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Title: ESTABLISHMENT AND MISSIONS OF THE LITTLE WASHITA RIVER RESEARCH WATERSHED.

Author
item Starks, Patrick
item Garbrecht, Jurgen
item SCHIEBE, FRANK - ARS VOLUNTEER

Submitted to: American Geophysical Union
Publication Type: Proceedings
Publication Acceptance Date: 4/1/1996
Publication Date: N/A
Citation: N/A

Interpretive Summary: The Little Washita River Watershed (LWRW), located in southcentral Oklahoma, is the largest (611 square kilometers) and one of the longest- studied (since 1961) research watersheds operated by the United States Department of Agriculture's Agricultural Research Service. The watershed is described with regard to its establishment, physical setting, past and recent research activities, future investigations, data bases, and instrumentation. The LWRW provides unique opportunities for multi-agency, multi-disciplinary research regarding soil moisture, energy flux, water availability, and global change impact.

Technical Abstract: The Little Washita River Watershed (LWRW), located in southcentral Oklahoma, is the largest (611 square kilometers) and one of the longest- studied (since 1961) research watersheds operated by the United States Department of Agriculture's Agricultural Research Service (USDA-ARS). This research watershed has become an increasingly important and active research hsite for multi-agency, multi-disciplinary research involving agricultural water quality, sedimentation, erosion, energy fluxes, soil moisture, etc. due to its historical data bases, dense network of instrumentation, nested watershed design, and variations in soils and landuse. The watershed establishment, it's history and it's recent emergence as a leading research facility are presented in this paper.