Skip to main content
ARS Home » Midwest Area » Ames, Iowa » National Laboratory for Agriculture and The Environment » Agroecosystems Management Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #418659
Research Project: Sustainable Intensification in Agricultural Watersheds through Optimized Management and Technology

Location: Agroecosystems Management Research

Title: USDA LTAR Common Experiment measurement: Channelized surface flow discharge

Author
item HAMILTON, STEPHEN - Michigan State University
item Moriasi, Daniel
item Baffaut, Claire

Submitted to: Protocols.io
Publication Type: Research Notes
Publication Acceptance Date: 9/7/2024
Publication Date: 9/7/2024
Citation: Hamilton, S.K., Moriasi, D.N., Baffaut, C. 2024. USDA LTAR Common Experiment measurement: Channelized surface flow discharge. Protocols.io. https://doi.org/10.17504/protocols.io.rm7vzj195lx1/v1.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.17504/protocols.io.rm7vzj195lx1/v1

Interpretive Summary: This protocol is part of a larger set published at protocols.io for the LTAR Common Experiment. This protocol outlines how to measure channelized surface flow discharge. This measurement is important to agriculture because it provides data needed to understand the movement of water and the amount of sediment and nutrients water transports from agricultural production land. This understanding helps with designing management practices that have minimum negative impact on soil and water resources for sustainable agriculture. The goal is to provide site-specific, example considerations for performing flow measurements (data collection, instrument maintenance, data processing, and quality control) applicable to headwaters and ditches as well as small drainage ways running off fields to streams, which are useful for land managers and engineers alike.

Technical Abstract: Measurement of surface flow rate (discharge) is often needed for agroecological studies, whether to understand the movement of water itself or to estimate what flowing water carries (e.g., nutrients or sediments exported from cropland or grazing land). Water may flow over land in non-channelized ways (the subject of a different protocol) or be confined to discrete channels. The present protocol addresses channelized flow within the context of the LTAR Common Experiment (i.e., from fields or plots), recognizing that such flow occurs as a continuum from rivulets to open drainage channels and small streams; hence, the optimal discharge measurement method depends on channel size and other considerations. Since the US Geological Survey measures discharge from large drainage areas, this protocol is geared toward discharge measurements in headwater streams and ditches. Because the situations in which channelized discharge may need to be measured vary considerably across the LTAR network, we are not recommending a specific protocol but instead offering considerations for selecting measurement methods and published references with more information on various options.