A watershed basin is the surface area that would drain to a selected point. Users can define these outlets or ask the software to define all watersheds in the map area. RiverTools 2.0 provides a comprehensive package of basin and stream analysis capabilities for digital terrain data . A similar operation delineates stream channels that reflect where water would flow over the surface. In addition to simple channel delineation, RiverTools determines stream order via the Strahler system, and defines stream starting points and junctions.
Users also can select points interactively and use the software to define stream reach.
In addition to delineating watershed basins and streams, RiverTools creates a comprehensive database of attributes for each pixel in the analysis. The software computes attributes such as drainage area, elevation drop and along-slope length. For channel links, a range of data are computed, including network diameter, sinuosity, drainage length, and downstream and upstream ends. For Strahler streams, all the channel attributes are computed as well as drainage area, drainage density, source density, links per stream and others. Plotting and Reporting RiverTools performs a variety of hydrological analyses and creates several plots using attribute data.