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Kyle R. Douglas-Mankin

Publications and source records attributed to Kyle R. Douglas-Mankin.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources
USGS2022

Upper Rio Grande Basin water-resource status and trends: Focus area study review and synthesis

The Upper Rio Grande Basin (URGB) is a critical international water resource under pressure from a myriad of climatic, ecological, infrastructural, water-use, and legal constraints. The objective of this study is to provide a comprehensive assessment of the spatial distribution and temporal trends of selected water-budget components (snow processes, evapotranspiration (ET), streamflow processes, and groundwater storage) using integrated analyses, such as watershed modeling and water availability and use data in the URGB over the past three decades. A spatially distributed snow evolution modeling system simulated snowpack processes over 34 years (1984–2017). It highlighted snow water equivalent declines from -35 to -77 mm/decade with widespread variability across elevation zones and land cover types. Gridded actual ET data from the SSEBop model were developed and tested for the URGB and demonstrated that all land-cover types had significant decreasing trends (1986-2015) ranging from -14 to -80 mm/decade. Conductivity-mass-balance (CMB) hydrograph separation results found that baseflow forms a large component of total streamflow, ranging from 29 to 69% (49% average) of total streamflow at 17 URGB sites upstream of Albuquerque, NM. Three of 4 graphical hydrograph separation methods in the U.S. Geological Survey Groundwater Toolbox were found to be inappropriate for estimating baseflow in the URGB; the most promising method, baseflow index (BFI) Standard, was optimized using CMB data and tested at three URGB sites, with resulting overestimation of 0 to 47%. Simulated changes in groundwater storage were extracted from historical and recent groundwater-flow models of select alluvial basins (San Luis, Española, Middle Rio Grande, and Tularosa-Hueco). In general, decreases in groundwater storage were observed from 1903 to 2013 except for the San Luis alluvial basin (Colorado), where periods of recovery are observed. The PRMS hydrologic model was successfully calibrated for 9 near-native subbasins (Nash-Sutcliffe efficiency 0.47 to 0.85) and parameters translated to the remaining subbasins; compared to simulated near-native flows (with minimal influence of reservoirs or diversions), observed Rio Grande streamgage flows demonstrated reductions of 40% or more for New Mexico and Texas areas of the basin. Significant decreasing trends (1980-2015) in precipitation, snowmelt rate, streamflow, and baseflow were observed at many of the 12 streamgage basins studied, which suggests that the decreasing trends for actual ET may be related to overall decreasing water availability in the basin, with negative implications for agricultural production and groundwater abstraction. Water security concerns arise from our findings of higher fraction precipitation as rain, slower snowmelt rates leading to decreasing streamflow production, and an increasing fraction of baseflow, all of which will affect the timing and magnitude of water available for human needs in the basin.

Upper Rio Grande Basin↗
USGS2021

Estimates of public-supply, domestic, and irrigation water withdrawal, use, and trends in the Upper Rio Grande Basin, 1985 to 2015

