Predictions of saturated hydraulic conductivity dynamics in a midwestern agricultural watershed, Iowa

Predictions of saturated hydraulic conductivity dynamics in a midwestern agricultural watershed, Iowa. ii And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to the which also ye are called in one body; and be ye thankful. Colossians 3:15 iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS First and foremost, my deepest thankfulness is given to my God and Lord for all of the grace and blessings that I have received throughout my time in the United States. I thank my father, mother and family in Taiwan for their unlimited love and support in my life. I also would like to express my appreciation to my beloved Apostolic Christian Plattners, and Bazzells. Your care and love have been very encouraging for me to continue to overcome the difficult time of life. like to express my great appreciation and deep gratitude to my advisor, Prof. Thanos Papanicolaou for placing at my disposal all scientific means necessary for this research. I value his expertise, supportiveness, understanding, guidance and encouragement. I thank my thesis committee members, Nandita Basu and Kathleen Stewart, for their valuable time and enormous suggestions that helped this study be more complete. I would like also to thank Dr. Mohamed Elhakeem and Dr. Christopher Wilson for their supervision during the study. I would like to thank Mike Sucik (State Soil Scientist, Iowa NRCS) for coordinating efforts with Ryan Dermody, Lee Camp and Neil Sass (soil Scientists at Waverly Soils Office; NRCS-Bremer County, IA), who assisted in core collection. In addition, the cooperation of the local farmers in the South Amana area is also appreciated. I would like to thank Steve Johnston and James Martin (NRCS Iowa County) for working with us in identifying the farmer participants. Finally, I would like to thank the IIHR staff who assisted in the field work including the following: Fabienne ABSTRACT In this study, a physically-based, modeling framework was developed to predict saturated hydraulic conductivity (K sat) dynamics in the Clear Creek Watershed (CCW), IA. The modeling framework integrated selected pedotransfer functions (PTFs) and watershed models with geospatial tools. A number of PTFs and watershed models were examined to select the appropriate models that represent the study site conditions. Models selection was based on statistical measures of the models' errors compared to the K sat field measurements conducted in CCW under different soil, climatic and land use conditions. The study has shown that combined Rosetta and the Water Erosion Prediction Project …