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ARS Home » Midwest Area » West Lafayette, Indiana » National Soil Erosion Research Laboratory » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #337618
Title: WEPP model enhancements for NRCS use

Author
item Flanagan, Dennis
item SRIVASTAVA, ANURAG - Purdue University
item Frankenberger, James - Jim
item POORE, J - Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS, USDA)
item WIDMAN, N - Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS, USDA)

Submitted to: Soil and Water Conservation Society
Publication Type: Abstract Only
Publication Acceptance Date: 3/1/2017
Publication Date: 7/30/2017
Citation: Flanagan, D.C., Srivastava, A., Frankenberger, J.R., Poore, J.K., Widman, N.C. 2017. WEPP model enhancements for NRCS use. Soil and Water Conservation Society 72nd International Annual Conference. Madison, WI. July 30-August 2,2017. p. 69. https://swcs.org/static/media/cms/17AC_Abstract_Book_1085002174566.pdf.

Interpretive Summary:

Technical Abstract: The USDA-Water Erosion Prediction Project (WEPP) model has been developed over the past 20+ years as a process-based soil erosion prediction tool, to ultimately replace empirically-based technologies such as the Universal Soil Loss Equation (USLE). In the past 3 years, the USDA-Agricultural Research Service (ARS) National Soil Erosion Research Laboratory (NSERL) has been working with the USDA-Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) on implementation efforts for WEPP in that agency. These efforts include development of new web-based interfaces for hillslope profile and watershed erosion predictions, linkage of the interfaces with NRCS databases for soils, land management, and operations, and updating of national climate station parameters for over 2700 locations in the U.S. with more recent and temporally-consistent information. This presentation will highlight the current status of this project, provide details on the new WEPP web-based interface, and describe some of the enhancements to the model and its ability to simulate common agricultural soil conservation practices. Additionally, results of some comparisons between WEPP model erosion predictions and those from the Revised Universal Soil Loss Equation version 2 (RUSLE2) will be presented and discussed. Major changes in how WEPP estimates effectiveness of conservation practices, in particular contouring, will be discussed. Current indications are that WEPP for hillslope profile applications will be implemented by NRCS sometime in 2017. Development of a targeted web-based watershed WEPP tool is also underway, with testing and implementation beginning sometime in 2018 or later.