 algorithm, not only adds
eight new flow direction options, but also introduces some rules and equations to
overcome the limitations of the current SFD as well as the D8 algorithm. This
paper highlights the process of deriving the D16 model, logical structures, equa-
tions, comparison results between D8 and D16 algorithm on topographic map,
Shuttle Radar Topography Mission (SRTM) and Advance Spaceborne Thermal
Emission and Reflection (ASTER) data.
Keywords D8 algorithm
Raster-based dataset
Water flow direction
Single
flow direction model
New D16 algorithm