The Rio Grande flows approximately 670 miles from its headwaters in the San Juan Mountains of south-central Colorado to Fort Quitman, Texas, draining the Upper Rio Grande Basin (URGB) study area of 32,000 square miles that includes parts of Colorado, New Mexico, and Texas. Parts of the basin extend into the United Mexican States (hereafter “Mexico”), where the Rio Grande forms the international boundary between Texas and the State of Chihuahua, Mexico. The URGB was chosen as a focus area study (FAS) for the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) National Water Census (NWC) as part of the WaterSMART initiative. The objective of the USGS NWC under WaterSMART is to focus on the technical aspects of providing information and tools to stakeholders so that they can make informed decisions on water availability. This report contains water-use withdrawal estimates of groundwater and surface water for public-supply, self-supplied domestic, and irrigation water use for years 1985–2015 at 5-year intervals for the 22 drainage basins at the subbasin 8-digit hydrologic unit code (HUC-8) level. Data for additional categories of self-supplied industrial, mining, livestock, aquaculture, thermoelectric, and hydroelectric water use are provided in the accompanying data release to illustrate total withdrawals for the URGB. The additional category data are provided in this report only for the year 2015. Deliveries of water from public-supply systems to domestic users are included and are the only water-delivery data presented in this report. Consumptive use for irrigation is reported for all HUC-8 subbasins for 2015 and for select HUC-8s in the other years beginning in 1985 (the irrigation category includes irrigation for both crop and golf). Water transported outside of the URGB (interbasin transfers) is not included as part of the withdrawals and are not accounted for in any category of use within the URGB. Estimated total withdrawals for all the water-use categories (including hydroelectric) in 2015 as reported in the USGS compilations in the URGB were 3,152.10 million gallons per day (Mgal/d). Surface water was the dominant source of water used in the URGB, providing about 71 percent of total withdrawals. Nearly all withdrawals were from freshwater sources; there was a small amount of saline groundwater that was used for public supply and self-supplied industrial, which were all reported in Texas. The proportions of total 2015 withdrawals from States in the URGB are 46 percent each in Colorado and New Mexico and 8 percent in Texas. A comparison of 2015 water withdrawals for the URGB—for the categories of public supply, self-supplied domestic, self-supplied industrial, thermoelectric, irrigation, livestock, mining, aquaculture, and hydroelectric—showed that irrigation is the dominant water use, at 74 percent of total withdrawals. Other water-use categories in the URGB that use about 1 percent or greater of the total water use by volume are public supply (9 percent) and self-supplied domestic and aquaculture (each about 1 percent). This report focuses on the higher volume, consumptively used categories of public supply, self-supplied domestic, and irrigation. A discussion on basin population provides context for the categories of public-supply and self-supplied domestic water use. The population in the part of the basin in the United States grew from 1.36 to 2.26 million people between 1985 and 2015. With the city of Ciudad Juarez, Chihuahua, Mexico, included, the total population of the URGB grew from an estimated 2.01 to 3.66 million people between 1985 and 2015. The largest concentrations of population are in New Mexico, Texas, and Chihuahua, with 98 percent of the total number of people in the basin in 1985 and 99 percent of the total in 2015 residing in these states. Albuquerque, El Paso, and Ciudad Juarez are the largest cities in the basin. Total withdrawals for public supply in the URGB averaged 277 Mgal/d from 1985 to 2015. About 60 percent of the URGB total public-supply withdrawals occurred in New Mexico, which averaged 170 Mgal/d. Groundwater provided 92 and 70 percent of the total withdrawals for public supply in 1985 and 2015, respectively. Deliveries to domestic users from public suppliers are reported for all drainage basins and years, and account for part of the total public-supply withdrawals. In the URGB, domestic deliveries from public suppliers increased from 1985 to 1995; since 2005, domestic deliveries from public supply have declined. The total populations served by public suppliers in the URGB increased by 90 percent from 1985 to 2015. In the URGB, more people were served by public-supply systems than were self-supplied, and the percentage of people on public-supply systems ranged from 81 to 92 percent from 1985 to 2015. Total domestic withdrawals in the URGB (deliveries plus self-supply withdrawals) ranged from 177.49 to 234.83 Mgal/d and peaked in 2005. Domestic use decreased from 2005 to 2010 by 17 percent and remained less than 200 Mgal/d in 2015. The per-capita daily use for the entire URGB fluctuated between the reporting years, but overall, domestic per-capita use across the basin has declined 46 percent from 145 gallons per capita daily (gpcd) in 1985 to 79 gpcd in 2015. Total irrigation withdrawals in the URGB had a mean value of 2,767.66 Mgal/d from 1985 to 2015 and withdrawals peaked in 1995 at 3,416.84 Mgal/d. Over the 30-year period, irrigation source water in the URGB has ranged from 69 to 84 percent surface water, and the most surface water diverted in the basin for irrigation was in 1995. Groundwater withdrawals for irrigation have fluctuated but overall decreased by 13 percent between 2005 and 2015. Slightly more than one-half of total irrigation withdrawals within the URGB occurred in Colorado, with a mean of 57 percent from 1985 to 2015. From the peak of water withdrawals in 1995 to the conclusion of this study in 2015, total irrigation withdrawals across the study area decreased by 32 percent. The total number of irrigated lands in the URGB from 1985 to 2015 had a mean of about 800 thousand acres, and more irrigated lands were consistently located in the headwaters of the URGB in the San Luis Valley, Colorado than the remainder of the study basin. In the 30-year period, Colorado had a mean of 68 percent of total irrigated lands whereas irrigated acres in New Mexico had a mean of 26 percent and the remaining 7 percent were in Texas. Since 2000, the number of irrigated acres in the URGB has fluctuated, but overall has decreased by 12 percent. More land was irrigated with surface systems (surface irrigation includes flood, furrow, and gated pipe systems, hereafter collectively termed “surface”) in the URGB than with other irrigation system types. Across the 30-year period, from 62 to 88 percent of total irrigated lands had surface-system irrigation, and surface systems covered a mean of 69 percent of the URGB’s acres. Microirrigation systems, predominantly in New Mexico and Texas, compose 0.2 percent or less of the irrigated acres in the basin and were first reported in 1995. From 1985 to 2015, the surface systems decreased in the basin by about 38 percent, and the number of acres of sprinkler and microirrigation systems increased. Acres irrigated by sprinkler systems (predominately center pivot systems) have increased 179 percent from about 99 thousand acres in 1985 to 275 thousand acres in 2015. In this dataset, the number of sprinkler acres surpassed the number of surface irrigated acres in 2000. Within the San Luis Valley in Colorado, the acreage of surface irrigation has decreased, and sprinkler irrigation has increased over the 30-year period. In the New Mexico part of the URGB, surface irrigation is reported as the dominant system type, where irrigation by surface systems accounts for 97–98 percent of how water is provided to crops. As in New Mexico, crops in Texas are irrigated primarily by surface systems. The mean of the mean simulated actual evapotranspiration (ETa) for crops in 2015 across the basin was highest for durum wheat at an estimated 36.00 inches per year (in/yr), and lowest for vegetables at an estimated 19.48 in/yr. Alfalfa and irrigated grass pastures mean ETa had a mean of 31.4 and 27.58 in/yr, respectively, for the basin. Pecans and peppers, both signature crops in the Rio Grande Basin, each had a mean ETa of 30.67 and 30.38 in/yr of mean. In general, mean ETa values for crops were lower in the HUCs of the Colorado San Luis Valley (13010001, 13010002, 13010003 and 13010004) which are more northerly and at higher elevations. The mean ETa for crops increased in the HUCs that are more southerly and at lower elevations in the basin.

