Building an OpenNSPECT Database for Your Watershed Shan Burkhalter and Dave Eslinger National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Office for Coastal Management

Agenda Today’s Goals:  Acquire all of the data you need to run OpenNSPECT for your study area  Process it using MapWindow GIS and the OpenNSPECT tool  Perform a successful test

Outline Overview OpenNSPECT Data requirements Processing considerations Acquire Data Elevation Land cover Precipitation R-factor Soils Process Data Clip data to project boundary Generate OpenNSPECT parameters from input data Run OpenNSPECT Conclusion

OpenNSPECT Free, open-source, GIS-based nonpoint source pollution and erosion comparison tool Used to estimate water quality impacts of various land use scenarios within a watershed Built on established models that predict – Runoff – Pollutants – Erosion

National sources Topography Land cover Precipitation Soils Rainfall erosivity Data Requirements

Processing Considerations Study area Hydrologic Unit Codes Derive from elevation model Raster resolution Typical raster resolutions for nationally available data: 30-meter land cover 30-meter and 10-meter elevation Four-kilometer and 800-meter precipitation and R-Factor To a lesser extent, three-meter land cover and elevation data

Processing Considerations Naming conventions (data type, location) – floatn38w123.flt – CA_2010_land_cover.img – PRISM_ppt_30yr_normal_4kmM2_annual_bil.bil – R-Factor_CONUS.tif – soilmu_a_ca637.shp Data units – X,Y units feet or meters – Z units Elevation – feet or meters Precipitation – millimeters, centimeters, or inches

Processing Considerations Data coordinate system – Geographic – Projected Soils database ‒ editing Missing data values Precipitation – Raining days (RUSLE) – Rainfall type (MUSLE)

Processing Considerations Now is a good time to organize folders In your project directory, create a RawData folder – Elevation TIFF – LandCover – Precip Inches – R-Factor – Soils

Acquire Elevation Data National Elevation Dataset A vailable from the U.S. Geological Survey National Map Viewer Derives:‒ Basin – Watersheds – Streams – Slope – Other flow dynamics Delivered as 1, 1/3, and 1/9 arc second tiles

Acquire Elevation Data Overview of steps: Locate and acquire elevation data viewer.nationalmap.gov/viewer Review the elevation data – Floating point (.flt) raster format – Metadata Rename the raw elevation file Confirm the data are a valid coordinate system Convert to a GeoTiff Assign the coordinate system to raster file

Acquire Elevation Data Overview of steps: Locate and acquire elevation data viewer.nationalmap.gov/viewer Review the elevation data – Floating point (.flt) raster format – Metadata Rename the raw elevation file Confirm the data are a valid coordinate system Convert to a GeoTiff Assign the coordinate system to raster file

Acquire Land Cover Data Land Cover Foundation for runoff quantity, sediment yield, pollutant yield Coastal Change Analysis Program (C-CAP) Coastal zone of the U.S. Available from the NOAA Digital Coast 30 meter, 2.5 meter for limited areas Delivered by state or specified area National Land Cover Database – Available from the U.S. Geological Survey National Map Viewer – 30 meter – Delivered as 1 arc second tiles

Acquire Land Cover Data Overview of steps: Locate and acquire land cover data at coast.noaa.gov/ccapftp Review the land cover data, which should contain: – ERDAS Imagine (.img) raster format – Metadata Rename the raw land cover file Confirm the data are in a valid coordinate system Assign the coordinate system to raster file

Acquire Land Cover Data Overview of steps: Locate and acquire land cover data at coast.noaa.gov/ccapftp Review the land cover data, which should contain: – ERDAS Imagine (.img) raster format – Metadata Rename the raw land cover file Confirm the data are in a valid coordinate system Assign the coordinate system to raster file

Acquire Precipitation Data Rainfall data Provides the runoff component Can be derived from weather station data PRISM* Climate Group at Oregon State University * Created using the Parameter‒Elevation Regressions on Independent Slopes Model climate-mapping system

Acquire Precipitation Data Overview of steps: Locate and acquire precipitation data Review data in the precipitation archive Band Interleaved by Line (.bil) raster format Metadata Rename the raw precipitation file Confirm the data are in a valid coordinate system Convert the Z values from millimeters to inches Assign the coordinate system to raster file

Acquire Precipitation Data Overview of steps: Locate and acquire precipitation data Review data in the precipitation archive Band Interleaved by Line (.bil) raster format Metadata Rename the raw precipitation file Confirm the data are in a valid coordinate system Convert the Z values from millimeters to inches Assign the coordinate system to raster file

Acquire Rainfall Factor (R-Factor) Data Rainfall-Runoff Erosivity Factor (R-Factor) Quantifies the effects of raindrop impacts and reflects the amount and rate of runoff associated with the rain One of the parameters used by the Revised Universal Soil Loss Equation to estimate annual rates of erosion Used when including erosion prediction in OpenNSPECT analysis Can be input as a raster file or a constant value

Acquire R-Factor Data Locate and acquire R-Factor for your study area coast.noaa.gov/ccapftp Review R-Factor data – GeoTIFF (.tif) raster format – Metadata Confirm the data are in a valid coordinate system Assign the coordinate system to raster file

