Topographic and flow direction model: a case study of Khuan Kreng peat swamp forest, Southern Thailand

Abstract

Floods and droughts are contrasting natural phenomena. The risk of forest fires tends to be increased by the dry and hot conditions of the dry season. A topographic and flow direction model is aimed to be created using Mathematica and ArcGIS programs. The purpose of this model is to assist in water management to prevent forest fires in the Khuan Kreng peat swamp forest located in Nakhon Si Thammarat Province, Southern Thailand. Digital elevation models obtained from the Department of Land Development, representing altitude data of the terrain at a scale of 1:4,000, are utilized in this work. Using cellular automata principles with eight sub-cell flow pathways with a precision of 5×5 meters, identification was carried out. The Universal Transverse Mercator (UTM) coordinate system can store horizontal (X, Y) and vertical (Z) data in one cell, providing information about 2D and 3D topography. Our findings regarding flow direction are comparable to reference values for summer under dry conditions, where water mass is limited. The topographic model data was found to be compatible with data obtained from ArcGIS, Google Maps, and surveys. The ArcGIS flow modeling results are found to be suitable for flood simulation. The proposed method is applicable for regulating water use during droughts and preventing forest fires.