An improved Newhall simulation for modeling soil moisture ...

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Introduction The Newhall Simulation Model (NSM) has been the go-to method for quantifying soil moisture regimes (SMR) and soil temperature regimes (STR) according to U.S. Soil Taxonomy for the last 20+ years. In that time, it has been implemented in numerous ways (e.g., COBOL, GW- BASIC, Java, and Python programming languages) but these implementations are frequently outpaced by the advancements in computer operating systems (e.g., Windows 10 compatibility issues with jNSM). The NSM has not been conceptually updated since its creation, meaning the assumptions, inputs, and outputs of the model do not reflect the most recent updates in Soil Taxonomy We are developing a revised NSM using the R computing language (rNewhall) to allow for an expanded utility compatible with existing packages that already interface and display soil survey data available through NRCS and the National Cooperative Soil Survey Program (e.g., aqp, soiDB, sharpshootR). Objectives Reproduce Newhall Soil Moisture model in R coding language (rNewhall) Modify rNewhall to predict daily soil moisture conditions Develop spatial version of rNewhall to predict detailed soil climate variables Evaluate model performance to focus future model development and design Implications Greater access to SMR and STR calculations Simple water budget model for daily soil moisture Many ‘hooks’ to existing data and functions to improve the utility of soil climate information Mechanism to develop risk assessment interpretations for FSA, NRCS, and RMA priorities (e.g., soil drought resistance index) An improved Newhall simulation for modeling soil moisture and temperature regimes Matt Levi and Grant Snitker University of Georgia, Department of Crop and Soil Sciences, Athens, GA, United States rNewhall Daily- Point Workflow Improving the Newhall Simulation Model rNewhall Daily – Point rNewhall was updated to simulate daily volumetric soil moisture (VWC) dynamics with a daily model of ET (Daily Thornthwaite following Pereira and Pruitt 2004) and precipitation. The soil profile was expanded include 10, user-specified equal depth increments. Additional modifications to the soil profile include the ability to modify soil physical properties including available water holding capacity with depth based on water content (WC) at field capacity at -1/3 bar (FC) and wilting point at -15 bar (WP), and the addition of a “saturated” column (SAT) for situations when soil moisture increases beyond field capacity. To account for water movement due to gravitational potential, rNewhall Daily – Point includes a daily procedure to move a proportion of the water down through the profile. rNewhall Daily - Spatial rNewhall Daily has been expanded to incorporate raster inputs for soil profile properties, climate data, and vegetation properties effecting ET and interception rates. rNewhall Daily – Spatial applies rNewhall Daily – Point on pixel-by-pixel basis, but incorporates spatial summaries of all soil and meteorological inputs. rNewhall Daily – Spatial is currently still under development and parameter testing. Modeled Daily Soil Moisture Dynamics Acknowledgements Financial support was provided by the U.S. Department of the Interior South Central Climate Adaptation Science Center grant G18AC00278 and USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service cooperative agreement NR193A750025C007. Link to poster & references Climate variables derived from five Oklahoma mesonet meteorological stations for January 1, 2009 – December 31, 2009; http://www.mesonet.org/ Soil properties extracted from gSSURGO 10-meter grid; https://websoilsurvey.sc.egov.usda.gov Predictions of VWC more similar to measured values for soils in wetter landscapes Surface soils (0-10 cm) better reflect measured VWC than 20-30 cm slice SMR will be derived from moisture conditions in the soil moisture control section Contact [email protected] [email protected] @grant_snitker https://cropsoil.uga.edu/ Replicating Newhall Simulation Model in R rNewhall Monthly was designed to replicate the original NSM, providing monthly estimates of soil moisture and soil temperature based on monthly meteorological data using R. It provides reproducible results to current java- and python- based NSM output and provides enhanced visualization and transferability by utilizing the R computing environment. Below, Figure A was generated by java-NSM and B) was reproduced by rNewhall. STR will initially be predicted by adding 1°C to mean annual air temperature derived from 800 m PRISM data. Future Model Development The Newhall Simulation Model This relatively simple water budget model incorporates monthly climate data with a soil profile to simulate moisture conditions. The current model divides the soil profile into eight layers irrespective of actual soil depth and uses a ‘cost’ matrix of wetting and drying to simulate water movement into the soil from the surface and water lost from the surface via ET (Newhall 1972; Newhall and Berdanier 1996; Van Wambeke 2000). Continue sensitivity testing to evaluate the effect of changes to accretion costs, antecedent precipitation, and plant interception Use gridded, modeled daily precipitation and temperature data (PRISM 800m) to create a spatial rNewhall output rNewhall Shiny App Shiny web application will provide interactive functionality, visualization, and connectivity to current soil survey resources. Mock-up of rNewhall Shiny web application demonstrating how users can select map display option and select a region of interest (Panel A), set rNewhall simulation parameters (Panel B), and view and download results (Panel C). B) A) C) rNewhall Daily Soil Profile Accretion Order Depletion Order Modeled SM Conditions at Marena station on April 1, 2009 B) A) Incorporate spatial connectivity of landscape- scale water flow using topographic indices derived from SRTM DEM (e.g., wetness index, slope, landscape position, runoff simulation) rNewhall package forthcoming

Transcript of An improved Newhall simulation for modeling soil moisture ...

Page 1: An improved Newhall simulation for modeling soil moisture ...

