Modeling Agricultural Watersheds with the Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT): Calibration and Validation with a Novel Procedure for Spatially Explicit HRUs

Awoke Dagnew Teshager; Philip W Gassman; Silvia Secchi; Justin T Schoof; Girmaye Misgna

doi:10.1007/s00267-015-0636-4

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Modeling Agricultural Watersheds with the Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT): Calibration and Validation with a Novel Procedure for Spatially Explicit HRUs

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Modeling Agricultural Watersheds with the Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT): Calibration and Validation with a Novel Procedure for Spatially Explicit HRUs

Awoke Dagnew Teshager, Philip W Gassman, Silvia Secchi, Justin T Schoof and Girmaye Misgna

Environmental management (New York), Vol.57(4), pp.894-911

04/2016

DOI: 10.1007/s00267-015-0636-4

PMCID: PMC4785226

PMID: 26616430

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Abstract

Applications of the Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) model typically involve delineation of a watershed into subwatersheds/subbasins that are then further subdivided into hydrologic response units (HRUs) which are homogeneous areas of aggregated soil, landuse, and slope and are the smallest modeling units used within the model. In a given standard SWAT application, multiple potential HRUs (farm fields) in a subbasin are usually aggregated into a single HRU feature. In other words, the standard version of the model combines multiple potential HRUs (farm fields) with the same landuse/landcover, soil, and slope, but located at different places of a subbasin (spatially non-unique), and considers them as one HRU. In this study, ArcGIS pre-processing procedures were developed to spatially define a one-to-one match between farm fields and HRUs (spatially unique HRUs) within a subbasin prior to SWAT simulations to facilitate input processing, input/output mapping, and further analysis at the individual farm field level. Model input data such as landuse/landcover (LULC), soil, crop rotation, and other management data were processed through these HRUs. The SWAT model was then calibrated/validated for Raccoon River watershed in Iowa for 2002-2010 and Big Creek River watershed in Illinois for 2000-2003. SWAT was able to replicate annual, monthly, and daily streamflow, as well as sediment, nitrate and mineral phosphorous within recommended accuracy in most cases. The one-to-one match between farm fields and HRUs created and used in this study is a first step in performing LULC change, climate change impact, and other analyses in a more spatially explicit manner.

Water Quality

Hydrology

Climate Change

Agriculture

Models, Theoretical

Environmental Monitoring - methods

Calibration

Water Movements

Iowa

Illinois

Rivers - chemistry

Soil - chemistry

Water - chemistry

Nitrates - analysis

Environmental Pollution - analysis

Details

Title: Subtitle: Modeling Agricultural Watersheds with the Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT): Calibration and Validation with a Novel Procedure for Spatially Explicit HRUs
Creators: Awoke Dagnew Teshager - Environmental Resources and Policy, Southern Illinois University Carbondale, 1400 Douglas Dr, Carbondale, IL, 62901, USA. dagnew.awoke@siu.edu
Philip W Gassman - Department of Economics, Center for Agricultural and Rural Development, Iowa State University, 560A Heady Hall, Ames, IA, 50011, USA. pwgassma@iastate.edu
Silvia Secchi - Department of Geography and Environmental Resources, Southern Illinois University Carbondale, Faner Hall, Carbondale, IL, 62901, USA. ssecchi@siu.edu
Justin T Schoof - Department of Geography and Environmental Resources, Southern Illinois University Carbondale, 4537 Faner Hall, Carbondale, IL, 62901, USA. jschoof@siu.edu
Girmaye Misgna - Environmental Resources and Policy, Southern Illinois University Carbondale, 1400 Douglas Dr, Carbondale, IL, 62901, USA. mgirmay@siu.edu
Resource Type: Journal article
Publication Details: Environmental management (New York), Vol.57(4), pp.894-911
DOI: 10.1007/s00267-015-0636-4
PMID: 26616430
PMCID: PMC4785226
NLM abbreviation: Environ Manage
ISSN: 1432-1009
eISSN: 1432-1009
Publisher: United States
Language: English
Date published: 04/2016
Academic Unit: Public Policy Center (Archive); Geographical and Sustainability Sciences; University College Courses
Record Identifier: 9983917692902771

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