| Title: | Effect of watershed subdivision on simulation runoff and fine sediment yield |
| Authors: | Bingner, R.L., J. Garbrecht, J.G. Arnold and R. Srinivasan |
| Year: | 1997 |
| Journal: | Transactions of the ASAE |
| Volume (Issue): | 40(5) |
| Pages: | 1329‑1335 |
| Article ID: | |
| DOI: | 10.13031/2013.21391 |
| URL (non-DOI journals): | |
| Model: | SWAT |
| Broad Application Category: | hydrologic and pollutant |
| Primary Application Category: | HRU, subbasin, grid and/or landscape unit delineation effects |
| Secondary Application Category: | pollutant cycling/loss and transport |
| Watershed Description: | 21.3 km^2 Goodwin Creek, located in northwest Mississippi, U.S. |
| Calibration Summary: | |
| Validation Summary: | graphical flow validation |
| General Comments: | Results showed that runoff volume varied by 5% and was mostly unaffected by the number and size of subwatersheds. However, estimates of fine sediment yield were very snesitive to the total number of SWAT subwatersheds and a minimum number is required to accurately simulate sediment yield. Only variations in the number of subwatersheds were simulated; no further delineation of HRUs were included in the study. |
| Abstract: | The objective of this study was to establish the subwatershed size dependency of the Soil and Water Analysis Tool (SWAT) erosion model to adequately simulate annual runoff and fine sediment (< 0.063 mm) from the 21.3 km^2 Goodwin Creek Watershed (GCW). Results of the GCW application show that runoff volume is not appreciably affected by the number and size of subwatersheds. However, an upper limit to subwatershed size is required to adequately simulate fine sediment yield produced from upland sources. Decreasing the size of subwatersheds beyond this threshold does not substantially affect the computed fine sediment yield. The proper identification of this threshold size can optimize input data preparation requirements and computational resources needed for effective utilization of the SWAT model, and simplify the interpretation of results. |
| Language: | English |
| Keywords: | Size effect; Water erosion(soil); Simulation model; Modeling; Runoff; Computer simulation; Geographic information system; Watershed; Mississippi; Regional study; Model study; SWAT model; sediment yield; United States; North America; America; Soil conservation; Environment; Hydrology; Sedimentation; Subtropical zone |