Acquire R-Factor Data Locate and acquire R-Factor for your study area coast.noaa.gov/ccapftp Review R-Factor data – GeoTIFF (.tif) raster format – Metadata Confirm the data are in a valid coordinate system Assign the coordinate system to raster file

Acquire and Process Soils Data Soil Survey Geographic (SSURGO) database County-level soil data U.S. Department of Agriculture Natural Resource Conservation Service Soil data parameters are used to estimate sediment loads Hydrologic soils group (measure of permeability) K-factor (measure of erodibility)

Acquire and Process Soils Data Overview of steps: Locate and acquire soils data - WebSoilSurvey Review the soils data Extract relevant attributes from the database Create a soil attribute spreadsheet and modify or fill in any values necessary Join soils attributes to the spatial data Export the joined spatial database to a new shapefile If your study area fall within more than one county, merge the shapefiles Reproject and clip the soils layer to your study area boundary

Acquire and Process Soils Data Overview of steps: Locate and acquire soils data - WebSoilSurvey Review the soils data Extract relevant attributes from the database Create a soil attribute spreadsheet and modify or fill in any values necessary Join soils attributes to the spatial data Export the joined spatial database to a new shapefile If your study area fall within more than one county, merge the shapefiles Reproject and clip the soils layer to your study area boundary

websoilsurvey.sc.egov.usda.gov/App/WebSoilSurvey.aspx Overview of steps: Locate and acquire soils data Review the soils data Extract relevant attributes from the database Create a soil attribute spreadsheet and modify or fill in any values necessary Join soils attributes to the spatial data Export the joined spatial database to a new shapefile If your study area fall within more than one county, merge the shapefiles Reproject and clip the soils layer to your watershed boundary

Study Area Boundary Can be derived from USGS HUC or elevation data USGS HUCs:  Download the 12-digit hydrologic units for your region at ftp://ftp.csc.noaa.gov/pub/crs/OpenNSPECT/SIMs/HUC12  Select watersheds that intersect with your study area  Export selected polygons  Reproject to your preferred projection

Study Area Boundary Can be derived from USGS HUC or elevation data Elevation data:  Create a polygon shapefile that covers your study area  Clip the study area from elevation data  Use OpenNSPECT to generate watershed polygons  Use the output data to select watersheds that intersect with your study area  Export selected polygons  Reproject to your preferred projection

Clip Data to Your Watershed OpenNSPECT > Advanced Settings > Clip and Project New Data Shapefile boundary Elevation Land cover Precipitation R-Factor

Generate OpenNSPECT Parameters from the Input Data Derivative information required Elevation data Watersheds Flow dynamics Rainfall data Precipitation scenarios Soils data Hydrologic group Erodibility factor

Generate OpenNSPECT Parameters from the Input Data Watershed Delineation 1.OpenNSPECT > Advanced Settings > Watershed Delineations 2.In the Watershed Delineations dialog box, select Options > Create from DEM

Generate OpenNSPECT Parameters from the Input Data Precipitation Scenarios For an annual Precipitation Scenario RUSLE uses number of raining days A raining day is a day on which there was enough rain to produce runoff Using 5 days for today’s exercise will ensure that you get runoff See Dave’s Geoblog On How Many Days Did It Rain? for help determining raining days coast.noaa.gov/geozone/raining-days

Generate OpenNSPECT Parameters from the Input Data Precipitation Scenarios For a rain event Precipitation Scenario MUSLE uses rainfall type Intensity of rainfall varies by geography, NRCS describes four synthetic 24-hour rainfall distribution types* *Developed using the National Weather Service’s duration-frequency data or local storm data

Generate OpenNSPECT Parameters from the Input Data

Precipitation Scenarios 1. OpenNSPECT > Advanced Settings > Precipitation Scenarios 2. In the Precipitation Scenarios dialog box, select Options > New

Generate OpenNSPECT Parameters from the Input Data Soils 1.OpenNSPECT > Advanced Settings > Soils 2.In the Soils dialog box, select Options > New

OpenNSPECT Test Run Start a new MapWindow GIS project: From \\ON_Data_Prep, add the following addresses: Landcover_location.tif your_soils.shp your_dem.tif your_precip.tif your_R-factor

OpenNSPECT Test Run

Model Output If all of your data have been processed accurately, you will see results for the following factors: Accumulated runoff (L) Accumulated nitrogen (kg) Nitrogen concentration (mg/L) Accumulated sediment (kg)

Partner Examples (We would like to highlight your applications here in the future)

Supporting Resources

Getting Involved OpenNSPECT: Nspect.codeplex.com MapWindow.org NSPECT listserver

Conclusion OpenNSPECT is a nonpoint source pollution and erosion comparison tool Based on the free, open-source, MapWindow GIS Uses established models to predict runoff, pollutants, and erosion Input data are standardized and nationally- available Identify and acquire elevation, land cover, precipitation, R-factor, and soils Best used for comparing the effects of land use changes on water quality

Identify and acquire – Elevation – Land Cover – Precipitation – R-factor – Soils Clip data sets to your project boundary Generate watershed dynamics, precipitation scenarios, and soil characteristics Test application Conclusion

Future things to consider: Soil missing values – Hydrologic Group – K-factor Precipitation Scenarios – Average annual rainfall Calculate raining days for your area – Rainfall event based Conclusion

Questions? and