Vol.:(0123456789) 1 3 Earth Systems and Environment https://doi.org/10.1007/s41748-019-00111-2 ORIGINAL ARTICLE Comparative Study of Diferent Types of Digital Elevation Models on the Basis of Drainage Morphometric Parameters (Case Study of Wadi Fatimah Basin, KSA) Burhan Niyazi 1,2  · Syed Zaidi 1  · Milad Masoud 1,3 Received: 11 December 2018 / Accepted: 9 August 2019 © King Abdulaziz University and Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2019 Abstract Nowadays there are a lot of geospatial datasets available in the form of diferent types of Digital Elevation Models (DEMs) which were launched with diferent resolutions. These datasets are used for studying the physiographical features of the hydrographic basins through the tracing and extracting the elevation points, watershed boundaries, streamlines, fow direc- tions and morphometric parameters assessment. Many researchers have used these datasets to study and evaluate the hydro- logic behavior of the basins which is considered as the refection of physiographic features of the hydrographic basins. In the Middle East especially in Saudi Arabia, the trend of using DEMs increased for hydrographic basin analysis and assessment of hydrologic behavior. So, there is an important question about the accuracy and sensitivity of these datasets which are acquired from diferent DEMs. This study deals with four types of DEMs, frst is derivative from Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Refection Radiometer (ASTER 30 m resolution), second is Shuttle Radar Topographic Mission (SRTM 90 m resolution), third is SRTM 30 m resolution and the fourth is the Advanced Land Observing STLT (ALOS 30 resolution). More than 35 morphometric parameters including drainage network, basin geometry, basin texture and basin relief characteristics were measured and calculated using these four types of DEMs and calibrated with topographic maps of 1:250 K and 1:50 K scale and also google earth maps. Results show that the SRTM 30 m is characterized by high accuracy and has a very good matching with google earth maps and topographic map of scale1:50,000. This research is dealing with the comparison of the morphometric parameters of the hydrographic basin based on the type of DEM. It is clear to conclude that the SRTM 30 resolution is the best type for hydrology and water resources study. Keywords Digital elevation model · DEM · ASTER · SRTM · Basin · Morphometric 1 Introduction In recent years there is a huge demand for using the geospa- tial datasets of diferent DEMs to study and assess the physi- ographic features and hydrologic behavior of hydrographic basin. So, there is an important question about the accuracy and sensitivity of these datasets which are acquired from diferent DEMs. This study deals with four types of DEMs (ASTER 30 m, SRTM 90 m, SRTM 30 m and ALOS 30 m resolution). Summerfield and Hulton (1994) stated that physical aspects of the drainage basin are controlled by topographical features. Pike (2000); Lague et al. (2003) recommended that the topography should be analyzed quantitatively to deter- mine the relative efciency of its components. Smedberg et al. (2009) described that the rivers represent the landscape in a very sensitive way, in which Whipple (2001); Tucker (2004) added that the fuvial systems exhibit long-term changes in the streams due to variation in climate, lithology and tectonics as also stated by Kirby and Whipple (2012); Whittaker (2012). Rinaldi (2003) concluded that the varia- tions in climate and tectonic movements can afect the fu- vial system’s response in the form of stream morphological * Burhan Niyazi bniazi@kau.edu.sa 1 Water Research Centre, King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia 2 Department of Hydrology and Water Resources Management, King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia 3 Hydrology Department, Desert Research Center, Cairo, Egypt