New Mexico↗
USGS2021

Simulating hydrologic effects of wildfire on a small sub-alpine watershed in New Mexico, U.S.

Streamflow records available before and after wildfire in a small, mixed conifer, sub-alpine monsoonal dominated watershed in New Mexico provided a unique opportunity to calibrate a watershed model (PRMS) for pre- and postfire conditions. The calibrated model was then used to simulate the hydrologic effects of fire. Simulated postfire surface runoff averaged 14.7 times greater than prefire for the 29-year simulation period. The relationship between precipitation and streamflow changed dramatically after wildfire, largely from a decreased influence of antecedent soil moisture (ASM) and increased influence of canopy factors (less interception) and soil factors (greater hydrophobicity, less infiltration) in controlling surface runoff. For higher ASM, simulated pre- and postfire streamflow was similarly variable. However, for moderate and lower ASM, soil water storage was too low to contribute baseflow for either prefire or postfire conditions, and thus postfire streamflow maintained a linear, surface runoff-dominated response to precipitation, whereas prefire streamflow showed little response. Postfire streamflow efficiency increased with ASM from a mean of 0.02 at the lowest ASM to 0.30 at the highest ASM, whereas prefire conditions showed no sensitivity to ASM at low to moderate ASM. Postfire streamflow increased (2.1 times greater median flow than prefire), particularly from increased surface runoff (14.7 times greater), which occurred across all ASM conditions. As a result, streamflow shifted from baseflow-dominated to surface runoff-dominated after wildfire. This result indicates that substantial increases in runoff efficiency (20% or more of precipitation volume) can occur across a range of ASM postfire, which may have severe consequences for flooding. This result also indicates that monitoring of soil moisture would enhance raingauge networks for early flood warning.

New Mexico↗
USGS2020

Landscape and climatic influences on actual evapotranspiration and available water using the Operational Simplified Surface Energy Balance (SSEBop) Model in eastern Bernalillo County, New Mexico, 2015

The U.S. Geological Survey, in cooperation with the Bernalillo County Public Works Division, conducted a 1-year study in 2015 to assess the spatial and temporal distribution of evapotranspiration (ET) and available water within the East Mountain area in Bernalillo County, New Mexico. ET and available water vary spatiotemporally because of complex interactions among environmental factors, including vegetation characteristics, soil characteristics, topography, and climate. Precipitation data from the Parameter-Elevation Regressions on Independent Slopes Model (PRISM) ( P ) were used in conjunction with actual ET ( ETa ) data from the Operational Simplified Surface Energy Balance (SSEBop) model to estimate available water ( P – ETa ) at 100-meter (m) resolution in the study area. Maps, descriptive statistics, boxplots, regression analyses (continuous data), and multiple comparison tests (categorical data) were used to characterize P , ETa , and available water and their relations to topographic, soil, and vegetation datasets in the East Mountain area. Five categories of the natural land-cover type (evergreen forest, shrub, herbaceous, deciduous forest, and mixed forest) and four categories of developed land-cover type specific to residential intensity (developed open, developed low, developed medium, and developed high) were analyzed individually and in interaction with multiple elevation, tree canopy, and soil texture classes. Annual mean P in 2015 in the East Mountain area was 608 millimeters (mm), and annual mean ETa was 543 mm (89 percent of annual P in 2015), indicating that in 2015, a spatial mean of about 65 mm of water was available for runoff, soil moisture replenishment, or groundwater recharge. Monthly ETa was greatest in July and smallest in January. The intervening months did not show smooth temporal or consistent spatial changes from month to month. Months with lower ETa (January to March, October to December) also tended to have greater available water, indicating that soil moisture (water supply) and potential ET (water demand) may have been out of phase. Regression analyses showed that monthly ETa data had the highest correlation with annual ETa among the atmospheric, topographic, soil, or vegetation datasets, particularly during the early and late growing season (March, April, May, and September). In contrast, monthly P was highly variable and not as highly correlated with annual ETa . Among landscape variables, correlations with annual ETa were highest for tree canopy cover (coefficient of determination [R 2 ] = 0.46). Correlations between ETa and other landscape variables were lower (R 2 = 0.06–0.19): available soil water in the top 100 centimeters, soil bulk density of layer 1, slope, sand content of soil layer 1, soil depth, available soil water in the top 25 centimeters, leaf area index, aspect eastness, and elevation. Evergreen forest areas had the highest annual median ETa , followed by mixed forest, open residential areas, and deciduous forest. Available water typically was higher in landcover types with lower ETa : herbaceous cover, followed by deciduous forest, high-intensity developed areas, and shrub. Deciduous forest had the second highest median available water, despite having the fourth highest ETa , because deciduous forest had greater P than most other areas. Annual median ETa typically was greatest in the second highest elevation band (2,401–2,800 m above the North American Vertical Datum of 1988 [NAVD 88]), and lower in the highest elevation band (2,801–3,254 m above NAVD 88), despite having greater P , likely because of decreased tree canopy cover or a shift from evergreen to deciduous trees at the highest elevations. Annual median ETa increased with tree canopy cover, regardless of landcover type. ETa correlation was higher with tree canopy than with leaf area index or normalized difference vegetation index. This result indicates that it is important to include the thermal band (from satellite multispectral data) in vegetation indices used to describe ETa , perhaps to account for the influence of energy limitation or water limitation on ET. Of all natural landcover types, finer soils had the most available water, whereas coarser soils had the least available water. Relations of soil type with P – ETa were different than with ETa , indicating ET and available water have a complex response to differences in soil type. Further modeling would be useful in determining soils’ infiltration, storage, conductivity, and plant-water availability relations to individual storms for each position in the landscape, as well as the corresponding effects of these processes on ET and available water. The best multivariate linear model for annual ETa had an R 2 value of 0.62. Monthly ETa models had R 2 values between 0.16 and 0.65. Models usually, but not always, performed best during the growing season. These results indicate that even the best multivariate linear models cannot explain a notable amount of the variability in ET. The monthly ETa models with the highest correlations (August and September) followed a July having almost twice the mean precipitation for July (1981–2010), which indicates that a soil-moisture variable is needed to more accurately model monthly ETa . Further study is needed to better characterize this system, the variables that affect ET and available water, and the partitioning of available water into runoff, soil moisture storage, and groundwater recharge.

