U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Walnut Gulch Experimental Watershed, Arizona (Runoff)

NAL Geospatial Catalog
    The Walnut Gulch Experimental Watershed (WGEW) runoff database has the longest period of record of runoff in the world for a semiarid location, with data collection beginning in 1953. Runoff occurs at Walnut Gulch primarily as a result of convective thunderstorms during the months of July through September. Runoff volume and flow duration are correlated with drainage area as a result of the limited areal extent of runoff producing rainfall and transmission losses or infiltration of the flood wave into the channel alluvium.

    Vegetation, rainfall simulation, and overland flow experiments before and after tree removal in woodland-encroached sagebrush steppe: the SageSTEP hydrology study

      Simulated rainfall and overland-flow experiments are useful for enhancing understanding of surface hydrologic and erosion processes, quantifying runoff and erosion rates, and developing and testing predictive quantitative models. This extensive dataset consists of rainfall simulation and overland flow experimental plot data coupled with associated measures of vegetation, ground cover, and surface soil properties across point to hillslope scales. Data were collected at three woodland-encroached sagebrush (*Artemisia* spp.) rangelands in the Great Basin, USA, under undisturbed/untreated conditions and 1 yr to 9 yr following fire and/or mechanical tree-removal treatments.

      Small Watershed Hydrology (WinTR-55)

        WinTR-55 is a single-event rainfall-runoff small watershed hydrologic model. The model generates hydrographs from both urban and agricultural areas and at selected points along the stream system. Hydrographs are routed downstream through channels and/or reservoirs. Multiple sub-areas can be modeled within the watershed.

        SITES

          Prioritization of dam rehabilitation, improved flood warning systems, development of emergency action plans, and inform policy makers on zoning regulations.

          KINEROS - The kinematic runoff and erosion model

            The kinematic runoff and erosion model KINEROS is an event oriented, physically based model describing the processes of interception, infiltration, surface runoff and erosion from small agricultural and urban watersheds. The watershed is represented by a cascade of planes and channels; the partial differential equations describing overland flow, channel flow, erosion and sediment transport are solved by finite difference techniques. The spatial variation of rainfall, infiltration, runoff, and erosion parameters can be accomodated. KINEROS may be used to determine the effects of various artificial features such as urban developments, small detention reservoirs, or lined channels on flood hydrographs and sediment yield.

            ARS Water Database

              The ARS Water Data Base is a collection of precipitation and streamflow data from small agricultural watersheds in the United States. This national archive of variable time-series readings for precipitation and runoff contains sufficient detail to reconstruct storm hydrographs and hyetographs. There are currently about 14,000 station years of data stored in the data base. Watersheds used as study areas range from 0.2 hectare (0.5 acres) to 12,400 square kilometers (4,786 square miles). Raingage networks range from one station per watershed to over 200 stations. The period of record for individual watersheds vary from 1 to 50 years. Some watersheds have been in continuous operation since the mid 1930's.

              Data from: Threshold Behavior of Catchments with Duplex Hillslope Soils Feeding Soil Pipe Networks

                This dataset corresponds with two published studies conducted on loess covered catchments in northern Mississippi, USA within the Goodwin Creek Experimental Watershed that contain extensive networks of soil pipes and corresponding collapse features. These loess soils contain fragipan layers that were found to perch water, thereby initiating the piping processes. The dataset contains data from two papers, specifically these include: (i) the spatial distribution of soil pipe collapses and their size measurements from the Wilson et al. (2015) paper, and (ii) hydrologic measurements of perched water tables on hillslopes, water levels of selected soil pipe locations, and precipitation from the Wilson et al. (2017) paper.