| Title: | Modeling landscape change effects on stream temperature using the Soil and Water Assessment Tool |
| Authors: | Mustafa, M., B. Barnhart, M. Babbar-Sebens and D. Ficklin |
| Year: | 2018 |
| Journal: | Water |
| Volume (Issue): | 10(9) |
| Pages: | |
| Article ID: | 1143 |
| DOI: | 10.3390/w10091143 |
| URL (non-DOI journals): | |
| Model: | SWAT |
| Broad Application Category: | hydrologic and pollutant |
| Primary Application Category: | stream and/or soil temperature assessment |
| Secondary Application Category: | land use change |
| Watershed Description: | 782 km^2 Marys River, a tributary of the Willamette River located in western Oregon, U.S. |
| Calibration Summary: | |
| Validation Summary: | |
| General Comments: | |
| Abstract: | Stream temperature is one of the most important factors for regulating fish behavior
and habitat. Therefore, models that seek to characterize stream temperatures, and predict their
changes due to landscape and climatic changes, are extremely important. In this study, we extend
a mechanistic stream temperature model within the Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) by
explicitly incorporating radiative flux components to more realistically account for radiative heat
exchange. The extended stream temperature model is particularly useful for simulating the impacts
of landscape and land use change on stream temperatures using SWAT. The extended model is
tested for the Marys River, a western tributary of the Willamette River in Oregon. The results are
compared with observed stream temperatures, as well as previous model estimates (without radiative
components), for different spatial locations within the Marys River watershed. The results show
that the radiative stream temperature model is able to simulate increased stream temperatures in
agricultural sub-basins compared with forested sub-basins, reflecting observed data. However,
the effect is overestimated, and more noise is generated in the radiative model due to the inclusion
of highly variable radiative forcing components. The model works at a daily time step, and further
research should investigate modeling at hourly timesteps to further improve the temporal resolution
of the model. In addition, other watersheds should be tested to improve and validate the model in
different climates, landscapes, and land use regimes. |
| Language: | English |
| Keywords: | stream temperature; SWAT; Marys River watershed |