Southwest Watershed Research : SWRC Bulletin (Winter 2006)

The SWRC Bulletin

Sound Science for Water Decisions

Winter 2006

http://www.tucson.ars.ag.gov/

Upcoming Special Section of the AGU journal Water Resources Research dedicated to “Fifty Years of Research and Data Collection, U.S.D.A. Walnut Gulch Experimental Watershed”.

Click here for full list of WRR submissions or look at abstracts in “latest science results” below.

Latest Science Results (not yet published)

(click on title for more information)

Field application performance of multiple soil moisture sensors

Long-term meteorological and soil-dynamics database WGEW, Arizona, USA

Multiyear riparian evapotranspiration and groundwater use for a semiarid watershed

Ecological sites on Walnut Gulch

Partitioning Evapotranspiration in Semiarid Grassland and Shrubland Ecosystems Using Diurnal Surface Temperature Variation

Value of long-term data collection for understanding and predicting ecosystem dynamics

Precipitation thresholds for CO₂ uptake in grass and shrub plant communities on Walnut Gulch Experimental watershed

Long-term carbon dioxide and water flux database, Walnut Gulch Experimental Watershed, Arizona USA

Geomorphic and physiographic characteristics and processes of the Walnut Gulch Experimental Watershed, Arizona, United States

The Southwest Watershed Research Center Data Access Project

Geomorphic adjustments of Walnut Gulch, Arizona, USA 1935-2005

Sediment database, Walnut Gulch Experimental Watershed, Arizona, United States

Long-term remote sensing database, Walnut Gulch Experimental Watershed, Arizona, USA

Using Remotely-Sensed Estimates of Soil Moisture to Infer Soil Texture and Hydraulic Properties across a Semi-arid Watershed

Vegetation data, Walnut Gulch Experimental Watershed, Arizona, USA

The history of ARS Watershed Research and Modeling in Arizona and New Mexico

Sediment transfer and storage in dryland headwater streams

Appropriate scale of soil moisture retrieval from high-resolution radar imagery for bare and minimally vegetated soils

Prognosis for Upper San Pedro River (USA): Can the Riparian Ecosystem be Sustained?

Long-term precipitation database, Walnut Gulch Experimental Watershed, Arizona, United States

Transpiration by seepwillow (Baccharis salicifolia) shrubs under a semiarid riparian forest canopy

GIS Database, Walnut Gulch Experimental Watershed, Arizona, USA

Hydrogeomorphic Response to an Extreme Precipitation Event in Southern Arizona

Spatial interpolation of precipitation in a dense guage network for monsoon storm events in the southwestern U.S.

Sensitivity of mesquite shrubland carbon exchange to precipitation in contrasting physiographic settings

Simulated Changes in Runoff and Sediment in Developing Areas Near Benson, Arizona

Intraseasonal variation in water and carbon dioxide flux components in a semiard riparian woodland

Using airborne lidar to predict leaf area index in cottonwood trees and refine riparian water use estimates

A remote sensing approach for estimating distributed daytime net carbon dioxide flux in semiarid grasslands

Assessing vegetation change temporally and spatially in Southeastern Arizona

A retrospective analysis of model uncertainty for forecasting hydrologic change

At what scales to climate variability and alnd cover change impact on flooding and low flows?

Climate variability and land cover change impact on flooding and low flows - at what scales?

Hydrologic model uncertainty associated with simulating future land-cover/use scenarios. A Retrospective analysis

Soils relative to geology and landforms in Walnut Gulch Experimental Watershed, Arizona, USA

Long-term runoff database, Walnut Gulch experimental Watershed, Arizona, United States

A multi-year, muti-guage event based comparison of two types of automated-recording weighing-bucket raingages

Long-term soil erodibility database, Walnut Gulch Experimental Watershed, Arizona, USA

Highlight from Recently Published Research
Click here to read about partitioning ET in a Chihuahuan Desert shrubland. Download this and other "Recently Published Research" below.

An important element to assess the influence woody plant encroachment in rangelands is to determine how the ratio of transpiration to evapotranspiration is altered. Shown above is the partitioning of daily evapotranspiration (total bar height) into evaporation and shrub transpiration, and total daily precipitation for the 2004 growing season at the Lucky Hills Study Area, WGEW. Before the monsoon season began, both E and T were essentially zero. At the onset of the monsoon rains, E dominated ET as it took approximately ten days for the plants to recover from their down-regulated, dormant state and respond to the precipitation. Later, during interstorm periods, T was dominant and E was small. For the remainder of the growing season, E was high only on, and shortly after, days with rainfall. From Figure 3, Scott, R.L., Huxman, T.E., Cable, W.L., and Emmerich, W.E. 2006. here AND in “recently published research” list

Papers Published This Quarter:

(click on title to download a reprint)

Farid A., Goodrich, D.C., Sorooshian S. 2006. Using airborne lidar to discern age classes of cottonwood trees. Western J. of Applied Forestry, 21(3):149-158.

