(Soil) Topographic Index /

Topographic Wetness Index /

Variable Source Area in SWAT

Solomon Seyoum, Charlotte MacAlister (IWMI)

Dan Fuka (Cornell), Zach Easton (VT)

Topographic index not a new concept (Kirby + Beven late 70s)

- used to describe the spatial distribution of the soil moisture and soil
properties related landscape processes * CORRELATION OF TI / SOIL
PROPERTIES IN ET
-

as contributing area (specific catchment area) increases and slope

steepness decreases, topographic index and soil moisture content
increase.
can lead to higher correlations of soil moisture with topographic index
than with specific catchment area and slope steepness.

Topographic index controls:

flow accumulation, soil moisture, distribution of saturation zones, depth
of water table, evapotranspiration, thickness of soil horizons, organic
matter, pH, silt and sand content, plant cover distribution.

Topographic Index

i = ln
tan i
i = topographic index of grid cell, i
i = the upslope contributing area per unit length of contour
i = topographic slope of the cell

Topographic Index

raster calculator-ready

[TI] = Ln ( ( [FlowAcc] + 1 ) / ([Slope] / 100 + 0.001 ) )

Overland flow generating areas

Infiltration
Infiltration
Saturated
Interflow
Runoff

Interflow
Gully
formation
Exposed
rock

Maybar, Ethiopia
Chance that rainfall
intensity will exceed
infiltration capacity
is very small
Infiltration rate or rainfall intensity
cm/hr

10.00
9.00

Medium infiltration rate

8.00
7.00
6.00
5.00

Rainfall Intensity

4.00
3.00
2.00

Minimum infiltration rate

1.00
0.00
0.00

0.20

0.40

0.60

Probability of Excedance

0.80

1.00

Improved Soil

Soil-Topography Dynamics (1)

Soil Layer 1:

SOL_CBN

CLAY%

SILT%

SAND%

80

y = 3.4062x + 31.935
R = 0.7918

70

Soil Property

60
50
40

y = 0.0185x + 27.293
R = 0.0002

30
20

y = -2.8121x + 32.027
R = 0.6607

10
0
0

TI Class

10

11

Soil-Topography Dynamics (2)

Soil Layer 2:

SOL_CBN

CLAY%

SILT%

SAND%

90
80

Soil Property

70

y = 2.3968x + 52.549
R = 0.6995

60
50
40

y = -1.4173x + 29.86
R = 0.676

30

y = -0.7415x + 13.413
R = 0.5112

20
10
0
0

TI Class

10

11

Traditional SWAT

SWAT VSA

a SWAT-VSA
Soil Water
(mm)
SW_END
[mm]
93 - 163
93-163
163 - 242
163-242
242 - 277
242-277
277 - 298
277-298
298 - 317
298-317

b SWAT
Soil Water
(mm)
SW_END
[mm]
65 - 99
93-163
163-242
99 -139
139 - 196
242-277
196 - 245
277-298
245 - 304
298-317

a swat_vsa_hrus
SWAT-VSA
Runoff[mm]
(mm)
SURQ
0 - 0.939
0-0.93
0.939 - 2.201
0.93-2.20
2.201 - 4.532
2.20-4.53
4.532- 8.868
4.53-8.86
8.868- 10.213
8.86-10.21

SWAT
b swat_hrus
Runoff[mm]
(mm)
SURQ
1.978 - 4.014
0.66-0.93
4.014 - 4.440
0.93-2.20
4.440 - 4.783
2.20-4.53
4.783 - 5.214
4.53-8.86
5.214 - 5.75
8.86-10.21

Blue Nile
SWAT
setup
with TI

Gilgil Abbay
Soil

Gilgil Abbay Soil TI

Performance of SWAT with TI - daily

Gilgel Abay Catchment Flow (m3/s) near Merawi Station
600

GilgelAbay_Swat
500

400

Model
Swat
SwatVSA

GilgelAbay_SwatVSA

GilgelAbay_Obs

NSE
0.67
0.70

300

200

100

0
1/1/1998

1/1/1999

1/1/2000

12/31/2000

1/1/2002

1/1/2003

1/1/2004

12/31/2004

1/1/2006

Arc Toolbox to Expand ArcSWAT

Allows better initialization based on type of SWAT modeling project
you want to perform.
International FAO soils
Low resolution, but works anywhere

Aspect
Better surface energy budget
Crop centric modeling
Snow dominated processes

Elevation
Better temperature and precipitation distribution
Crop Centric modeling
Snow dominated processes
Intra-basin hydrology

Topographic Index
Hill slope hydrology
Surface and interflow routing (In the latest version of SWAT, per Arnold)

Automating the Topographic Index in ArcGIS

Simple add to ArcSWAT Initialization

Select project
Select database
Choose what
you want
represented
Topographic
Index
Elevation
increment in
meters
D8 Aspect

Just Soil, only 2 classes for 1200km2

Two Few for your project?

Elevation at 500m/50 increments

7 soils

D8 Aspect
16 soils

Topographic Index
20 soils

Elevation 500m, TI, D8 Aspect

504 soils

HRUs

Maybar runoff plot data, 1996-2004

Surface runoff clearly decreases with steepness

Normally SWAT (and other models) use Curve Number (runoff) Equation
Runoff equation
Q = (P-Ia)2
P Ia + S
Q = runoff
P = rainfall
S = potential maximum soil moisture retention after runoff begins
Ia = initial abstraction or amount of water before runoff, e.g. infiltration,
interception by vegetation; generally assumed that Ia = 0.2S
The runoff curve number, CN, is then related
S = (1000 / CN) - 10
CN range from 30 to 100; lower numbers indicate low runoff potential while
larger numbers are for increasing runoff potential. The lower the curve number,
the more permeable the soil is.

