Grid Scale Effects on Watershed Soil Erosion Models
Publication: Journal of Hydrologic Engineering
Volume 13, Issue 9
Abstract
The model CASC2D-SED was applied to the Goodwin Creek experimental watershed in Mississippi to define erosion model response to raster-based grid cell sizes. The model was parameterized at a grid, then calibrated and validated to three representative thunderstorms. The simulated hydrographs replicated the measurements of peak discharge, runoff volume, and time to peak. The model also calculated sediment yields within of the field measurements. Resampling the watershed digital elevation model at scales from to reduced the land surface slopes and changed the channel topology. In general, very good modeling results are obtained at grid sizes of and , which is comparable to the plot sizes of the universal soil loss equation. At grid sizes coarser than , the sediment source areas became less appropriately depicted and the calculated sediment delivery ratios became unrealistically high. Grid sizes smaller than are recommended for proper watershed simulation of upland erosion and sediment yield.
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Acknowledgments
Financial support was granted through the Instituto Nacional de Investigaciones Agrarias of Spain and the Department of Defense through the Center for Geosciences/Atmospheric Research at Colorado State University, under Cooperative Agreement No. UNSPECIFIEDDAAL01-98-2-0078 with the Army Research Laboratory. Goodwin Creek field data were provided courtesy of Carlos Alonso at the USDA-ARS-National Sedimentation Laboratory in Oxford, MS. The collaboration with J. Jorgeson at the Engineer Research and Development Center in Vicksburg, MS, and D. Molnar formerly at Colorado State University has also been greatly appreciated.
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Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Journal of Hydrologic Engineering
Volume 13 • Issue 9 • September 2008
Pages: 793 - 802
Copyright
© 2008 ASCE.
History
Received: Aug 30, 2006
Accepted: Dec 6, 2007
Published online: Sep 1, 2008
Published in print: Sep 2008
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