HIT combines an erosion model (RUSLE - Revised Universal Soil Loss Equation1) and a sediment delivery model
(SEDMOD - Spatially Explicit Delivery Model2) to calculate annual erosion and sediment loading to streams for
areas of the Great Lakes Basin. This combination yields two outputs: field-scale maps identifying areas at risk
for erosion and sediment loading, and tonnage estimates for erosion and sediment loading at watershed scales.
This on-line tool allows users to interact with these data spatially, and evaluate the potential impacts of
best management pracitces (BMPs) on selected watersheds.
HIT's modeling design was initially implemented over a multi-year partnership between the Institute of Water Research(IWR) and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
IWR refined the model design and developed an initial version of the on-line tool as part of a pilot project, supported with a USDA-NRCS Conservation
Innovation Grant and the Michigan Department of Agriculture.
|
 |
| View information about the HIT pilot project: |
|
|
|
|
| 1. Renard, K.; Foster, G.; Weesies, G.; McCool, D.; Yoder, D. Predicting Soil Erosion by Water: A Guide to
Conservation Planning with the Revised Universal Soil Loss Equation (RUSLE). USDA, Agriculture Handbook Number 703, 1996. |
| 2. Fraser, R. SEDMOD: A GIS-based Delivery Model for Diffuse Source Pollutants (doctoral dissertation. Yale University. May 1999. |
|
