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International Journal of Recent Scientific Research Vol. 4, Issue, 7, pp.1095 1097, July, 2013 ISSN: 0976-3031

International Journal of Recent Scientific Research

RESEARCH ARTICLE IDENTIFICATION AND MAPPING OF DIK CHU (RIVER) AND ITS TRIBUTARIES FROM ASTER-DEM, SIKKIM: A REMOTE SENSING AND GIS BASED STUDY
Deo Kumar Tamang* and Dinesh Dhakal
Sikkim State Council of Science and Technology, Development Area, Gangtok, India ARTICLE INFO
Article History:
Received 11th, June, 2013 Received in revised form 24th, June, 2013 Accepted 18th, July, 2013 Published online 30th July, 2013

ABSTRACT
A Digital Elevation Model (DEM) is a 3D representation of a terrain surface. DEM of the study area is generated from ASTER GDEM data (30m resolution) using ARC GIS 10. The present aim of study is an attempt to identify and mapping of Dik Chu (River) and its surrounding streams and tributaries using an integrated approach of Remote Sensing (RS) and Geographical Information System (GIS) techniques especially ASTER DEM by observing the elevation, slope, aspect and shaded relief of the study area. It was observed that the ASTER data provide more accurate results than the traditional methods, which will strongly useful and resourcefully for researcher, regional planning and spatial planning. Copy Right, IJRSR, 2013, Academic Journals. All rights reserved.

Key words: ASTER DEM, GIS, Remote Sensing, Dik Chu, Sikkim

INTRODUCTION
A Digital Elevation Model (DEM) is a 3 dimensional representation of a terrain surface. It is used for visual interpretation, modelling of surface processes and analysis of topography. DEM is one of the tools of GIS which can serve both as an information source for finding geological boundaries, controlling elevations and at the same time play an important role in preparation of the base map as well as various special thematic maps (Ostaficzuk, 2005). Remote sensing provides a more synoptic perspective, and previous research has demonstrated the feasibility of mapping in-stream habitats from digital image data (Wright et al., 2000, Legleiter et al., 2002, Marcus, 2002, Whited et al. 2002, Marcus et al., 2003, Legleiter, 2003). Remote Sensing and GIS techniques have also been used in morphometric analysis and prioritization of Rongli watershed in Sikkim (Tamang et al., 2012). Advantages of remote sensing include expanded geographic coverage, allowing rivers to be examined on a watershed rather than a reach scale, and consistent, quantitative description of fluvial environments through image classification procedures (Marcus, 2002). Advanced techniques have been well demonstrated in illustrating streams and surface water basins. In this respect, DEM can be well utilized, and it can help induce flow directions, and locating lowlands (Saud, 2012). The traditional method like field visit and manual surveying, of river and streams for mapping is time consuming and also it may not be accurate. Conventional stream classification methods, however, suffer from several fundamental limitations (Poole et al. 1997, Goodwin 1999, Roper et al. 2002). But with the use of Remote Sensing and GIS, we can improve the traditional method and increase the accuracy of the work. ASTER DEM data have been used to study the geology and geomorphology in and around Gola block of Ramgargh district, Jharkhand, India (Sharma and Kujur, 2012) and in mapping of the glacier (Bolch and Kamp, 2006). The primary aim of this research paper is to identify and extraction of Dik Chu (river) and its important streams, using Remote Sensing

and GIS techniques especially ASTER DEM by observing the elevation, slope, aspect and shaded relief. Study Area The study area lies between the East District and North District of Sikkim (Fig. 1). In Sikkim river are also known as Chu or Chhu. The Dik Chu joins the river Tista near the village Dikchu. The study area lies between 27o 22 29.058 N to 27o 29 19.575 N latitude and 88o 29 0.537 E to 88o 43 35.054 E longitude. Dik Chu is the tributary of Tista river, which meets Tista near Dikchu village. And most importantly, it is the natural boundary between North Sikkim and East Sikkim. The main tributary of Dik Chu is Rate Chu and Bakcha Chu.