New Mexico↗
USGS2020

Comparison of storm runoff models for a small watershed in an urban metropolitan area, Albuquerque, New Mexico

In order to comply with a current U.S. Environmental Protection Agency watershed-based National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System permit, the City of Albuquerque required a better understanding of the rainfall-runoff processes in its small urban watersheds. That requirement prompted the initiation of the assessment of three existing watershed models that were developed to simulate those processes. Three existing rainfall-runoff modeling software packages—Hydrologic Engineering Center Hydrologic Modeling System (HEC-HMS) (using two sets of methods), Program for Predicting Polluting Particle Passage Through Pits, Puddles, and Ponds (P8), and Arid-Lands Hydrologic Model (AHYMO)—were compared to determine which provided the best balance of accuracy and usability for simulating storm runoff in small watersheds in the urbanized area of Albuquerque, New Mexico. Additionally, results of this study could help inform model users who have interest in simulating storm runoff in similar urban areas throughout the United States. Each model was used to simulate storm runoff in the Hahn Arroyo watershed, an urbanized watershed with concrete-lined arroyo channels in the northeastern quadrant of Albuquerque that exhibits flashy, monsoonal-driven storm runoff. Model results were compared to observed discharge data, according to literature-recommended performance measures and performance evaluation criteria. The HEC-HMS model using the Soil Conservation Service (SCS) curve number (CN) and SCS unit hydrograph methods ranked the highest when averaging the individual performance measures (Nash-Sutcliffe Efficiency, percent bias, and coefficient of determination) rankings together across the hourly calibration and validation periods, followed by P8, which was tied with the HEC-HMS initial and constant approach. For daily rankings using the same rank-averaging approach, the HEC-HMS CN-based model and P8 were tied for the highest ranking, followed by the HEC-HMS initial and constant approach. Alternatively, rating performance using validation period results as an indication of the expected confidence in forecasted results for future conditions, the P8 model performed best for both hourly and daily time-steps, followed by the HEC-HMS CN-based model and the HEC-HMS initial and constant-based model. However, based on the literature performance evaluation criteria, the HEC-HMS and P8 models overall had marginally satisfactory performance only for operation at the daily time-step. Direct comparison of the HEC-HMS and P8 models to the AHYMO is difficult, given the different performance assessment criteria used to assess these models separately in this study, as recommended by the literature. The AHYMO results generally lacked precision, given the wide range in the performance assessment values across events in percent error in peak discharge, difference in timing of peak discharge, percent error in total runoff volume, and difference in duration of event relative to observed data. For some events, however, the AHYMO results were fairly accurate, and AHYMO was likely a good predictor of the timing of storm runoff and the shape of the hydrograph. This study did not assess the results for all potential applications of the models in the Albuquerque urbanized area. Further study may be required to assess the model performance capabilities in other modeling applications.

