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ARS Home » Plains Area » Temple, Texas » Grassland Soil and Water Research Laboratory » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #316384
Title: Development of cropland management dataset to support U.S. SWAT assessments

Author
item White, Michael
item GAMBONE, MARILYN - Texas Agrilife Extension
item YEN, HAW - Texas Agrilife Extension
item DAGGUPATI, PRASAD - Texas A&M University
item BIEGER, KATRIN - Texas A&M University
item DEB, DEBJANI - Texas A&M University
item Arnold, Jeffrey

Submitted to: Journal of the American Water Resources Association
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 11/3/2015
Publication Date: 2/1/2016
Publication URL: http://handle.nal.usda.gov/10113/62873
Citation: White, M.J., Gambone, M., Yen, H., Daggupati, P., Bieger, K., Deb, D., Arnold, J.G. 2016. Development of cropland management dataset to support U.S. SWAT assessments. Journal of the American Water Resources Association. 52(1):269-274.

Interpretive Summary: The Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) is a commonly used environmental assessment tool in the U.S. With the exception of management, all the data needed to use SWAT are available nationally. In this research, we describe the development of a national management database for use with SWAT. These data were tested in two case studies, and found to work well. The availability of these data freely on the web makes SWAT even easier to use.

Technical Abstract: The Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) is a widely used hydrologic/water quality simulation model in the U.S. Process-based models like SWAT require a great deal of data to accurately represent the natural world, including topography, landuse, soils, weather, and management. With the exception of management all these data are available nationally from at least two sources. To date, every credible SWAT study in the US has required the assemblage of suitable management data (operation scheduling, fertilization application rates, and plant growth parameterization). In the research, we develop a national management database for SWAT using existing USDA (United States Department of Agriculture) data sources. These data are compatible with existing SWAT interfaces, and relatively easy to use. These data provide a reasonable default set of management data at a national level for all major cultivated crops, potential making US SWAT application easer to develop and more accurate. These data are tested in two case studies and found to produce satisfactory SWAT predictions. The database developed in this research is freely available on the web.