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Note: This document is for an older version of GRASS GIS that will be discontinued soon. You should upgrade, and read the current manual page.

NAME

r.topidx - Creates a topographic index (wetness index) raster map from an elevation raster map.

KEYWORDS

raster, hydrology, wetness, topographic index

SYNOPSIS

r.topidx
r.topidx --help
r.topidx input=name output=name [--overwrite] [--help] [--verbose] [--quiet] [--ui]

Flags:

--overwrite
Allow output files to overwrite existing files
--help
Print usage summary
--verbose
Verbose module output
--quiet
Quiet module output
--ui
Force launching GUI dialog

Parameters:

input=name [required]
Name of input elevation raster map
output=name [required]
Name for output topographic index raster map

Table of contents

DESCRIPTION

r.topidx creates topographic index (wetness index), ln(a/tan(beta)), map from elevation map

where

a: the area of the hillslope per unit contour length that drains through any point,

tan(beta): the local surface topographic slope (delta vertical) / (delta horizontal).

Input maps may have NULL values. For example, if you have a MASK for a watershed (basin map from r.water.outlet), the following command will create a masked elevation map (belev):

r.mapcalc "belev = if(isnull(basin), basin, elev)"

r.stats -Anc prints out averaged statistics for topographic index.

EXAMPLE

Running the command below will generate the topographic index map shown in the figure:
g.region raster=elevation -p
r.topidx input=elevation output=topidx_elevation
r.topidx example
Figure: topographic index map derived from elevation map

REFERENCES

Cho, H., 2000. GIS Hydrological Modeling System by Using Programming Interface of GRASS. Master's Thesis, Department of Civil Engineering, Kyungpook National University, Korea.

Moore, I.D., R.B. Grayson, and A.R. Ladson, 1991. Digital Terrain Modeling: A Review of Hydrological, Geomorphological, and Biological Applications. Hydrological Processes 5:3-30.

SEE ALSO

r.topmodel, r.water.outlet, r.mapcalc
Known issues

AUTHORS

Huidae Cho
Hydro Laboratory, Kyungpook National University, South Korea

Based on GRIDATB.FOR by Keith Beven.

SOURCE CODE

Available at: r.topidx source code (history)

Latest change: Thursday Feb 03 11:10:06 2022 in commit: 547ff44e6aecfb4c9cbf6a4717fc14e521bec0be


Note: This document is for an older version of GRASS GIS that will be discontinued soon. You should upgrade, and read the current manual page.

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