New Mexico↗
USGS2020

Application of the Precipitation-Runoff Modeling System (PRMS) to simulate near-native streamflow in the Upper Rio Grande Basin

The U.S. Geological Survey’s Precipitation-Runoff Modeling System (PRMS) is widely used to simulate the effects of climate, topography, land cover, and soils on landscape-level hydrologic response and streamflow. This study developed, calibrated, and assessed a PRMS model that simulates near-native or naturalized streamflow conditions in the Upper Rio Grande Basin. A PRMS model framework of 1,021 hydrologic response units was constructed for the basin. Subbasins within the larger Upper Rio Grande Basin range from snow-dominated northern basins to monsoon driven southern basins. The 1,021 hydrologic response units were grouped into 133 subareas within the basin, and solar radiation and potential evapotranspiration data were used to calibrate corresponding PRMS parameters in each subarea independently. Nine subbasins with streamgages distributed across the basin were identified as “near-native” subbasins, or those basins with low anthropogenic disturbance. Model parameters that affect streamflow were calibrated for the near-native subbasins, and the calibrated parameters were distributed to the remaining hydrologic response units on the basis of terrain, soil, and vegetation conditions linked to a distribution and weighting algorithm developed for this study. The parameter distribution method was validated in three of the nine near-native subbasins. Calibration results demonstrated that the PRMS model developed in this study with distributed model parameters for the entire Upper Rio Grande Basin was successful in applying local information to improve model performance over the National Hydrologic Model, and that the new model is appropriate to use to simulate near-native conditions throughout the basin. The result is a model that can simulate naturalized flow and other variables that affect the water budget (including soil moisture, evapotranspiration, recharge) at the daily time step for current and future climate conditions, and that can also be used in conjunction with other models developed for the basin.

Upper Rio Grande Basin↗
USGS2020

Assessment of soil and water resources in the Organ Mountains-Desert Peaks National Monument, New Mexico

The Organ Mountains-Desert Peaks National Monument (Monument) in southern New Mexico was established in 2014. Given anticipated future demands in the Monument for recreation, livestock grazing, and maintenance of rights-of-way (for example, pipelines and powerlines), the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) needs a better understanding of the current soil and water resources and how infrastructure improvements could affect these resources and the watershed. Specifically, the BLM is concerned with infiltration and erosion and their relations to existing or planned infrastructure, such as roads, campgrounds, location of livestock grazing, and rights-of-way. Alternatives to the current land-use conditions, land-management practices, and infrastructure will be assessed by BLM to best protect Monument resources. The U.S. Geological Survey, in cooperation with the BLM, conducted a study to assess the soil and water resources within the Monument to provide an inventory and compilation of natural-resource information needed by resource managers for the BLM’s land-use planning process for this new national monument. The overall objectives of this study were to (1) compile and interpret existing soil- and water-resource data for the Monument and (2) provide a basic assessment of the surface hydrological effects of selected alternatives to current land use and infrastructure. Data were compiled by using geographic information system software and evaluated for hydrologic and landscape properties that influence infiltration, runoff, and erosion. The effects of changing vegetation were simulated by using different scenarios in the Rangeland Hydrology and Erosion Model. Results of this model indicate areas where soil loss or runoff may occur.

New Mexico↗
USGS2019

Long-term (1986–2015) crop water use characterization over the Upper Rio Grande Basin of United States and Mexico using Landsat-based evapotranspiration

The evaluation of historical water use in the Upper Rio Grande Basin (URGB), United States and Mexico, using Landsat-derived actual evapotranspiration (ETa) from 1986 to 2015 is presented here as the first study of its kind to apply satellite observations to quantify long-term, basin-wide crop consumptive use in a large basin. The rich archive of Landsat imagery combined with the Operational Simplified Surface Energy Balance (SSEBop) model was used to estimate and map ETa across the basin and over irrigated fields for historical characterization of water-use dynamics. Monthly ETa estimates were evaluated using six eddy-covariance (EC) flux towers showing strong correspondence (r2 > 0.80) with reasonable error rates (root mean square error between 6 and 19 mm/month). Detailed spatiotemporal analysis using peak growing season (June–August) ETa over irrigated areas revealed declining regional crop water-use patterns throughout the basin, a trend reinforced through comparisons with gridded ETa from the Max Planck Institute (MPI). The interrelationships among seven agro-hydroclimatic variables (ETa, Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI), land surface temperature (LST), maximum air temperature (Ta), potential ET (ETo), precipitation, and runoff) are all summarized to support the assessment and context of historical water-use dynamics over 30 years in the URGB.

Colorado, New Mexico, Texas↗
USGS2019

Calibration of Precipitation-Runoff Modeling System (PRMS) to simulate prefire and postfire hydrologic response in the upper Rio Hondo Basin, New Mexico

