Comparing the effects of soil inputs for NTT and ArcAPEX interfaces on model simulation performance

Authors: Nelson, Amanda; Moriasi, Daniel; TALEBIZADEH, MANSOUR - Orise Fellow; Steiner, Jean; Gowda, Prasanna; Starks, Patrick; Tadesse, Haile

Submitted to: American Water Resources Association Spring Specialty Conference
Publication Type: Abstract Only
Publication Acceptance Date: 2/13/2018
Publication Date: 3/12/2018
Citation: Nelson, A.M., Moriasi, D.N., Talebizadeh, M., Steiner, J.L., Gowda, P., Starks, P.J., Tadesse, H.K. 2018. Comparing the effects of soil inputs for NTT and ArcAPEX interfaces on model simulation performance [abstract]. American Water Resources Association Spring Specialty Conference. Available at: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.attendify.confnc7dhm&hl=en_US.

Interpretive Summary: Abstract Only

Technical Abstract: Soil properties determine how the hydrologic models, such as APEX, simulate hydrology, crop growth, erosion, and nutrient flow. Using appropriate soils data is essential to modelling with APEX on any scale. In addition to the soil parameter values, the structure of the soil data may affect model simulation times and performance. This study used long-term, water quality data from the Rock Creek watershed, located in northern Ohio, to compare the soil inputs of two APEX interfaces; the Nutrient Tracking Tool (NTT) and ArcAPEX and their effects on sensitive model parameters, performance of APEX to simulate total nitrogen (TN) and total phosphorus (TP), and model computation time. Differences among the soil data sets include soil parameter values as well as how soil properties are organized by layers for APEX inputs. In addition, NTT assigns three soil types per hydrologic subunit, whereas ArcAPEX only assigns one. Preliminary results indicate that computation time for the NTT interface may be up to five times as long when compared with ArcAPEX. Complete sensitivity analysis and scenario results will be presented.