Scott, R.L., Huxman, T.E., Cable, W.L., Emmerich, W.E. 2006. Partitioning of evapotranspiration and its relation to carbon dioxide exchange in a Chihuahuan desert shrubland. Hydrological Processes. Special Issue on Emerging Issues of Ecohydrology in Semiarid Areas, eds. Wilcox , B. and Scanlon, B., 20: 3227-3243.

Marsett, R.C., Qi, J., Heilman, P., Biedenbender, S.H., Watson, C., Amer, S., Weltz, M.A., Goodrich, D.C., Marsett, R. 2006. Remote sensing for grassland management. In the Arid Southwest. Rangeland Ecology and Management 59(5): 530-540.

Williams, D.G, Scott, R.L., Huxman, T.E., Goodrich, D.C, Lin,g. 2006. Sensitivity of riparian ecosystems to moisture pulses in semiarid environments. Hydrological Processes. Special Issue on Emerging Issues in Rangeland Ecohydrology, eds. Wilcox , B. and Thurlow, T., 20: 3191-3205.

Cate, A., Goodrich, D.C., Guertin, D.P. 2006. Integrating hydrologic models and spatial data in a distributed internet application. Proc. 3rd Fed. Interagency Hydrologic Modeling Conf., April 2-6, 2006. Reno, Nevada. 2006 CDROM.

Semmens, D.J., Miller, S.N., Goodrich, D.C. 2006. Towards an automated tool for channel-network characterization, modeling, and assessment. Proc. 3rd Fed. Interagency Hydrologic Modeling Conf., April 2-6, 2006. Reno, Nevada. 2006 CDROM.

Goodrich, D.C., Unkrich, C.L., Smith, R., Woolhiser, D. 2006. KINEROS2 - New features and capabilities. Proc. 3rd Fed. Interagency Hydrologic Modeling Conf., April 2-6, 2006. Reno, Nevada. 2006 CDROM.

Goodrich, D.C., Scott, S., Hernandez, M., Burns, I.S., Levick, L.R., Cate, A., Kepner, W., Semmens, D.J., Miller, S.N., Guertin, D.P. 2006. Automated geospatial watershed assessment (AGWA) - A GIS-based hydrologic modeling tool for watershed management and landscape assessment. Proc. 3rd Fed. Interagency Hydrologic Modeling Conf., April 2-6, 2006. Reno, Nevada. 2006 CDROM.

Levick, L..R., Guertin, D.P., Scott, S., Semmens, D.J., Goodrich, D.C. 2006. Automated geospatial watershed assessment tool (AGWA) - Uncertainty analysis of common input data. Proc. 3rd Fed. Interagency Hydrologic Modeling Conf., April 2-6, 2006. Reno, Nevada. 2006 CDROM.

Our full publication list is available at
http://www.tucson.ars.ag.gov/unit/Publications/search.html .

Future Science Events:
Click here for information about recent erosion workshops, our ARS/UA Extension Fellowship, and the effect of the recent drought on WGEW vegetation.

Rainfall Report:

WGEW and SRER data can be downloaded from the web site at http://www.tucson.ars.ag.gov/dap

Geographic locations of the three precipitation records can be found at http://www.ars.usda.gov/sp2UserFiles/Place/53424500/images/sw_az3.jpg

Awards:

The SWRC staff received more awards for hard work and research. Click here for details.

Staff News:
Click here for news from SWRC Scientists about new hires, recent retirements and other staff events.

SWRC Bulletin:

Contact the SWRC Research Leader, Dr. Mark Nearing at 670-6380 x152 or mnearing@tucson.ars.ag.gov. Mailing address is USDA ARS SWRC, 2000 E. Allen Rd., Tucson, AZ 85719 and web address is http://www.tucson.ars.ag.gov/ . The SWRC Bulletin is on—line at http://ars.usda.gov/News/News.htm?modecode=53-42-45-00.

SWRC Mission:

To develop knowledge and technology to conserve water and soil in semi-arid lands.