• Journal of Korean Society on Water Environment
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• v.27 no.1
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• pp.61-72
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• 2011

In order to assess hydrologic and nonpoint source pollutant behaviors in a watershed with Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) model, the accuracy evaluation of SWAT model should be conducted prior to the application of it to a watershed. When calibrating and validating hydrological components of SWAT model, the Nash-Sutcliffe efficiency coefficient (EI) has been widely used. However, the EI value has been known as it is affected sensitively by big numbers among the range of numbers. In this study, a Web-based flow clustering EI estimation system using K-means clustering algorithm was developed and used for SWAT hydrology evaluation. Even though the EI of total streamflow was high, the EI values of hydrologic components (i.e., direct runoff and baseflow) were not high. Also when the EI values of flow group I and II (i.e., low and high value group) clustered from direct runoff and baseflow were computed, respectively, the EI values of them were much lower with negative EI values for some flow group comparison. The SWAT auto-calibration tool estimated values also showed negative EI values for most flow group I and II of direct runoff and baseflow although EI value of total streamflow was high. The result obtained in this study indicates that the SWAT hydrology component should be calibrated until all four positive EI values for each flow group of direct runoff and baseflow are obtained for better accuracy both in direct runoff and baseflow.

• Journal of Korea Water Resources Association
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• v.51 no.7
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• pp.585-597
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• 2018

This study aims to investigate the variation of water quality and discharge under the condition of climate change and Best Management Practices (BMPs), which is one of the reduction methods for non-point source pollution. Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) model is applied to case in Cheongmicheon watershed. The coefficients required for SWAT model were calibrated using SWAT Calibration and Uncertainty Program. Climate change is considered by using Representative Concentration Pathway (RCP) scenarios, RCP 4.5 and RCP 8.5. It is known from simulation results that the non-point source pollutant increases under the climate change scenario assuming worse condition. It is also found in this study that an appropriate application of BMPs is able to reduce the quantity and temporal variation of non-point source pollutant effectively.

• Journal of Korean Society on Water Environment
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• v.24 no.4
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• pp.488-498
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• 2008

Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) model have been widely used in simulating hydrology and water quality analysis at watershed scale. The SWAT model extracts topographic feature using the Digital Elevation Model (DEM) for hydrology and pollutant generation and transportation within watershed. Use of various DEM cell size in the SWAT leads to different results in extracting topographic feature for each subwatershed. So, it is recommended that model users use very detailed spatial resolution DEM for accurate hydrology analysis and water quality simulation. However, use of high resolution DEM is sometimes difficult to obtain and not efficient because of computer processing capacity and model execution time. Thus, the SWAT Topographic Feature Extraction Error (STOPFEE) Fix module, which can extract topographic feature of high resolution DEM from low resolution and updates SWAT topographic feature automatically, was developed and evaluated in this study. The analysis of average slope vs. DEM cell size revealed that average slope of watershed increases with decrease in DEM cell size, finer resolution of DEM. This falsification of topographic feature with low resolution DEM affects soil erosion and sediment behaviors in the watershed. The annual average sediment for Soyanggang-dam watershed with DEM cell size of 20 m was compared with DEM cell size of 100 m. There was 83.8% difference in simulated sediment without STOPFEE module and 4.4% difference with STOPFEE module applied although the same model input data were used in SWAT run. For Imha-dam watershed, there was 43.4% differences without STOPFEE module and 0.3% difference with STOPFEE module. Thus, the STOPFEE topographic database for Soyanggang-dam watershed was applied for Chungju-dam watershed because its topographic features are similar to Soyanggang-dam watershed. Without the STOPFEE module, there was 98.7% difference in simulated sediment for Chungju-dam watershed for DEM cell size of both 20 m and 100 m. However there was 20.7% difference in simulated sediment with STOPFEE topographic database for Soyanggang-dam watershed. The application results of STOPFEE for three watersheds showed that the STOPFEE module developed in this study is an effective tool to extract topographic feature of high resolution DEM from low resolution DEM. With the STOPFEE module, low-capacity computer can be also used for accurate hydrology and sediment modeling for bigger size watershed with the SWAT. It is deemed that the STOPFEE module database needs to be extended for various watersheds in Korea for wide application and accurate SWAT runs with lower resolution DEM.