Figure 1 Location map of study area

MATERIALS AND METHODOLOGY

Data Used i. ASTER DEM 30m available from http://earthexplorer.usgs.gov/ Entity ID: ASTGDEMV2_0N27E088 Acquisition Date: 17Oct 11 ARC GIS 10 software

ii.

* Corresponding author: Deo Kumar Tamang Sikkim State Council of Science and Technology, Development Area, Gangtok, India

International Journal of Recent Scientific Research, Vol. 4, Issue, 7, pp. 1095 - 1097, July, 2013 Methodology ASTER DEM whose resolution is 30m is used to study the present area. The Dik Chu and its tributaries were identified on screen by visual interpretation of the ASTER DEM. The methodology adapted during the study are: i. Acquisition of ASTER DEM data of Sikkim (http://earthexplorer.usgs.gov/) ii. Using ARC GIS 10, the study area was extracted and DEM was generated for visual interpretation. iii. The drainage network of the Dik Chu and its tributaries were digitized. iv. The derivatives of DEM like slope, aspect, contour line, shaded relief were prepared in ARC GIS 10 software. Aster dem data The Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer (ASTER) Global Digital Elevation Model (GDEM) is concurrently distributed from the Ministry of Economy, Trade, and Industry (METI), Earth Remote Sensing Data Analysis Center (ERSDAC) in Japan and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA, Earth Observing System (EOS) Data Information System (EOSDIS), Land Processes (LP) Distributed Active Archive Center (DAAC) in the United States. ASTER data is used to create detailed maps of land surface temperature, reflectance, and elevation (http://asterweb.jpl.nasa.gov/). ASTER data are freely available for 99 % of the globe, and represents elevation at 30 meter resolution(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_elevation_model) ARC GIS 10.0 software Arc GIS 10 was used in this study, is a software used to create, display and analyze geospatial data. It consists of three components: Arc Map, Arc Catalog and Arc Toolbox. Arc Map is used for visualizing spatial data, performing spatial analysis and creating maps to show the work results. While, Arc Catalog is used for browsing and exploring spatial data, as well as viewing a creating metadata and managing spatial data. Arc Toolbox is an interface for accessing the data conversion and analysis function that come from Arc GIS. Figure 3 Drainage network Slope From the slope map of the Dik Chu and its surrounding regions (Fig.4), it can be concluded that the north-eastern part of the study area has the highest slope angles. The slope angles in this region are between 45.87o 59.93o. The overall slope decreases from northeast to southwest direction, because all the rivers and streams are flowing according to the slope Figure 2 Digital elevation model of study area

RESULTS
From the analysis and interpretation of the ASTER DAM data and its derivatives, the following results were obtained: Aster dem data DEM for the study area was generated from ASTER data (Fig. 2), and it could be inferred that the general elevation of the Dik chu catchment area decreases from North to South. The altitude of the study area ranging from 520m 4327m. The lowest elevation, is seen where the Dik chu meets River Tista in Dikchu village. Drainage Network The drainage network map (Fig. 3), of Dik Chu and its tributaries shows that the overall trend of the drainage basin is from northeast to southwest. This is in accordance with the elevation of the land surface which has the same trend as inferred from the ASTER DEM. The Dik Chu meets the River Tista from the left bank, as it is flowing from east to western direction. The main tributary of Dik Chu is Rate Chu and Bakcha Chu. The Dik Chu forms the natural boundary between North and East Sikkim. Figure 4 Slope map of the study area Aspect Aspect is the direction of the slope. The aspect has been classified into North, Northeast, East, Southeast, South, Southwest, West and Northwest. From the aspect map of the Dik Chu and its catchment area, it can be clearly seen that aspect or general direction of slopes in the study area is towards southwest. There is

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International Journal of Recent Scientific Research, Vol. 4, Issue, 7, pp. 1095 - 1097, July, 2013 a large fluctuation of aspect in the study area due to hilly regions and various ridges.

