Were model simulations for 2002 calibrated to on-the-ground data?
|Back to Top| No. A new model calibration was not conducted for 2002, in large part, because of the lack of continuity in water-quality monitoring records (reduced from about 425 in 1992 to about 35 in 2002). However, the authors used the 2002 model simulations to estimate a flow-adjusted change in mean annual nutrient load from 1992-2002 at the outlets of seven regional drainages to provide some ground truth for the model predictions during that period. The authors found general agreement in the model-simulated and monitoring-based estimates at 5 of the 7 sites for phosphorus and 3 of the 7 sites for nitrogen. Agreement was closest at the outlets of the Ohio and Central Mississippi regions and the Lower Mississippi at St Francisville, locations with drainages that contribute the largest quantities of nutrients to the Gulf.
