Assessing effects of digital elevation model resolutions on soil–landscape correlations in a hilly area

The effect of different grid sizes of digital elevation models (DEMs) on the relationship between soil properties and terrain attributes was examined by comparing six DEMs (4, 6, 8, 10, 20 and 30 m). The study site was representative of a broad region of hilly landscapes in the southwestern China. The results showed that elevation, topographic wetness index (TWI), slope and natural logarithm of specific catchment area (SCA) varied with DEM grid size in a relatively clear direction except aspect and plan curvature. Different soil–landscape relationships were found across various DEM resolutions. The observations from this study indicate that the most accurate predict model is not always produced by the highest resolution DEM. The knowledge of which DEM resolution produces an appropriate model for a particular landscape can be used as a guideline for optimizing field sample strategies.