Reference
Bolch, T. And Kamp, U. (2006). Glacier Mapping in High Mountains Using DEMs, Landsat and ASTER Data. 8thInternational Symposium on High Moutain Remote Sensing Cartography. Goodwin, C.N., (1999). Fluvial classifcitation: Neanderthal necessity or needless normalcy. In Wildland Hydrology, by D.S. Olson and J.P. Potyondy, editors (Middleburg, Virginia: American Water Resources Association), pp. 229 236 Legleiter, C.J., Marcus, W.A. and Lawrence, R. (2002). Effects of sensor resolution on mapping in-stream habitats.Photogrammetric Engineering and Remote Sensing, 68, pp. 801807. Legleiter, C.J. (2003). Spectrally driven classification of high spatial resolution, hyperspectral imagery: a tool for mapping in-stream habitat. Environmental Management, 32, pp. 399 411. Marcus, W.A. (2002). Mapping of stream microhabitats with high spatial resolution hyperspectral imagery. Journal of Geographical Systems, 4, pp. 113126. Marcus, W.A., Legleiter, C.J., Aspinall, R., Boardman, J.W. And Crabtree, R. (2003). High spatial resolution hyperspectral mapping of in-stream habitats, depths, and woody debris in mountain streams. Geomorphology, 55, pp. 363380. Ostaficzuk, S (ed). (2005). The Current Role of Geological Mapping in Geosciences, Springer, Netherlands, pp. 89-96. Poole, G.C., Frissell, C.A. And Ralph, S.C. (1997). In-stream habitat unit classification: Inadequacies for monitoring and some consequences for management. Journal of the American Water Resources Association, 33, pp. 879896. Roper, B.B., Kershner, J.L., Archer, E., Henderson, R. And Bouwes, N. (2002). An evaluation of physical stream habitat attributes used to monitor streams. Journal of the American Water Resources Association, 38, pp. 16371646. Sharma, M.P., Kujur, A. (2012). ASTER DEM Based Studies for Geological and Geomorphological Investigation in and around Gola block, Ramgarh District, Jharkhand, India. International Journal of Scientific & Engineering Research, Volume 3, Issue 2, February-2012. Tamang D. K., Dhakal D., Shrestha D. G., Sharma N. P. (2012). Morphometric analysis and prioritization of miniwatersheds in Rongli watershed, Sikkim (India) using remote sensing and GIS techniques. Int J Fundam Appl Sci 2012; 1(3):61-66. Mashael Al Saud (2012). Use of Remote Sensing and GIS to Analyze Drainage System in Flood Occurrence, Jeddah Western Saudi Coast. Drianage Systems. Whited, D., Stanford, J.A. And Kimball, J.S. (2002). Application of airborne multispectral digital imagery to quantify riverine habitats at different base flows. River Research and Applications, 18, pp. 583594. Wright, A., Marcus, W.A. And Aspinall, R. (2000). Evaluation of multispectral, fine scale digital imagery as a tool for mapping stream morphology. Geomorphology, 33, pp. 107 120. http://earthexplorer.usgs.gov/ http://asterweb.jpl.nasa.gov/ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_elevation_model

Figure 5 Aspect map of study area

Figure 6 Base map of study area (Vector map, Contour map, DEM map, Shaded relief map, Google Earth Image, Aspect map, Slope map and flow direction map )

CONCLUSION
As compared to traditional techniques, advance RS and GIS techniques are more supportive for river basin and stream analysis. For the study area from the ASTER DEM, further different views were generated which is useful for visual interpretations (Fig.6) and spatial planning of river basin like watershed management. The capacity of GIS software has minimized the time, resources and increase the quality of work. Thus it can be stated beyond doubt that Remote Sensing data, especially ASTER DEM and GIS are a very efficient tool in the process of identification and mapping of the river and its tributaries. For micro level river basin, shape, size, length, slope identification, this method may be very useful. Apart from this, verification of river and streams from Google image data and satellite image has also been performed.

Acknowledgement
The authors wish to express their sincere thanks to Department of Science and Technology and Climate Change and all the members of Sikkim State Remote Sensing Application Centre for support and encouragement.

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