Abstract

The paper presents a proposal for runoff estimation based on relief attributes derived from Shuttle Radar Topographic Mission (SRTM) data in urban areas, which could be useful for small communities lacking technical or financial resources. The relief data used was obtained from the Topodata Project website and included steepness, horizontal and vertical curvature, slope orientation, and landform in a 30x30 meter grid, which were combined and classified to provide preliminary potential runoff estimation. The study was applied in Ilha Solteira (Brazil) as a test of efficiency and its results were checked with local surface dynamic processes records (i.e. erosion and flood). The main result of this study was a set of charts presenting relief attribute distributions and their associations allowing the definition of preliminary runoff classes that indicate the main areas with surface water dynamic hazards. The main conclusion was that the process of combining simple relief attributes allows an efficient zoning of areas with major erosion and flood hazards. Considering its results, planning policies can be done, as well as drainage projects and other structural interventions can be proposed with low costs.