The Precipitation-Runoff Modeling System (PRMS) is widely used to simulate the effects of climate, topography, land cover, and soils on landscape-level hydrologic responses and streamflow. The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), in cooperation with the New Mexico Department of Homeland Security and Emergency Management, developed procedures to apply the PRMS model to simulate the effects of fire on hydrologic responses. A PRMS model was built of the upper Rio Hondo Basin from the headwaters to approximately 19 miles downstream from the USGS streamgage Rio Hondo above Chavez Canyon near Hondo, New Mexico, by using 24 hydrologic response units (HRUs), or hydrologically similar subareas, from the National Hydrologic Model. A quasi-graphical user interface was created to easily query and analyze published PRMS sensitivity-analysis data. Simulation of mean daily streamflow was most sensitive to parameters related to snowmelt or infiltration throughout the upper Rio Hondo Basin. In the basin’s eastern and northern HRUs, flashiness and timing of streamflow were most sensitive to interflow; in many western-basin HRUs (higher elevations), flashiness of streamflow was most sensitive to soil moisture parameters, and timing of streamflow was most sensitive to infiltration and evapotranspiration parameters. The PRMS model was calibrated for the fire-affected North Fork Eagle Creek subwatershed by comparing modeled to observed daily streamflow for the nonfrozen (May through October) period for a prefire and postfire time period. The prefire model was calibrated for the period 2007–12 before the 2012 fire, and the postfire model was calibrated for a 2-year (2014–15) period after the fire. Model parameterization combined manual adjustment of 8 parameters on the basis of prior knowledge and automated adjustment of the most sensitive parameters by using the Let Us Calibrate interface. A gridded, daily precipitation dataset that captured the spatial heterogeneity across the study watershed was used as the precipitation input for calibration. Model performance was assessed as satisfactory by using standard statistical measures for prefire and postfire periods. The calibrated model was run by using data from a single precipitation gage to better represent the effect of localized, extreme storms on postfire hydrologic response. The calibrated models for prefire and postfire conditions simulated streamflows with greater consistency than the uncalibrated model for the corresponding (prefire or postfire) period of hydrographic record. The effect of fire on streamflow was found to be primarily a shift from streamflow dominated by base flow prior to fire to streamflow dominated by surface runoff after fire.

New Mexico↗
USGS2019

Geospatial scaling of runoff and erosion modeling in the Chihuahuan Desert

Large-scale assessments of rangeland runoff and erosion require methods to extend plot-scale parameterizations to large areas. In this study, Rangeland Hydrology and Erosion Model (RHEM) parameters were developed from plot-scale foliar and ground-cover transect data for an arid, grass-shrub rangeland in southern New Mexico, and a method was assessed to upscale transect-plot parameters to a large landscape. The transect-plot data compared favorably to corresponding cell data generated from publicly available geospatial data for total foliar cover but less favorably for litter cover and poorly for rock cover. The RHEM effective hydraulic conductivity (K e ) parameter was comparable between transect-plot and geospatial-cell methods, but the splash and sheet erosion factor (K ss ) had poor agreement between the two methods. Simulated runoff and erosion reflected differences in transect-plot and geospatial-cell-based RHEM parameterizations, with low error and very good agreement for runoff but high error and poor agreement for soil loss. These results demonstrate that K e parameters developed using geospatial data calibrated to plot data can be extrapolated to large spatial areas and provide reasonable simulation of runoff using RHEM. However, these same geospatial methods do not provide reasonable estimation of K ss or simulation of soil loss. Poor representation of litter and rock cover variables, which are highly spatially heterogeneous at the plot scale, was inadequate to accurately represent K ss or soil loss using RHEM. High resolution ground cover data, such as from unmanned aerial systems, may improve parameterization of K ss , and, ultimately, arid rangeland soil erosion simulation.

New Mexico↗
USGS2018

Continuing progress toward a national assessment of water availability and use

Executive Summary The Omnibus Public Land Management Act of 2009 (Public Law 111—11) was passed into law on March 30, 2009. Subtitle F, also known as the SECURE Water Act, calls for the establishment of a “national water availability and use assessment program” within the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). The USGS issued the first report on the program in 2013. Program progress over the period 2013–17 is reported herein to fulfill the requirement to inform Congress on implementation of the national water availability and use assessment program, also referred to as the USGS National Water Census (the Water Census). Much work has been accomplished during 2013–17 on producing water budgets for the nation, a goal USGS outlined in its first report on program progress to Congress. The USGS has completed three geographic focus area studies and has begun three others. Work has advanced on nationwide efforts in streamflow analysis, groundwater assessment and research, evapotranspiration studies, water use, environmental water science, and drought science. The USGS works with Federal and non-Federal agencies, universities, and other organizations to ensure that the information can be aggregated with other types of water-availability and socioeconomic information, such as data on food and energy production. The USGS has also made great strides in measures for delivering data and information on the Water Census to stakeholders and the public. Much work remains to be accomplished for the Nation to have a comprehensive, ongoing Water Census. In this report, the USGS lays out activities to be accomplished in the next 5 years (2017–22), based upon current funding levels. These include selecting new focus area studies, conducting hydrologic modeling to complete water budgets for the conterminous United States, expanding groundwater modeling efforts, mapping a national classification system for environmental water science, and developing an inventory of interbasin water transfers. All of these steps are necessary in order for the Water Census to achieve the goals outlined by Congress in the SECURE Water Act.

