PnET-II3SL/SWAT: Modeling the Combined Effects of Forests and Agriculture on Water Availability
Publication: Journal of Hydrologic Engineering
Volume 12, Issue 3
Abstract
The climate change and variability phenomenon, because of its potential to exert significant influences on the hydrologic cycle, the economy, and human society as a whole, has drawn considerable attention from the scientific community and government agencies worldwide. In response to growing concerns, we are attempting to expand our understanding of the relationship between land-use heterogeneities, water availability, and climate change/variability in the southeastern United States. Specifically, this paper describes the coupling and validation of a hydrologic-forest productivity model (PnET-II3SL) with a hydrologic-agricultural productivity model to represent the hydrologic response characteristics of large spatial areas. The resulting code is capable of generating scientifically sound predictions of the effects of future climatic conditions, with regards to water availability, in the heterogeneous watersheds of the southeast. Validation efforts are described, utilizing long-term historical records, for 12 experimental watersheds. Selected sites represent a diversity of climatic regimes, topographic conditions, soil types, area, and vegetal species.
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Acknowledgments
Special thanks to Dr. Jeff Arnold and the SWAT support staff at the USDA-ARS (Temple, Tex.) for their technical resources and cooperation. This research was sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy, through the Southeast Regional Center (SERC) of the National Institute for Global Environmental Change (NIGEC, Contract Nos. DOE03UA07CR and DOE04UA003CR). The financial support provided by NIGEC is gratefully acknowledged. However, the views expressed in this paper do not necessarily reflect those of the funding agencies and no official endorsement should be inferred.
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Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Journal of Hydrologic Engineering
Volume 12 • Issue 3 • May 2007
Pages: 319 - 326
Copyright
© 2007 ASCE.
History
Received: Jul 26, 2005
Accepted: Aug 15, 2006
Published online: May 1, 2007
Published in print: May 2007
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