QGeoWEPP: An open-source geospatial interface to enable high-resolution watershed-based soil erosion assessment

Authors: ZHANG, HAN - University At Buffalo; Renschler, Chris - Christian

Submitted to: Environmental Modelling & Software
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 6/13/2024
Publication Date: 6/13/2024
Citation: Zhang, H., Renschler, C.S. 2024. QGeoWEPP: An open-source geospatial interface to enable high-resolution watershed-based soil erosion assessment. Environmental Modelling & Software. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envsoft.2024.106118.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envsoft.2024.106118

Interpretive Summary: Soil erosion, soil redistribution, and loss of sediments from rangeland and croplands by water is a severe problem worldwide. The data collected in multiple, nested, or paired watershed studies on rangelands and croplands over the past four decades years were used to develop and validate the process-based Water Erosion Prediction Project (WEPP) by the USDA Agricultural Research Service (ARS) National Soil Erosion Research Laboratory (NSERL), research collaborators, and stakeholders. To meet the demands of precision farmers, watershed managers, post-fire rehabilitation, and pre-fire mitigation, two decades ago, the first Geospatial Interface for WEPP (GeoWEPP) was developed for the proprietary Geographic Information Systems (GIS) ArcView and ArcGIS. Since then, soil and water conservation experts have used GeoWEPP and the GeoWEPP approach in the U.S. and around the world. This paper presents a newly developed, open-source version of GeoWEPP for the freely available QGIS with enhanced capabilities to apply and validate WEPP watershed simulations and explore the effects of multiple alternative land management practices along hillslopes, within fields and watersheds. QGeoWEPP provides the opportunity to test new research, teaching, and outreach approaches to WEPP applications in areas such as soil and water conservation, land management, geohazard assessment due to land use and climate change, and many more.

Technical Abstract: Predicting soil erosion by water is an essential natural resource management activity for evaluating the impacts of upland erosion on sediment delivery, soil productivity, and offsite water quality. The Water Erosion Prediction Project (WEPP) is a process-based, semi-distributed parameter, one-dimensional, continuous model based on hydrology, erosion mechanics, plant growth, and open channel hydraulics. Due to the extensive data requirement, preparing parameter settings for WEPP is time-consuming. A Geospatial Interface for WEPP (GeoWEPP) overcame this major disadvantage but still has limitations regarding keeping track of operating systems and proprietary software updates. QGeoWEPP is a newly developed open-source QGIS-based GeoWEPP, offering the opportunity for novel user-based customization of process-based soil erosion assessment while having validation data sets available for customization validation. QGeoWEPP provides a platform for applying WEPP at the watershed scale that integrates the whole model application process, starting from data preparation, channel delineation, watershed definition, and soil erosion simulation to spatial and temporal visualization and outputs verification/validation. QGeoWEPP enables long-term soil erosion assessment in a large study area with high resolution (e.g. input in 1m-resolution) and allows the spatial and temporal validation of net soil loss/deposition at the pixel level. QGeoWEPP allows applying WEPP in any study area worldwide with minimum data limitations and more spatial and temporal capabilities. QGeoWEPP also provides the opportunity to test new research, teaching, and outreach approaches to WEPP applications in areas such as soil and water conservation, land management, geohazard assessment due to land use and climate change, and many more.