Global Climate Data for Local

Applications e.g. CFSR for SWAT

Solomon Seyoum, Charlotte MacAlister (IWMI)

Dan Fuka (Cornell)

Climate Forecast and Reanalysis System (CFSR)

A coupled atmosphere-ocean-land-sea ice system

Assimilates satellite radiances instead of the retrieved temperature and

humidity values

Accounts for changing CO2 and other trace gases, and solar variations

Finer spatial (~38km) and temporal (hourly and daily) resolution

Assimilates hydrological quantities from a parallel LSM forced by CMAP

and CPC unified daily gauge analysis

Global Climate Data Sources

Product

Spatial
Resolution

Temporal
Resolution

Time Horizon

Variables

CMAP

2.5 degree

Monthly

1979 - 2009

Precipitation

GPCP

2.5 degree

Monthly

1979 - 2010

Precipitation

GPCC

0.5 degree

Monthly

1951 - 2010

Precipitation

WorldClim

30 sec

Monthly

Climatology

Precipitation
Min, mean and max temp

TRMM

0.25 degree

3-hr, Daily

1957 - 2002

Precipitation

R1, R2

2.5 degree

6-hr, Daily

1948 - 2011

Climate variables

ERA40

2.5 degree

6-hr, Daily

1979 - 2001

Climate variables

CFSR

0.312 degree
(~38km)

Hourly, Daily

1979 - 2010

Climate variables, and

Hydrological quantities

CFSR Data for SWAT Modeling

CFSR Variable

CFSR
Unit

Conversion Factor

SWAT Unit

Precipitation Rate

Kgm-2s-1

x 86,400

mm/day

Min Temperature at 2m

- 273.16

OC

Min Temperature at 2m

- 273.16

OC

Directional wind at 10m

(Zonal and Meridional)

ms-1

Magnitude and
x 0.748

Wind speed at
2m, ms-1

Downward Solar Radiation

flux

Wm-2

x 0.0864

MJ/m2/day

Specific Humidity at 2m

KgKg-1

Relative
humidity, %

Pressure at ground surface

Pa

Universal gas law

and saturation vapor
pressure equations

Hourly Precipitation rate

Kgm-2s-1

Scaling theory and

factor with duration

Max half-hour
rainfall, mm

Monthly mean
Rainfall

Proportion of Rainfall Contributing to Major Hydrologic Components

(Climate Forecast System Reanalysis, 31 year mean - Wet Season )

700

CFSR-STN Correlation:
Daily = 0.47
Monthly = 0.94

600
y = 0.5689x + 21.378
R = 0.876

500

Adet

Dangela

STN

400
GGA_stn_2
MET station STN

300

GGA_STN_thies_2_clp
STN Thiessen Polygons
GGA_CFSR_clp
CFSR Thiessen Polygons

200

Value
TI
Value
High : 23.8535

100
Low : 4.16128

CFSR

0
0

Kilometers

100

200

300

400

500

600

800
CFSR

Gilgil Abbay CFSR v Station_areal_monthly: 1997-2006

700

STN

600
500
400
300
200

Sept

May

Jan

Sept

May

Jan

Sept

May

Jan

Sept

May

Jan

Sept

May

Jan

Sept

May

Jan

Sept

May

Jan

Sept

May

Jan

Sept

May

Jan

100
Sept

16

May

Jan

mm/month

700

500

Enfraz

450

CFSR-STN Correlation:
Daily = 0.54
Monthly = 0.89

Addis_Zemen

400
y = 3.1905x + 32.869
R = 0.7859

350

STN

300
GGA_stn_2
MET station STN

250

GGA_STN_thies_2_clp
STN Thiessen Polygons
GGA_CFSR_clp
CFSR Thiessen Polygons

Debre_Tabor

Value
TI
Value

200
150

High : 23.5086
23.8535

100

Low : 4.17124
4.16128

50
0
0

Kilometers

600

300

400

500

CFSR
CFSR_areal

Ribb CFSR v Station_areal_monthly: 1997-2006

Station_areal

500

400

300

200

Sep

Ma

Jan

Sep

Ma

Jan

Sep

Ma

Jan

Sep

Ma

Jan

Sep

Ma

Jan

Sep

Ma

Jan

Sep

Ma

Jan

Sep

Ma

Jan

Sep

Ma

Jan

100

Sep

20

Ma

10

Jan

200

mm/month

100

Precipitation climatology (contour) and differences (shading)

from observations taken as the average of CMAP and GPCP.
Contours: 2, 4, 8, 12 mm/day
Shading: -4, -2, -1, -0.5, 0.5, 1, 2, 4 mm/day
Global mean (GM) climatology is shown above each panel

W. Wang et al. (2010) An

assessment of the surface
climate in the NCEP.

Inter-annual standard
deviation of monthly
mean precipitation.
Shading: 0.5, 1, 2, 3, 4,
5, 6 mm/month

W. Wang et al. (2010) An

assessment of the surface
climate in the NCEP.

CFSR for global applications:

http://216.172.171.238/~drfuka/cgibin/querySWATv01.pl?lat=12&lon=37&.submit=Submit

Not direct comparison but look at Q streamflow not Precip