• Proceedings of the Korea Water Resources Association Conference
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• 2022.05a
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• pp.368-368
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• 2022

The Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) has been widely used to simulate the long-term hydrological conditions of a catchment. Two output variables, outflow and sediment yield have been widely investigated in the field of water resources management, especially in determining the conditions of ungauged subbasins. The presence of missing data in weather input data can cause poor representation of the climate conditions in a catchment especially for large or mountainous catchments. Therefore, in this study, a custom module was developed and evaluated to determine the efficiency of utilizing basic spatial interpolation methods in the estimation of weather input data. The module has been written in Python language and can be considered as a pre-processing module prior to using the SWAT model. The results of this study suggests that the utilization of the proposed pre-processing module can improve the simulation results for both outflow and sediment yield in a catchment, even in the presence of missing data.

• KSCE Journal of Civil and Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.34 no.2
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• pp.457-467
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• 2014

This study is to evaluate the snowmelt impact on dam inflow for the Chungju Dam watershed $6,642.0km^2$ using Terra MODIS (Moderate-Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer) and Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT). To determine the SWAT snowmelt parameter; snow cover depletion curve (SCDC) the snow depth distribution (SDD) using Terra MODIS was used, the snow depth was spatially interpolated using snowfall data of ground meteorological stations. For 10 sets (2000-2010) data during snowmelt period (November-April), the sno50cov parameter, that is, the 50% coverage at a fraction of SCDC which determines the shape of snow depletion process, showed the values of 0.4 to 0.7. The SWAT model was calibrated with average $R^2$ of 0.54 using the sno50cov of each year. The 10 years average streamflow during snowmelt period was 104.3 mm which covers 12.0% of the annual streamflow.

• Journal of Korean Society on Water Environment
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• v.26 no.3
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• pp.387-398
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• 2010

SWAT model would be applied to evaluate the pollutant removal capacity with various best management practices (BMPs) in Kyongan stream watershed which plays an important role in water quality conservation and improvement of Paldang reservoir. The methods for the representation of various BMPs scenarios with SWAT is developed and evaluated. Riparian buffer strip, agricultural conservation practices to reduce fertilizer, sediment, and nutrients occurring from farm field (Grassed swale, Contour farming/Parallel terrace, Field border, Farm retention pond, Grade stabilization structure), and washland such as wetland and pond to extend detention and improve water quality are represented in SWAT. And to represent the expansion of existing Waste Water Treatment Plants (WWTPs) in Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT), reduction effect for point source pollutants was simulated. As the result of simulation, the removal rates of SS, TN, TP from scenarios of Kyongan stream watershed are the average annual SS yield by 5.2% to 69.2%, the average annual TN yield by 0.5% to 26.3%, and the average annual TP yield by 1.3% to 32.5%, respectively. This study has demonstrated that the SWAT is a very reliable and useful water quality and quantity assessment tool, and the BMPs representation in SWAT for watershed management is able to effectively simulate in Kyongan Stream watershed.

• Korean Journal of Agricultural and Forest Meteorology
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• v.12 no.4
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• pp.289-297
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• 2010

Common practice of Soil Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) model validation is to use a single variable (i.e., streamlfow) to calibrate SWAT model due to the paucity of actual hydrological measurement data in Korea. This approach, however, often causes errors in the simulated results because of numerous sources of uncertainty and complexity of SWAT model. We employed multi-variables (i.e., streamflow, evapotranspiration, and soil moisture), which were measured at mixed forest in Seolmacheon catchment ($8.54\;km^2$), in order to assess the performance and reduce the uncertainties of SWAT model output. Meteorological and surface topographical data of the catchment were obtained as basic input variables and SWAT model was calibrated using daily data of streamflow (Jan. - Dec.), evapotranspiration (Sep. - Dec.), and soil moisture (Jun. - Dec.) collected in 2007. The model performance was assessed by comparing its results with the observation (i.e., streamflow of 2003 to 2008 and evapotranspiration and soil moisture of 2008). When the multi-variable measurements were used to calibrate the SWAT model, the model results showed better agreement with the measurements compared to those using a single variable measurement by showing increases in coefficient of determination ($R^2$) from 0.72 to 0.76 for streamflow, from 0.49 to 0.59 for soil moisture, and from 0.52 to 0.59 for evapotranspiration. The findings highlight the importance of reliable and accurate collective observation data for improving performance of SWAT model and promote its facilitation for estimating more realistic hydrological cycles at catchment scale.