Circular↗
USGS2018

Using cluster analysis to compartmentalize a large managed wetland based on physical, biological, and climatic geospatial attributes

Hierarchical and partitional cluster analyses were used to compartmentalize Water Conservation Area 1, a managed wetland within the Arthur R. Marshall Loxahatchee National Wildlife Refuge in southeast Florida, USA, based on physical, biological, and climatic geospatial attributes. Single, complete, average, and Ward’s linkages were tested during the hierarchical cluster analyses, with average linkage providing the best results. In general, the partitional method, partitioning around medoids, found clusters that were more evenly sized and more spatially aggregated than those resulting from the hierarchical analyses. However, hierarchical analysis appeared to be better suited to identify outlier regions that were significantly different from other areas. The clusters identified by geospatial attributes were similar to clusters developed for the interior marsh in a separate study using water quality attributes, suggesting that similar factors have influenced variations in both the set of physical, biological, and climatic attributes selected in this study and water quality parameters. However, geospatial data allowed further subdivision of several interior marsh clusters identified from the water quality data, potentially indicating zones with important differences in function. Identification of these zones can be useful to managers and modelers by informing the distribution of monitoring equipment and personnel as well as delineating regions that may respond similarly to future changes in management or climate.

Florida↗
USGS2018

Effects of hillslope gully stabilization on erosion and sediment production in the Torreon Wash watershed, New Mexico, 2009–12

Sediment erosion and deposition in two sets of paired (treated and untreated) upland drainages in the Torreon Wash watershed, upper Rio Puerco Basin, New Mexico, were examined over a 3 1/2-year period from spring 2009 through fall 2012. The objective was to evaluate the effectiveness of shallow, loose-stone check dams, or “one-rock dams,” as a hillslope gully erosion stabilization and mitigation method, and its potential for retaining upland eroded soils and decreasing delivery of sediment to lower ephemeral stream channels. Two high-resolution topographic surveys, completed at the beginning and end of the study period, were used to assess the effects of the mitigation measures at paired-drainage sites in both Penistaja Arroyo and Papers Wash watersheds, and at six main-stem-channel cross-section clusters along Penistaja Arroyo and Torreon Wash in the Torreon Wash watershed. For both drainage pairs, the treated drainage had greater sediment aggradation near the channel than the untreated drainage. Erosion was the dominant geomorphic process in the untreated Penistaja Arroyo drainage, whereas aggradation was the dominant process in the other three drainages. For the Penistaja Arroyo paired drainages, the treated site showed a 51-percent increase in area aggraded and 67-percent increase in volume aggraded per area analyzed over the untreated site. Both Papers Wash drainages showed net aggradation, but with similar treatment effect, with the treated site showing a 29-percent increase in area aggraded and 60-percent increase in volume aggraded per area analyzed over the untreated site. In the untreated Penistaja Arroyo drainage, the calculated minimum erosion rate was 0.0055 inches per year (in/yr; 0.14 millimeters per year [mm/yr]), whereas the calculated aggradation rates for the three drainages for which aggradation was the dominant geomorphic process were 0.0063 in/yr (0.16 mm/yr) for the Penistaja Arroyo treated drainage, 0.012 in/yr (0.31 mm/yr) for the Papers Wash untreated drainage, and 0.988 in/yr (2.51 mm/yr) for the Papers Wash treated drainage. Changes in the channel cross section along the main-stem Penistaja Arroyo and Torreon Wash were also examined. Channel-bank slumping and erosion of previously deposited bed material were apparent sources for sediment suspended in ephemeral streamflow. Cross-sectional channel surveys indicated examples of both erosion and deposition along each channel over the study period. Because the drainage area of the treated drainages is small compared to that of the Torreon Wash watershed, the upland mitigation measures would not be expected to measurably affect short-term concentrations of suspended sediment in main-stem channels. One-rock-dam mitigation structures in the upland drainages appear to have resulted in a decrease in sediment delivery to the main-stem channel. One-rock-dam mitigation structures may affect streamflow through their influence on runoff volume (via infiltration) and runoff rate (via detention), both of which may vary with time after structure installation.

New Mexico↗
USGS2018

Advances in drainage: Selected works from the Tenth International Drainage Symposium

This article introduces a special collection of fourteen articles accepted from among the 140 technical presentations, posters, and meeting papers presented at the 10th International ASABE Drainage Symposium. The symposium continued in the tradition of previous symposia that began in 1965 as a forum for presenting and assessing the progress of drainage research and implementation throughout the world. The articles in this collection address a wide range of topics grouped into five broad categories: (1) crop response, (2) design and management, (3) hydrology and scale, (4) modeling, and (5) water quality. The collection provides valuable information for scientists, engineers, planners, and others working on crop production, water quality, and water quantity issues affected by agricultural drainage. The collection also provides perspectives on the challenges of increasing agricultural production in a changing climate, with ever-greater attention to water quality and quantity concerns that will require integrated technical, economic, and social solutions.

