Title: | Development of a hydrologic connectivity dataset for SWAT assessments in the US |
Authors: | White, M.J., K. Beiger, M. Gambone, E. Haney, J. Arnold and J. Gao |
Year: | 2017 |
Journal: | Water |
Volume (Issue): | 9 |
Pages: | |
Article ID: | 892 |
DOI: | 10.3390/w9110892 |
URL (non-DOI journals): | |
Model: | none |
Broad Application Category: | data or component development |
Primary Application Category: | data and/or component contribution to SWAT or SWAT+ |
Secondary Application Category: | Conservation Effects Assessment Project (CEAP) based study |
Watershed Description: | Conterminous U.S. |
Calibration Summary: | |
Validation Summary: | |
General Comments: | This hydrologic connectivity data developed in this study is intended for use in SWAT and SWAT+. |
Abstract: | Model-based water quality assessments are an important informer of conservation
and environmental policy in the U.S. The recently completed national scale Conservation Effects
Assessment Project (CEAP) is being replicated using an improved model populated with new and
higher resolution data. National assessments are particularly difficult as models must operate with
both a very large spatial extent (the contiguous U.S.) while maintaining a level of granularity required
to capture important small scale processes. In this research, we developed datasets to describe
the hydrologic connectivity at the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) 12-digit Hydrologic Unit Code
(HUC-12) level. Connectivity between 86,000 HUC-12s as provided by the Watershed Boundary
Dataset (WBD) was evaluated and corrected. We also detailed a method to resolve the highly
detailed National Hydrography Dataset (NHD) stream segments within each HUC-12 into vastly
simplified representative channel schemes suitable for use in the recently developed Soil and Water
Assessment Tool + (SWAT+) model. This representative channel approach strikes a balance between
computational complexity and accurate representation of the hydrologic system. These data will
be tested in the upcoming CEAP II national assessment. Until then, all the WBD corrections and
NHDPlus representative channel data are provided via the web for other researchers to evaluate
and utilize. |
Language: | English |
Keywords: | SWAT+; CEAP; connectivity; hydrology; tributary; channel |