SWAT Setup with Long-Term Detailed Landuse and Management Records and Modification for a Micro-Watershed Influenced by Freeze-Thaw Cycles

Junyu Qi, Sheng Li, Qi Yang, Zisheng Xing and Fan-Rui Meng ()
Additional contact information
Junyu Qi: University of New Brunswick
Sheng Li: University of New Brunswick
Qi Yang: Guangxi Key Laboratory of Forest Ecology and Conservation
Zisheng Xing: University of New Brunswick
Fan-Rui Meng: University of New Brunswick

Water Resources Management: An International Journal, Published for the European Water Resources Association (EWRA), 2017, vol. 31, issue 12, No 16, 3953-3974

Abstract: Abstract In the widely used soil and water assessment tool (SWAT), the standard hydrological response units (HRUs) delineation method has low spatial resolution with respect to model inputs and outputs and renders difficulties in using long-term detailed landuse and management records. In addition, the modified universal soil loss equation (MUSLE) uses a constant K-factor which cannot address seasonal variation in soil erodibility caused by freeze-thaw cycles in cold regions. The current study presents a simple method to incorporate detailed landuse and management inputs in SWAT. The method delineates HRUs based on field boundaries and associates each HRU with a particular field. As a result, long-term detailed records can be incorporated into the SWAT management files. In addition, the existing MUSLE in SWAT was modified by introducing a variable K-factor to address effects of freeze-thaw cycles on soil erosion for cold regions. This modified version of SWAT was calibrated and validated for an agricultural micro-watershed, i.e., Black Brook Watershed in New Brunswick, Canada. The results showed that, compared with the standard HRU-delineation method, field-based HRU-delineation method was able to improve landuse and management practice input accuracy for SWAT and save time and effort for long-term simulation, and provide high resolution outputs in the watershed. As a result, the field-based HRU-delineation method can facilitate decision making not only at the subbasin scale but also at the field scale. In addition, results showed that sediment loading simulation accuracy was improved with the modified-MUSLE compared with the original-MUSLE.

Keywords: Freeze-thaw; Best management practices; Hydrological response units; MUSLE; Water quality (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2017
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (5)

Downloads: (external link)
http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s11269-017-1718-2 Abstract (text/html)
Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:spr:waterr:v:31:y:2017:i:12:d:10.1007_s11269-017-1718-2

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.springer.com/economics/journal/11269

DOI: 10.1007/s11269-017-1718-2

Access Statistics for this article

Water Resources Management: An International Journal, Published for the European Water Resources Association (EWRA) is currently edited by G. Tsakiris

More articles in Water Resources Management: An International Journal, Published for the European Water Resources Association (EWRA) from Springer, European Water Resources Association (EWRA)
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().