The Automated Geospatial Watershed Assessment Tool (AGWA): Using Rainfall and Streamflow Records from Burned Watersheds to Evaluate and Improve Parameter Estimations

摘要

Precipitation and runoff records from several burned watersheds have been used to evaluate the performance of the Automated Geospatial Watershed Assessment (AGWA) tool as it is used to assign parameters to the KINmatic runoff and EROSion Model 2 (KINEROS2). This modeling scheme is used by the Department of Interior Burned Area Emergency Response (DOI BAER) teams to assess flooding and erosion risk immediately following a wildfire. Although DOI BAER teams use this parameterization/modeling framework to assess the relative change in watershed behavior following a wildfire by driving the model with National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) design storms, calibrations performed on actual events using rainfall estimations provided by rain gages and radar to drive the model provides insight into the model's performance, and potentially informs changes and developments to the AGWA parameter estimation scheme. Results indicate that current parameter modifications made by AGWA to represent fire impacts provide reasonable results for DOI BAER relative change risk assessments, though additional modifications to saturated hydraulic conductivity may be necessary to represent a broader range of storm intensity.