Motivation & Background

Objective

Site Location

Methods

Results

Conclusion

Future Work

Follow My Steps

Data Dictionary

Methods:

· The model utilized for this project was a plug-in called the Automated Geospatial Watershed Assessment (AGWA) tool, developed by Arizona State University.

· The analysis for this project was based on results produced using the KINEROS 2 model. KINEROS2 is the model typically used by Burn Area Emergency Response (BEAR) teams for rapids post fire watershed assessment.

· At minimum, the KINEROS2 model requires a Digital Elevation Model (DEM), State Soil Geographic Database (STATSGO), National Land Cover Data (NLCD), watershed boundaries, and burn severity map that is converted to polygons (Figure 3). This project utilized all publicly available data sets.

· CREATING MODEL INPUTS

1.) Before running the AGWA model the user must delineate the watershed. To delineate the watershed, AGWA first utilizes the Fill, Flow Direction, Flow Accumulation tools from Arc Toolbox.

2.) Next the user must subdivide the watershed into model specific elements. Discretizing creates a stream feature class that drains the model elements.

3.) Next the watershed must be parameterized for the KINEROS2 model. Parameterizing defines model input parameters based on topographic, land cover, and soils properties. Model input parameters represent the physical properties of the watershed and are used to write the model input files.

4.) Next the rainfall files are prepared for the model. AGWA offers several methods of user-defined rainfall input. They include using a National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Precipitation-Frequency grid, a user defined storm, a user-defined hyetograph, or a pre-defined storm taken from a database. For the purposes of this project, the storm was chosen by consulting a 10-year, 1-hour NOAA Precipitation-Frequency grid.

5.) Lastly, the user must write the model input files. When writing the input files, AGWA loops through features of the selected discretization and reads the model parameters from the parameterization look-up tables to write into the input files for the model. This method is used to yield the results for the pre-fire (2001) and post-fire recovery (2011) sediment yield.

· For more in-depth directions for creating model inputs click Follow My Steps