CSDMS 2016 annual meeting poster ShawnCarter
Effects of the Anthropogenic Landscape on Global Scale Suspended Sediment Flux
Abstract:
Human industry and agriculture have long-term effects on the erosion and transport of sediment from the continental surface to the ocean. Suspended sediment flux can be increased where soils are exposed to erosion but can also be trapped behind reservoirs. There are literature and frameworks available which estimate the amount of suspended sediment that is effected by anthropogenic land-use and engineering, but they are generally limited to single river basins, regions, or continents. This paper provides the framework to analyze and the analytical results of the spatially explicit impact of anthropogenic landscapes on global suspended sediment flux. Quantifying suspended sediment flux at the global scale is complicated by a lack of gaging stations and observed data sets. Modeling provides a pathway which allows researchers to investigate the flux of sediment from the terrestrial environment to the coastal ocean where there is a lack of observed records. Modeling also allows exploration of how individual factors and parameters affect a natural phenomenon by isolating and/or eliminating those factors. Arguably, the BQART model as currently implemented in the Water Balance Model (WBMplus) (as WBMsed) framework provides the strongest prediction of suspended sedment flux at the global scale. However, BQART lacks a spatially and temporally explicit factor to describe the effect of anthropogenic disturbance on the landscape and its effects on suspended sediment flux.
This paper describes the process and development of a new anthropogenic factor which increases the importance of land-use in the WBMsed simulation of suspended sediment flux. This new anthropogenic factor is constructed from readily available and regularly updated land-use/land-cover datasets. Development of a land-use parameter in the WBMsed model will facilitate more accurate simulations of suspended sediment flux changes following land-use change and/or conversion and explore where suspended sediment is increased through human agriculture and industry.
* Please acknowledge the original contributors when you are using this material. If there are any copyright issues, please let us know and we will respond as soon as possible.
