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ARS Home » Midwest Area » West Lafayette, Indiana » National Soil Erosion Research Laboratory » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #303310
Title: Progress on implementation of process-based erosion prediction technology in the United States

Author
item Flanagan, Dennis
item Huang, Chi Hua

Submitted to: Agro-Environment Symposium
Publication Type: Abstract Only
Publication Acceptance Date: 2/25/2014
Publication Date: 8/3/2014
Citation: Flanagan, D.C., Huang, C. 2014. Progress on implementation of process-based erosion prediction technology in the United States. 9th International Agro-Environment Symposium. August 3-7, 2014, Goiania, Brazil. 2014. CD ROM.

Interpretive Summary:

Technical Abstract: Use of soil erosion prediction models is becoming increasingly important due to growing environmental concerns and impacts of runoff and sediment on off-site water quality. The USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) has implemented and is now using the process-based Wind Erosion Prediction System (WEPS) for field office estimates of wind erosion soil losses from agricultural fields. Recently, NRCS has begun to actively engage in implementation of the process-based Water Erosion Prediction Project (WEPP) model for estimation of sheet, rill, and ephemeral gully soil erosion losses in their more than 2000 field offices. Plans are for NRCS to implement WEPP as a web-based technology accessing existing land management, cropping, and operations in their Land Management Operations Database (LMOD). A new two-year project with the USDA-Agricultural Research Service (ARS) National Soil Erosion Research Laboratory (NSERL) began in late 2013, to work with NRCS on database and web interface development, and model testing and evaluations. Other recent cooperative work between ARS and NRCS involves use of NSERL laboratory experiments and WEPP model application to determine equivalent USLE/RUSLE soil erodibility (K) values that can be used with the empirical RUSLE technology. WEPP erosion routines are also being incorporated as a sediment generation option within the Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) model, and joint WEPP and SWAT web-based watershed GIS interfaces are under development for application both in the United States and throughout the world. The USDA-Forest Service (FS) has been utilizing WEPP for many years for their erosion predictions in forested regions affected by wildfires, timber harvesting, and roads. Current projects with the FS involved targeted web-based GIS watershed interface development for the Great Lakes and the Lake Tahoe basins. This presentation will describe many of these efforts and provide details on current WEPP model implementation.