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ARS Home » Midwest Area » West Lafayette, Indiana » National Soil Erosion Research Laboratory » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #277792
Title: Coupling WEPP and 3ST1D models for improved prediction of flow and sediment transport at watershed scales

Author
item ABBAN, BENJAMIN - University Of Iowa
item PAPANICOLAOU, ATHANASIOS - University Of Iowa
item DERMISIS, DIMITRIOS - University Of Iowa
item Flanagan, Dennis
item Frankenberger, James - Jim

Submitted to: Meeting Abstract
Publication Type: Proceedings
Publication Acceptance Date: 6/30/2011
Publication Date: 9/6/2011
Citation: Abban, B., Papanicolaou, A., Dermisis, D., Flanagan, D.C., Frankenberger, J.R. 2011. Coupling WEPP and 3ST1D models for improved prediction of flow and sediment transport at watershed scales. In: Proceedings RCEM2011: 7th IAHR Symposium on river, Coastal and Estuarie Morphodynamics. September 6-8, Beijing, China. 10 pp.

Interpretive Summary:

Technical Abstract: Watershed modeling is a key component of watershed management that involves the simulation of hydrological and fluvial processes for predicting flow and sediment transport within a watershed. For practical purposes, most numerical models have been developed to simulate either runoff and soil erosion processes on uplands alone, or flow and sediment transport processes within channels that are isolated from the surrounding land. This lack of connectivity between the upland and in-stream processes introduces significant error in water volume and sediment yield estimates at watershed scales. The objective of this study is to develop a holistic model that bridges upland and in-stream processes, allowing more accurate estimates of water volume and sediment yield to be made at the watershed scale. The proposed coupled model utilizes the well-established physically based, distributed parameter Water Erosion Prediction Project (WEPP) model for simulating upland processes and the 3ST1D hydrodynamic and sediment transport model for simulating in-stream processes. The coupled model is applied to an agricultural watershed located in east-central Iowa in the United States. Preliminary results indicate that the proposed coupled model may adequately simulate flow and sediment transport from the uplands to the outlet of a watershed by overcoming some of the scale restrictions encountered with existing models.