Burn Flat Polygons into DEM

Description

Modify elevation in the input DEM within the input flat areas defined by the input flat area raster. The resulting hydro-conditioned DEM will have the elevation within the flat areas decrease proportionally to the distance away from the edge of the flat polygon (further in, larger/deeper the elevation adjustment). Elevation along the edge of the flat polygon is maintained as is, practically creating a "bowl" within the input flat polygon.

The intent of this tool is to modify (hydro-condition) the DEM so that the continuous flow direction analysis can find the "optimal" path through the flat areas. Note that the use of resulting hydro-conditioned DEM with traditional D8 flow accumulation approach will generate sinks within the flat areas.

Usage

Parameters

Parameter Name	Type	Direction	Data Type	Dialog Reference
Input DEM Raster	Required	Input	Raster Layer	Input elevation raster.
Input Flat Area Raster	Required	Input	Raster Layer	Input raster indicating where the flat areas are. This raster needs to have any valid value in the flat areas that need to be hydro-conditioned and nodata elsewhere. Arc Hydro tools "Identify Flat Areas" or "Create Sink Structure" can be used to create such raster.
Output DEM Raster	Required	Output	Raster Layer	Output hydro-conditioned DEM raster with flat areas "bowled" in.
Output Burn Raster	Optional	Output	Raster Layer	Name of the optional intermediate "bowl" raster. It has value of 0 in non-flat areas and values to be "bowled in" in the flat areas. If name is not provided (default), the raster will not be stored. Providing extension (e.g. .tif) in the name will ensure that the raster will be stored using that specific raster format.