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ARS Home » Northeast Area » University Park, Pennsylvania » Pasture Systems & Watershed Management Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #322132
Title: The Pennsylvania Phosphorus Index and TopoSWAT: A comparison of transport components and approaches

Author
item WELD, JENNIFER - Pennsylvania State University
item Collick, Amy
item Veith, Tameria - Tamie
item BEEGLE, DOUGLAS - Pennsylvania State University
item Kleinman, Peter
item EASTON, ZACHARY - Virginia Polytechnic Institution & State University

Submitted to: American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers
Publication Type: Abstract Only
Publication Acceptance Date: 4/23/2015
Publication Date: N/A
Citation: N/A

Interpretive Summary: An interpretive summary is not required.

Technical Abstract: The regional Chesapeake Bay Conservation Innovation Grant Initiative includes comparison of TopoSWAT results and Phosphorus Index (P Index) evaluations of eight study watersheds throughout the Chesapeake Bay watershed. While similarities exist between the P Index and TopoSWAT, further comparison of the P Index and TopoSWAT is needed, in particular their responses to annual weather pattern variation, soil erosion estimation, and distance to receiving waters. Pennsylvania P Index evaluations and TopoSWAT output based on landuse, farm management, hydrology, and monitored water quality data for a study watershed in central Pennsylvania will be used to conduct this comparison. Sediment-attached, soluble, and total P results from TopoSWAT will be compared to Pennsylvania P Index evaluations for selected areas of this central Pennsylvania watershed. Results will allow for better understanding of how both tools estimate or evaluate P loss and P loss vulnerability, will better connect TopoSWAT results with evaluations from P Index field tools, and may enhance efforts to revise the Pennsylvania P Index to better identify areas of a landscape vulnerable to P loss.