Data and rloadest models used to estimate sediment and nutrient loads in selected New York tributaries to eastern Lake Erie

This data release contains data and rloadest models used to estimate sediment and nutrient loads in selected New York tributaries to eastern Lake Erie. Load estimates for suspended sediment and nutrients were calculated using rloadest (Lorenz and others, 2013; Runkel and De Cicco, 2017) models. Included are a zip file with input and output files for selected rloadest models for 13 U.S. Geological Survey sites in the eastern Lake Erie Basin. Also included are brief methods and the R-code used to create the models and generate model summaries. Models for total nitrogen, nitrate plus nitrite, total phosphorus, orthophosphate, and suspended sediment were evaluated at each of the 13 sites. Model results that had high bias or non-significant model variables were not considered. In total, 46 rloadest models were created for the 13 sites. Of the 13 sites, rloadest models were created for total phosphorus at 12 sites, total nitrogen at all 13 sites, nitrate plus nitrite at five sites, ammonium at five sites, and for suspended sediment concentrations at 11 of the 13 sites. Orthophosphate samples were highly censored and did not produce any viable models at the study sites. These models and load results were generated using data pulled from the U.S. Geological Survey National Water Information System (U.S. Geological Survey, 2020 ) in May of 2020. Results from rloadest models were used in a Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) (Arnold and others, 1998; Douglas-Mankin and others, 2010; Gassman and others, 2007) analysis for the sites.

References

Arnold, J. G., Srinivasan, R., Muttiah, R. S., Williams, J. R., 1998, Large area hydrologic modeling and assessment part I: model development. Journal of the American Water Resources Association. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1752-1688.1998.tb05961.x

Douglas-Mankin, K. R., Srinivasan, R., Arnold, J. G, 2010, Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) Model: Current Developments and Applications. Transactions of the ASABE, 53(5), 1423–1431. https://doi.org/10.13031/2013.34915

Gassman, P. W., Reyes, M. R., Green, C. H., Arnold, J. G., 2007, The Soil and Water Assessment Tool: Historical Development, Applications, and Future Research Directions. Transactions of the ASABE, 50(4), 1211–1250. https://doi.org/10.13031/2013.23637

Lorenz, D., Runkel, R., and De Cicco, L., 2013, rloadest: U.S. Geological Survey water science R functions for LOAD ESTimation of constituents in rivers and streams, v 0.4.1: accessed September 12, 2018, at https://github.com/USGS-R/rloadest.

Runkel, R.L., and De Cicco, L.A., 2017, Rloadest: River Load Estimation. R package version 0.4.5, accessed September 12, 2018, at https://github.com/USGS-R/rloadest.

U.S. Geological Survey, 2020, U.S. Geological Survey water data for the Nation: U.S. Geological Survey National Water Information System database, accessed May 7, 2020, https://doi.org/10.5066/F7P55KJN.