IntroductionThe Newhall Simulation Model (NSM) has been the go-to method for quantifying soil moisture regimes (SMR) and soil temperature regimes (STR) according to U.S. Soil Taxonomy for the last 20+ years. In that time, it has been implemented in numerous ways (e.g., COBOL, GW-BASIC, Java, and Python programming languages) but these implementations are frequently outpaced by the advancements in computer operating systems (e.g., Windows 10 compatibility issues with jNSM). The NSM has not been conceptually updated since its creation, meaning the assumptions, inputs, and outputs of the model do not reflect the most recent updates in Soil Taxonomy We are developing a revised NSM using the R computing language (rNewhall) to allow for an expanded utility compatible with existing packages that already interface and display soil survey data available through NRCS and the National Cooperative Soil Survey Program (e.g., aqp, soiDB, sharpshootR).

Objectives● Reproduce Newhall Soil Moisture model in R coding language

(rNewhall)● Modify rNewhall to predict daily soil moisture conditions● Develop spatial version of rNewhall to predict detailed soil climate

variables● Evaluate model performance to focus future model development and

design

Implications● Greater access to SMR and STR calculations● Simple water budget model for daily soil moisture ● Many ‘hooks’ to existing data and functions to improve the utility of

soil climate information ● Mechanism to develop risk assessment interpretations for FSA, NRCS,

and RMA priorities (e.g., soil drought resistance index)

An improved Newhall simulation for modeling soil moisture and temperature regimesMatt Levi and Grant Snitker

University of Georgia, Department of Crop and Soil Sciences, Athens, GA, United States

rNewhall Daily- Point Workflow

Improving the Newhall Simulation ModelrNewhall Daily – Point

rNewhall was updated to simulate daily volumetric soil moisture (VWC) dynamics with a daily model of ET (Daily Thornthwaite following Pereira and Pruitt 2004) and precipitation. The soil profile was expanded include 10, user-specified equal depth increments. Additional modifications to the soil profile include the ability to modify soil physical properties including available water holding capacity with depth based on water content (WC) at field capacity at -1/3 bar (FC) and wilting point at -15 bar (WP), and the addition of a “saturated” column (SAT) for situations when soil moisture increases beyond field capacity.To account for water movement due to gravitational potential, rNewhallDaily – Point includes a daily procedure to move a proportion of the water down through the profile.

rNewhall Daily - SpatialrNewhall Daily has been expanded to incorporate raster inputs for soil profile properties, climate data, and vegetation properties effecting ET and interception rates. rNewhall Daily – Spatial applies rNewhall Daily – Point on pixel-by-pixel basis, but incorporates spatial summaries of all soil and meteorological inputs. rNewhall Daily – Spatial is currently still under development and parameter testing.

Modeled Daily Soil Moisture Dynamics

AcknowledgementsFinancial support was provided by the U.S. Department of the Interior South Central Climate Adaptation Science Center grant G18AC00278 and USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service cooperative agreement NR193A750025C007.

Link to poster & references

● Climate variables derived from five Oklahoma mesonet meteorological stations for January 1, 2009 – December 31, 2009; http://www.mesonet.org/

● Soil properties extracted from gSSURGO 10-meter grid; https://websoilsurvey.sc.egov.usda.gov● Predictions of VWC more similar to measured values for soils in wetter landscapes ● Surface soils (0-10 cm) better reflect measured VWC than 20-30 cm slice● SMR will be derived from moisture conditions in the soil moisture control section

[email protected]@uga.edu

@grant_snitker

https://cropsoil.uga.edu/

Replicating Newhall Simulation Model in R

rNewhall Monthly was designed to replicate the original NSM, providing monthly estimates of soil moisture and soil temperature based on monthly meteorological data using R. It provides reproducible results to current java- and python-based NSM output and provides enhanced visualization and transferability by utilizing the R computing environment. Below, Figure A was generated by java-NSM and B) was reproduced by rNewhall. STR will initially be predicted by adding 1°C to mean annual air temperature derived from 800 m PRISM data.

Future Model Development

The Newhall Simulation ModelThis relatively simple water budget model incorporates monthly climate data with a soil profile to simulate moisture conditions. The current model divides the soil profile into eight layers irrespective of actual soil depth and uses a ‘cost’ matrix of wetting and drying to simulate water movement into the soil from the surface and water lost from the surface via ET (Newhall 1972; Newhall and Berdanier 1996; Van Wambeke 2000).

● Continue sensitivity testing to evaluate the effect of changes to accretion costs, antecedent precipitation, and plant interception

● Use gridded, modeled daily precipitation and temperature data (PRISM 800m) to create a spatial rNewhall output

rNewhall Shiny App

Shiny web application will provide interactive functionality, visualization, and connectivity to current soil survey resources. Mock-up of rNewhall Shiny web application demonstrating how users can select map display option and select a region of interest (Panel A), set rNewhall simulation parameters (Panel B), and view and download results (Panel C).

B)

A)

C)

rNewhall Daily Soil ProfileAccretion Order Depletion Order

Modeled SM Conditions at Marena station on April 1, 2009

B)A)

● Incorporate spatial connectivity of landscape-scale water flow using topographic indices derived from SRTM DEM (e.g., wetness index, slope, landscape position, runoff simulation)

● rNewhall package forthcoming