Effect of transect location, transect spacing and interpolation methods on river bathymetry accuracy

Digital elevation models (DEMs) of river channel bathymetries are developed by interpolating elevations between data collected at discrete points or along transects. The accuracy of interpolated bathymetries depends on measurement error, the density and distribution of point data, and the interpolation method. Whereas point measurement errors can be minimized by selecting the most efficient equipment, the effect of data density and interpolation method on river bathymetry is relatively unknown. Thus, this study focuses on transect-based collection methods and investigates the effects of transect location, the spacing between transects, and interpolation methods on the accuracy of interpolated bathymetry. This is accomplished by comparing four control bathymetries generated from accurate and high resolution, sub-meter scale data to bathymetries interpolated from transect data extracted from the control bathymetries using two transect locating methods and four interpolation methods. The transect locating methods are a morphologically-spaced and an equally-spaced model. The four interpolation methods are Ordinary Kriging, Delaunay Triangulation, and Simple Linear, which are applied in curvilinear coordinates (Delaunay Triangulation is also applied in Cartesian coordinates), and Natural Neighbor only in Cartesian Coordinates. The bathymetric data were obtained from morphologically simple and complex reaches of a large (average bankfull width = 90 m) and a small (average bankfull width = 17 m) river. The accuracy of the developed DEMs is assessed using statistical analysis of the differences between the control and interpolated bathymetries and hydraulic parameters assessed from bankfull water surface elevations. Results indicate that DEM accuracy is not influenced by the choice of transect location method (with same averaged cross-section spacing) or a specific interpolation method, but rather by the coordinate system for which the interpolation method is applied and the spacing between transects. They also show negligible differences between the mean depths and surface areas calculated from bathymetries with dense or coarse spacing. Copyright (C) 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.