Elevation residual analysis with scale mosaics

This paper introduces two elevation residual indices, the multiscale low-lying index (MsLLI) and the multiscale elevated index (MsEI), for mapping landforms associated with bottomland and upland positions respectively. These indices use a scale mosaicking approach to represent index values at spatially varying characteristic scales indicative of the local topographic variability in the neighborhood surrounding each grid cell in the input digital elevation model (DEM). The indices were extracted from two study DEMs, one in a complex landscape dominated by past continental glaciation, and the other in a relatively simpler fluvial landscape. Examination of the scale mosaics and key-scale maps allowed for a topographic analysis of the study sites.