Quantification of global Digital Elevation Model (DEM) – A case study of the newly released NASADEM for a river basin in Central Vietnam

Abstract

Lai Giang River basin, Central Vietnam The Digital Elevation Models (DEM) is essential in hydrological modeling and water cycle understanding. There are several unanswered questions regarding the impact of DEM on the models’ quality of hydrological applications. This study develops a comprehensive framework for evaluating impacts of six global DEM products: MERIT, NASA, SRTM, ASTER GDEM2, AW3D30, and TanDEM-X using the semi-distributed model SWAT for the Lai Giang River basin, Central Vietnam, in which four criteria have been used (i) statistical analysis, (ii) river basin characteristics, (iii) effects of DEM uncertainty on streamflow using hydrological simulations, and (iv) cross-validation’s impacts on hydrological applications. (1) NASA and SRTM 30 DEM were ranked as most accurate DEMs among the chosen products; (2) ASTER GDEM2 performed the worst, with more uncertainty in river networks delineation; (3) MERIT, ASTER GDEM2, and SRTM 90 m provided inaccurate basin delineations, particularly for the intersection subbasin; (4) DEM resolution and source are insensitive to most of the hydrological components, except for lateral flow, groundwater flow, water percolation, and sediment yield. Moreover, a proposed cross-validation approach for the DEM performance has been introduced, showing that the calibrating parameters of higher-resolution DEM would positively impact the hydrological simulations of lower-resolution DEMs and the opposite, especially in terms of flood peak observation.