User:Jcreer/SWB

The Soil-Water-Balance (SWB) model has been developed by USGS to allow estimates of potential recharge to be made quickly and easily.

Required Input

Four gridded datasets are required:

• Hydrologic soil group
• land-use/land cover
• Available soil-water capacity
• Surface-water flow direction

In addition to gridded land-surface data the model requires tabular daily climatological data (daily precip (inches), average air temperature [F], max air temp [F], min air temp [F]). Additional data may be required depending on model options: (1) daily average wind speed (m/s), (2) daily average relative humidity (%), (3) daily max relative humidity (%), (4) daily percentage of possible sunshine (%). Finally a lookup table must be supplied to assign curve numbers, interception values, rooting depths, and maximum daily recharge values.

Creating an SWB Simulation

To create an SWB simulation, do the following:

1. Right-click on the " Project" item the Project Explorer and select New Simulation | SWB.

Simulation Menu

Right-clicking on the simulation item in the Project Explorer will bring up the following menu command:

• Delete – Removes the simualation item.
• Duplicate Creates a copy for the simulation, including all parameters set in the model control.
• Rename – Allows changing the name of the simulation item.
• Model Control – Opens the Model Control dialog where the model run parameters are set.
• Model Check – Looks for potential errors in the model setup. Brings up the Model Checker dialog if issues are discovered.
• Export SWB – Generates files used in the model run.
• Launch SWB – Starts the SWB model run and opens the Simulation Run Queue dialog.
• Save, Export, and Launch SWB – Combines several other commands together. First, it saves the project file, then exports files for the model run, and finally launches the SWB model run.
• Properties – Opens the Properties dialog which displays the simulation properties and allows adding notes.

Model Control

The parameters for the SWB model run are set in the Model Control dialog.

Required Inputs

• Model Domain Definition – A flow direction grid is required as the domain. GMS requires this grid be a raster file loaded into the project. All other inputs must match the domain grid.
  • Domain raster definition – The Select button will bring up a Select Tree Item dialog where a raster in the project can be selected as the model domain.
• Growing Season
  • Start day
  • End day
  • Hemisphere – Either the "Northern Hemisphere" or the " Southern Hemisphere" can be selected.
• Climate Data
  • Precipitation – Has options for entering a "Single station", "Arc grid", or "Surfer grid".
    • File prefix –
  • Temperature – Has options for entering a "Single station", "Arc grid", or "Surfer grid".
    • TMIN file prefix
    • TMAX file prefix
  • Climate tabular files – This option must be set if using a single station for either Precipitation or Temperature.
  • File prefix
• Flow Direction – A raster containing flow direction data is required.
  • Source raster – Clicking the Source button will bring up a Select Tree Item dialog where where a raster in the project can be selected for the flow direction.
• Soil Group – Can be set to use either a "Raster" or "Shapefile". Clicking the Select button will bring up a Select Tree Item dialog to specify when raster or shapefile in the project to use for the soil group.
• Land Use
• Available Soil-water Capacity
• Initial Soil Moisture
• Initial Snow Cover
• Runoff Calculation and Routing Method
• Evapotranspiration Method

Optional Inputs

• Adjusted Water Capacity
• Initial abstraction method
• Specify iterative method tolerance
• Ansi colored text
• Frozen ground
  • Specify continuous frozen ground threshold values
  • Initial frozen ground index

Output Options

• Suppress screen output
• Suppress daily files
• Suppress DISLIN messages
• Output grid file format
• Output grid filename prefix
• Output grid filename suffix
• Output Variables
  • Variable name
  • Daily output
  • Monthly output
  • Annual output
  • Copy/Paste Mode
  • Import
  • Export
  • Insert Above
  • Insert Below
  • Delete

External Links

• SWB website with USGS
• SWB User Manual