Modeling Soil Organic Carbon in the Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT)
Biography
Hi everybody, my name is Carson Bone and I am an upcoming senior in Biosystems Engineering at the University of Tennessee - Knoxville. As an active member in the community I am a member of the American Society of Agricultural Engineers (ASABE) and a member of Alpha Gamma Rho. In my spare time I love reading, watching movies, and practically anything outdoors.
SWAT stands for Soil & Water Assessment Tool and is used for building river basin scale models to determine the impact of land management in watersheds. The development of SWAT is a continuation of USDA- Agricultural Research (ARS) that has been around for over three decades.
SWAT allows the user to alter parameters such as weather, topography, soil properties, vegetation, and land management practices to simulate the most realistic model in order to predict outcomes in a watershed. This provides the user easier access into the world of model simulations.
This model was the foundation for the research that I conducted over my ten weeks here at Kansas State. It is an extensive tool which can be used to create any type of scenario while still being user friendly for an average person to pick up on rather quickly.
Between the surge in "green awareness" and the dwindling amount of petroleum the world is moving towards sources of energy that are renewable. One of the most common choices for petrol has been corn based ethanol because of the availability of the crop and the easy transition from petroleum.
How does using grain sorhgum for fuel instead of food affect the world? Obviously, there are many changes economically, but my summer's research focuses on its effect on the environment.
When food crops are harvested the stover is left on the field for the prevention of erosion and the loss of soil organic carbon (SOC). Conversely, when fuel crops like grain sorghum are used for fuel most of the plant is taken off the field in order to make the most fuel as possible. This takes away the soil's main source of carbon it would otherwise receive from decomposing plant matter.
During this summer my main goal is to see how these changes will affect (SOC) and what it that means for us.
What is SWAT ?
Food vs. Fuel
