Evaluation of multiresolution Digital Elevation Model (DEM) from Real-Time Kinematic GPS and ancillary data for reservoir storage capacity estimation

Abstract

his study presents the estimation of reservoir storage capacity using multiresolution Real-Time Kinematic Global Positioning System (RTK-GPS) DEM, in comparison with ASTER and contour-derived DEM. Through RMSE comparisons of the elevation point uncertainty and error analysis, the results shows that the RTK-GPS DEM gave the best results for the reservoir capacity-area power curve estimation, defined by a convex slope with an exponential deterministic relationship given by V “ 0.09 ˆ A 1.435 . The results further show the existence an empirical relationship between ρ the reservoir volume certainty and the GPS point density d i as V e “ c ˆ d i . This relationship is dependent on the reservoir terrain, slope and surface area. Validation of the results with in situ data showed the differences between the simulated and observed storage volumes was less than +10%, and using the Nash-Sutcliffe coefficient of efficiency on the storage volumes, an average efficiency of +0.7 on the monthly observed and simulated reservoir storage volume was observed.