CEE 486/586: Home Assignment 2

* Note: Submit your assignment report as MS Word file on Blackboard [-2 pts, if not followed].
Name it LASTNAME_FIRSTNAME_A2.docx [-1 pts, if not followed]. Always explain all
intermediate steps so that anyone could use your answers as tutorials, if they wanted to! One
guiding template are the class labs. It generally has enough detail for anyone to complete the task.
For example, if your step is to use Mosaic To New Raster functionality in ArcToolbox, you should
clearly write “Next, ArcToolbox > Data Management > Raster > Raster Dataset > Mosaic To New
Raster is implemented”. Italicize the tool name. Report all the parameters that were input. Provide
relevant intermediate results (in form of numbers/maps/steps implemented etc., as appropriate).
Have all the files (after important steps) ready to be produced at short notice, until the assignment
has been graded and returned. Follow all instructions communicated earlier in regards to the
appropriate academic conduct.

a) You are a reservoir manager, who is tasked with prediction of the water level in the Lake
Michie reservoir. Let’s say it snowed in the Lake Michie watershed (see LM in
Assignment2_data), and all the melt water drains out of the watershed into a reservoir. In
the northern hemisphere, snow on the hillslopes generally melts at a higher rate on south
facing aspects. This is because south facing aspects receive more energy (radiation) from
the sun. The melt rate is also mildly higher for larger slope angles (up until a threshold).
Lets’ assume that 0.35 meter of snow is accumulated uniformly all over the watershed at
the beginning of snow melt season. Furthermore, the change of snow depth due to melt is
given by 1.5*(1+(180-abs(aspect_angle_in_degrees-
180))/180)*(1+sin(slope_angle_in_radians)) cm/d. Note that for slope angle =0, ArcGIS
may generate an aspect of -1. For these cases, set aspect_angle=180. Show the map of snow
depth distribution in the watershed and report the snow cover area after 10 and 25 days
[2*2.75=5.5 pts.]. Assuming that the density of snow is 300 kg/m3 and all of melt water
reaches the reservoir, calculate the total amount of water in the reservoir (in m^3) at the
end of 10 and 25 days, assuming that the reservoir was completely empty before the melt
season [2*1.25=2.5 pts.]. Hint: You will have to work with Map Algebra and Spatial
Analyst tools such as slope, aspect and Abs function. Angles in the formulas used here are
in degrees.
b) A “freedom square” is constructed at the centroid of the Lake Michie watershed. The level
square surface will have a top elevation of 105 m. The length of the side of the square is
270 m. The square is assumed to be oriented along the Lake Michie watershed grid. Obtain
the new elevation file with the freedom square on it [2 pts]. If it takes $10 to remove or fill
10,000 m^3 of dirt, what will be the cost of building this square [3 pts].
c) Now the mayor wants to build a “viewing deck”. The deck is planned at the grid location
with maximum elevation within 450 m of the center of the freedom square. Assuming the
cost to build the path on a sloping terrain is $2/deg/m, delineate the least cost path from the
deck to the “freedom square” and calculate the total cost. Show all primary intermediate
results/steps so that one can reproduce your results [7 pts.].