ARS | Publication request: SCALING FROM FIELD TO REGION FOR WIND EROSION PREDICTION USING WEPS AND GIS.

Submitted to: American Society of Agronomy
Publication Type: Abstract Only
Publication Acceptance Date: June 27, 2005
Publication Date: October 1, 2005
Citation: Feng, G., Sharratt, B. 2005. Scaling up from Field to Region for Wind Erosion Prediction Using WEPS and GIS. Annual Meeting Abstracts [CD-ROM] ASA-CSSA-SSSA, Madison, WI

Technical Abstract: The USDA-ARS Wind Erosion Prediction System (WEPS) is a process-based model that has the ability to simulate soil erosion and emissions of fine particulates from agricultural soils. WEPS was designed for field application, but erosion estimates are often required to assess emission inventories at the global or regional scale (e.g. Columbia Plateau region of eastern Washington). Geographic information system (GIS) has proven to be a useful tool for scaling from field to region, thus ArcGIS and SSURGO databases were utilized for simulating potential soil loss and PM10 (particulate matter '10µm in diameter) emissions across Adams County, Washington. Adams County is 5000 square kilometers and has an annual precipitation of 250 to 318 mm. Aridisols and Mollisols comprise 90% of soil orders within county. Based on a land use survey in 2000 and 2001, about 35% of the land was in a winter wheat – summer fallow rotation. Due to the severe risk of wind erosion occurring from summer fallow, WEPS was used to simulate wind erosion from summer fallow across Adams County. Our analysis suggests that the majority of soil loss occurred from the south central part of the county where winds are least obstructed by variations in topography. No clear spatial distribution was found for PM10 emissions. Our study further suggests that wind erosion is more severe for Aridisols than for Mollisols. These findings suggest that soil management strategies to control erosion may be most effective on the more arid soils in the south central part of Adams County, Washington.