Water Basin Delimitation in a Relief Transition Region

ABSTRACT The objective of this work was to evaluate the performance accuracy of digital elevation models in delimiting a water basin located in the relief transition region between the São Francisco Plateau, São Franciscana Depression and the Espinhaço mountain range. Four digital elevation models with data from the Shuttle Radar Topographic Mission (SRTM) and map topography were generated using the Topo To Raster interpolator with and without support from hydrography maps (IBGE), and another with the original SRTM data. For each digital elevation model, its accuracy was evaluated for representing: the drainage, the hydrography and basin mouth in comparison to the references obtained from IBGE maps. The models generated with SRTM and topographic data supported by hydrography maps showed good performance, with small delimitation errors in the water basin. Those generated without support from hydrography maps showed gross errors due to non-representation of the hydrography in the São Franciscana Depression region.