Author(s)

Rakesh Bahadur, Christopher Ziemniak, David E. Amstutz, William B. Samuels

Center for Water Science and Engineering, Science Applications International Corporation, McLean, USA.

Using geographic information system techniques, elevation derived datasets such as flow accumulation, flow direction, hillsope and flow length were used to delineate river basin boundaries and networks. These datasets included both HYDRO1K (based on 1 kmresolution DEM) and HydroSHEDs (based on100 meterShuttle Radar Topography Mission). Additional spatial data processing of global landuse and soil type data were used to derive grids representing soil depth, texture, hydraulic conductivity, water holding capacity, and curve number. These grids were input to the Geospatial Stream Flow model to calculate overland flow (both travel time and velocity). The model was applied to river basins across several continents to calculate river discharge and velocity based on the use of satellite derived rainfall estimates, numerical weather forecast fields, and geographic data sets describing the land surface. Model output was compared to historical stream gauge observations as a validation step. The stream networks with associated discharge and velocity are used as input to a riverine water contamination model.

Hydrology; Geographic Information Systems; Surface Water

R. Bahadur, C. Ziemniak, D. Amstutz and W. Samuels, "Global River Basin Modeling and Contaminant Transport," American Journal of Climate Change, Vol. 2 No. 2, 2013, pp. 138-146. doi: 10.4236/ajcc.2013.22014.