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ARS Home » Midwest Area » Columbia, Missouri » Cropping Systems and Water Quality Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #188487
Title: LONG-TERM HYDROLOGIC DATABASE: GOODWATER CREEK, MISSOURI

Author
item Sadler, Edward
item Lerch, Robert
item Alberts, Edward
item Oster, Teri

Submitted to: Interagency Conference on Research in the Watersheds
Publication Type: Proceedings
Publication Acceptance Date: 5/17/2006
Publication Date: 5/17/2006
Citation: Sadler, E.J., Lerch, R.N., Alberts, E.E., Oster, T. 2006. Long-term hydrologic database: Goodwater Creek, Missouri. In. Fowler. D.L. compiler. Proc. 2nd Interagency Conference on Research in the Watersheds, May 16-17, 2006. Coweeta Hydrologic Laboratory, Otto, NC. p. 161-168

Interpretive Summary:

Technical Abstract: One of the more valuable ARS assets is the long-term record from the permanent watershed network. However, these data have not always been adequately documented, nor made easily available to the public. The objectives of the current research are 1) to fully document, 2) provide quality assurance for, and 3) make available in web-compatible form, the historical data from the 7,268 ha Goodwater Creek watershed (GWC) in north-central Missouri. This watershed, instrumented for hydrology in 1971 and water quality in 1993, is located within, and typically represents, the Central Claypan Major Land Resource Area as defined by USDA-NRCS. With very low hydraulic conductivity in the claypan soil layer, GWC represents perhaps the most extreme example of surface runoff-dominated hydrology in the ARS research watershed network. Data elements contained in the 34-yr hydrologic record include stage and flow at the watershed outlet (and two subwatershed weirs for much of the record), precipitation from a network of rain gauges, pan evaporation and associated temperature and windspeed, temperature and humidity, and groundwater elevations. In the 13-yr water quality record, sediment, nutrient, and pesticide concentration and load data augment the hydrologic data for both surface and groundwater. For this 13-yr period, three field-sized watersheds were also instrumented for hydrology and water quality, and an automated weather station was added. Effects of cropping systems are studied in long-term plots established during 1991 in 30 0.34-ha plots (3 replications of 10 treatments). A 6-yr record of seasonal hydrology and water quality exists for these plots. The GWC database will be made available through the ARS STEWARDS (Sustaining the Earth’s Watersheds, Agricultural Research Data System) when it is released.