• Proceedings of the Korea Water Resources Association Conference
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• 2008.05a
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• pp.2042-2045
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• 2008

수자원을 효율적으로 이용하고 관리하기 위해서는 정확한 유출량을 파악하는 것이 매우 중요하다. 그러나 소하천에서의 수문자료의 측정은 거의 이루어지지 않고 있는 실정이며, 따라서 대부분의 소하천 유역을 미계측 유역으로 분류할 수 있다. 본 연구에서는 수문관측 자료가 없는 소하천에서의 Soil and Water Assessment Tool(SWAT)의 적용가능성을 판단하였다. 남원에 위치하고 있는 지방 2급 하천인 광치천을 대상지점으로 SWAT 모형을 이용하여 일유출량을 모의하였다. 모의 값의 정확성을 판단하기 위하여 2004년의 저 평수기 측정 자료와 SWAT 모형으로부터의 모의 값을 비교 분석하였다. 또한 SWAT 모형에 의한 결과와 면적비유량법에 의한 결과를 비교하였다. 모의 결과 SWAT 모형에 의한 결과는 RMSE가 0.189이고, 면적비유량법에 의한 결과는 0.207로 나타났으며, 따라서 SWAT 모형에 의한 유출량 모의가 소하천에서도 적용 가능함을 판단할 수 있었다.

• Journal of The Korean Society of Agricultural Engineers
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• v.52 no.3
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• pp.97-104
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• 2010

The purpose of this study is to evaluate sediment yield reduction under various field slope conditions with rice straw mat. The Vegetative Filter Strip Model-W (VFSMOD-W) and Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) were used for simulation of sediment yield reduction effect of rice straw mat. The Universe Soil Loss Equation Practice factor (USLE P factor), being able to reflect simulation of rice straw mat in the agricultural field, were estimated for each slope with VFSMOD-W and measured soil erosion values under 5, 10, and 20 % slopes. Then with the regression equation for slopes, USLE P factor was derived and used as input data for each Hydrological Response Unit (HRU) in the SWAT model. The SWAT Spatially Distributed-HRU (SD-HRU) pre-processor module was utilized, moreover, in order to consider spatial location and topographic features (measured topographic features by field survey) of all HRU within each subwatershed in the study watershed. Result of monthly sediment yield without rice straw mat (Jan. 2000 - Aug. 2007) was 814.72 ton/month, and with rice straw mat (Jan. 2000 - Aug. 2007) was 526.75 ton/month, which was reduced as 35.35 % compared without it. Also, during the rainy season (from Jun. to Sep. 2000 - 2007), when without vs. with rice straw mat, monthly sediment indicated 2,109.54 ton and 1,358.61 ton respectively. It showed about 35.60 % was reduced depending on rice straw mat. As shown in this study, if rice straw mat is used as a Best Management Practice (BMP) in the sloping fields, rainfall-driven sediment yield will be reduced effectively.

• Journal of Korean Society on Water Environment
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• v.28 no.2
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• pp.247-254
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• 2012

Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) model has been widely used in estimation of flow and water quality at various watersheds worldwide, and it has an auto-calibration tool that could calibrate the flow and water quality data automatically from thousands of simulations. However, only continuous measured day flow/water quality data could be used in the current SWAT auto-calibration tool. Therefore, 8-day interval flow and water quality data measured nationwide by Korean Ministry of Environment (MOE) could not be used in SWAT auto-calibration even though long-term flow and water quality data in the Korean Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) watersheds available. In this study, current SWAT auto-calibration was modified to calibrate flow and water quality using 8-day interval flow and water quality data. As a result of this study, the Nash and Sutcliffe Efficiency (NSE) values for flow estimation using auto-calibration are 0.77 (calibration period) and 0.68 (validation period), and NSE value for water quality (T-P load) estimation (using the 8-day interval water quality data) is 0.80. The enhanced SWAT auto-calibration could be used in the estimation of continuous flow and water quality data at the outlet of TMDL watersheds and ungaged point of watersheds. In the next study, the enhanced SWAT auto-calibration will be integrated with Web based Load Duration Curve (LDC) system, and it could be suggested as methods of appraisal of TMDL in South Korea.