Water Resources Research Act Program

Details for Project ID OK_2023_Foltz

Estimating runoff and nitrate leaching from the Oklahoma TAPS program using the DNDC model

Institute: Oklahoma
Year Established: 2023 Start Date: 2023-09-01 End Date: 2024-08-31
Total Federal Funds: $5,000 Total Non-Federal Funds: $5,000

Principal Investigators: Mary Foltz

Project Summary: This project focuses on the intersection of farmer agricultural field management and potential environmental consequences using a combination of field data and computer modeling. This project will allow the expansion of ongoing modeling efforts using farmer competition data available from our testing ag performance partners and the Denitrification-Decomposition (DNDC) model. Our current modeling has focused on greenhouse gas emission outputs to target management that decreases nitrous oxide (N2O) emissions. The proposed work will incorporate runoff and nitrate leaching outputs to gain a more holistic understanding of water and nitrogen cycling in these systems. Irrigation management is expected to influence runoff, nitrate leaching, and greenhouse gas emissions across time, such that optimal irrigation rates can be identified for the Oklahoma panhandle region. The variability over time will also be considered to determine the influence of environmental conditions and climate variation on outputs.