Transactions of the ASABE↗
USGS2018

Review and development of ASABE Engineering Practice 621: “Guidelines for calibrating, validating, and evaluating hydrologic and water quality models”

In 2010, the Natural Resources and Environmental Systems Hydrology Committee (NRES-21) of ASABE initiated a long-term process to develop guidelines to improve modeling practice through better understanding of the calibration, validation, and evaluation process across applications and more effective interpretation and communication of model performance. This effort generated a compilation of 23 articles with model-specific descriptions and guidance (2012), a position paper outlining guidance for evaluating, interpreting, and communicating performance of hydrologic and water quality models considering intended use (2014), and a compilation of ten articles addressing key topics related to model calibration and validation (2015). In 2016, the first draft of ASABE Engineering Practice 621 (EP621), “Guidelines for Calibrating, Validating, and Evaluating Hydrologic and Water Quality (H/WQ) Models,” was developed, subsequently revised, and ultimately approved by the ASABE Standards Committee in 2017. EP621 provides guidelines, not prescriptive requirements, and as such recommends “good” modeling practices to enhance calibration, validation, evaluation, and communication of H/WQ models through establishment of consistent terminology; model selection; compilation and processing of input data and calibration, validation, and evaluation data; determination of model performance measures; model parameterization and calibration; re-examination of input and calibration data and/or consideration of model refinement; re-evaluation of model performance; and documentation of modeling process and results. EP621 can be obtained from the ASABE Technical Library at https://elibrary.asabe.org/abstract.asp?aid=47804. The objectives of this technical note are to review the process and rationale used to develop EP621 and to briefly summarize its major components.

Transactions of the ASABE↗
USGS2018

Current research in land, water, and agroecosystems: ASABE journals 2017 year in review

This article highlights current research into land and water resources, agroecosystems, and agricultural production systems published by the Natural Resources and Environmental Systems (NRES) community of ASABE journals (Transactions of the ASABE and Applied Engineering in Agriculture) in 2017. This article reviews the context, scope, and key results of the published articles and perhaps more importantly recommends areas for increased research attention. Experimental and modeling advances were described in hydrology, agroecosystems, climate-change effects, soil erosion, irrigation, drainage, forest resources, livestock systems, natural treatment systems, international water issues, and water quality topic areas. Three special collections were published (International Watershed Technology, Crop Modeling to Optimize Water Use, and Advances in Drainage). Other focal areas included 14 articles relating to livestock waste management, 13 concerning irrigated agricultural systems, 8 addressing climate change effects on land and water resources, and 16 on various aspects of soil erosion measurement and modeling. Building on the articles reviewed from 2017 and toward a vision of future agroecosystems research, the NRES community of ASABE journals strives to grow its role in making new knowledge accessible to sustain agricultural and natural systems in a changing world. In this vane, recommendations for future research direction are discussed with an emphasis on increased application of remote sensing data to agroecosystems research, improved assessment of agroecosystem resiliency and vulnerability to land and climate change, development of integrated models of agroecosystem services, meeting stubborn water management challenges in agricultural production systems, and focusing on publishing fully reproducible model results.

Transactions of the ASABE↗
USGS2017

International Watershed Technology: Improving Water Quality and Quantity at the Local, Basin, and Regional Scales

This article introduces the five papers in the “International Watershed Technology” collection. These papers were selected from 60 technical presentations at the fifth biennial ASABE 21st Century Watershed Technology Conference and Workshop: Improving the Quality of Water Resources at Local, Basin, and Regional Scales, held in Quito, Ecuador, on 3-9 December 2016. The conference focused on solving spatial and temporal water quality and quantity problems and addressed topics such as watershed management in developing countries, aquatic ecology and ecohydrology, ecosystem services, climate change mitigation strategies, flood forecasting, remote sensing, and water resource policy and management. While diverse, the presentation topics reflected the continuing evolution of the “data mining” and “big data” themes of past conferences related to geospatial data applications, with increasing emphasis on practical solutions. The papers selected for this collection represent applications of spatial data analyses toward practical ends with a theme of “tools and techniques for sustainability.” The papers address a range of topics, including the matching of crops with water availability, and assessing the environmental impacts of agricultural production. The papers identify some of the latest tools and techniques for improving sustainability in watershed resource management that are relevant to both developing and developed countries.

Transactions of the ASABE↗
USGS2017

Crop modeling applications in agricultural water management

This article introduces the fourteen articles that comprise the “Crop Modeling and Decision Support for Optimizing Use of Limited Water” collection. This collection was developed from a special session on crop modeling applications in agricultural water management held at the 2016 ASABE Annual International Meeting (AIM) in Orlando, Florida. In addition, other authors who were not able to attend the 2016 ASABE AIM were also invited to submit papers. The articles summarized in this introductory article demonstrate a wide array of applications in which crop models can be used to optimize agricultural water management. The following section titles indicate the topics covered in this collection: (1) evapotranspiration modeling (one article), (2) model development and parameterization (two articles), (3) application of crop models for irrigation scheduling (five articles), (4) coordinated water and nutrient management (one article), (5) soil water management (two articles), (6) risk assessment of water-limited irrigation management (one article), and (7) regional assessments of climate impact (two articles). Changing weather and climate, increasing population, and groundwater depletion will continue to stimulate innovations in agricultural water management, and crop models will play an important role in helping to optimize water use in agriculture.

Transactions of the ASABE↗