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GeoWEPP – The Geo-spatial interface for the Water Erosion Prediction Project

Published by the American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers, St. Joseph, Michigan www.asabe.org

Citation:  Paper number  022171,  2002 ASAE Annual Meeting . (doi: 10.13031/2013.10418) @2002
Authors:   Chris S. Renschler, Dennis C. Flanagan, Bernard A. Engel, James R. Frankenberger
Keywords:   Topography, watershed, decision making, geographic information systems

Decision-makers operating at different scales of interest and responsibility have to assess the distribution, extent, and severity of soil erosion and sedimentation. To seek solutions in handling natural and human actions related to this type of nonpoint source pollution, the linkage of distributed assessment models and Geographical Information Systems (GIS) at various spatial and temporal scales is in high demand. The Water Erosion Prediction Project (WEPP) model is a continuous simulation, process-based model that allows simulation of water and sediment balance in small watersheds and on hillslope profiles within those watersheds. This presentation introduces an approach for running WEPP simulations based on using available geo-spatial information through a linkage with GIS. The new Geo-spatial interface for WEPP (GeoWEPP) utilizes readily available digital geo-referenced information from publicly accessible Internet sources such as the U.S. Geological Survey digital elevation models, topographical maps, and land use data as well as Natural Resources Conservation Service soils maps. Together with parameter sets of the WEPP database containing statistical parameter sets from more than 2600 U.S. climate stations, GeoWEPP enables even non-GIS-and-modeling users to derive and prepare valid model input parameters to assess representative conditions in an area of interest. After establishing the main data input for a particular site, various land use scenarios can be evaluated to assist with soil and water conservation planning.

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