building an opennspect database for your watershed shan burkhalter and dave eslinger national...

Building an OpenNSPECT Database for Your Watershed

Shan Burkhalter and Dave EslingerNational 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 areaProcess it using MapWindow GIS and the OpenNSPECT toolPerform a successful test

OutlineOverview• 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 areaHydrologic Unit CodesDerive from elevation model

• Raster resolutionTypical raster resolutions for nationally available data:

30-meter land cover30-meter and 10-meter elevationFour-kilometer and 800-meter precipitation and R-FactorTo 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 metersPrecipitation – millimeters, centimeters, or inches

Processing Considerations

• Data coordinate system– Geographic– Projected

• Soils database ‒ editingMissing data values

• Precipitation– Raining days (RUSLE)– Rainfall type (MUSLE)

Processing ConsiderationsNow 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 •Available 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

Shan.Burkhalter@noaa.govShan.Burkhalter@noaa.gov

Shan.Burkhalter@noaa.govShan.Burkhalter@noaa.gov

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 DataLand 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

www.prism.oregonstate.edu•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

www.prism.oregonstate.edu

www.prism.oregonstate.edu

Acquire Precipitation Data

Overview of steps:•Locate and acquire precipitation data

www.prism.oregonstate.edu•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 DataOverview 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 DataOverview 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 dataPrecipitation scenarios

•Soils dataHydrologic groupErodibility factor

Generate OpenNSPECT Parametersfrom the Input Data

Watershed Delineation1. OpenNSPECT > Advanced Settings > Watershed

Delineations2. In the Watershed Delineations dialog box, select Options >

Create from DEM

Generate OpenNSPECT Parametersfrom 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 Parametersfrom 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

Generate OpenNSPECT Parameters from the Input Data

Precipitation Scenarios1. OpenNSPECT > Advanced Settings > Precipitation

Scenarios2. In the Precipitation Scenarios dialog box, select Options >

New

Generate OpenNSPECT Parameters from the Input Data

Soils1. OpenNSPECT > Advanced

Settings > Soils2. 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 listserverwww.csc.noaa.gov/mailman/listinfo/n-spect-community

ConclusionOpenNSPECT 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?

Shan.Burkalter@noaa.govand

Dave.Eslinger@noaa.gov