Moon Seong Kang

Bio: Moon Seong Kang is an academic researcher from Auburn University. The author has contributed to research in topics: Watershed & Blaney–Criddle equation. The author has an hindex of 5, co-authored 17 publications receiving 208 citations.

Assessment of reclaimed wastewater irrigation impacts on water quality, soil, and rice cultivation in paddy fields.

Abstract: The objective of this research was to monitor and assess the impact of reclaimed wastewater irrigation on water quality, soil, and rice cultivation by comparing the effects of various wastewater treatment levels on the growth and yield of rice. A randomized complete block design was used for the application methods of the wastewater effluents to paddy rice, with five treatments and six replications. The treatments were: control with groundwater irrigation (GW); irrigation with polluted water form a nearby stream (SW); and three treatments of reclaimed wastewater irrigation at different treatment levels. The three levels of wastewater treatments included wastewater effluents: (i) directly from the wastewater plant (WW); (ii) after passing through a sand filter (WSF); and (iii) after passing a sand filter followed by an ultraviolet treatment (WSFUV). Each plot was 4 x 4 m and was planted with rice (Oryza sativa L.) in 2002 and 2003. The results indicated that irrigation of rice with reclaimed municipal wastewater caused no adverse effects on the growth and yield of rice. The chemical compositions of the rice from all plots were within the normal ranges of brown rice quality in Korea. No adverse effects were observed on chemical concentrations including the heavy metals Cu, As, Cd, Zn, Hg, and Pb, in either the brown rice or the field. The results showed that treated municipal wastewater can be safely used as an alternative water source for the irrigation of rice, although continued monitoring will be needed to determine the long-term effects with regard to soil contamination and other potential health concerns.

Rice Cultivation with Reclaimed Wastewater Irrigation for Wastewater Reuse

Abstract: The objective of the research is to develop agricultural resue technologies of reclaiming the effluents from a municipal wastewater treatment plant and reusing for irrigated rice paddies. The Suwon wastewater treatment plant was selected for wastewater reuse tests. The control was the plots with groundwater irrigation (TR＃1), the treatment (TR＃2) using polluted stream water as it was, and three others using wastewater after treatment. Three levels of wastewater treatments were employed： the effluent from the wastewater treatment plant (TR＃3), sand filtering after treatment plant(TR＃4), and ultra-violet treatment after sand filtering (TR＃5). The randomized block method was applied to wastewater application to paddy rice with five treatments and six replica. The effects of various wastewater treatment levels on water quality, paddy soil, crop growth, yields, and the health hazards were investigated. The primary results indicate that cultivating rice with reclaimed wastewater irrigation did not cause a problem to adverse effects on crop growth and yields. Overall, wastewater could be used as a practical alternative measure for reclaimed wastewater irrigation. However, long-term monitoring is recommended on the effects on soil chemical characteristics and its related health concerns.

Detecting areal changes in tidal flats after sea dike construction using Landsat-TM images

Abstract: The main objective of this study was to estimate changes in the area of tidal flats that occurred after sea dike construction on the western coast of South Korea using Landsat-TM images. Applying the ISODATA method of unsupervised classification for Landsat-TM images, the tidal flats were identified, and the resulting areas were quantified for each image. The area of tidal flats from a topographic map published in one year differs significantly from that shown in another, which appears to be attributable to the tide levels at the time of aerial photography. During the study period, the area of tidal flats, as estimated from Landsat-TM images, increased by 4.57 km2 per year in the study areas. The tidal flats in the inner sea of Chunsu Harbor area increased by 200 m2 per zone, while the accumulation for a number of inner sea areas within Asan Harbor area occurred at over 50m2 per zone. The results of this research may serve as the basis of an environmentallyfriendly development plan for tidal flats.

Estimation of Future Reference Crop Evapotranspiration using Artificial Neural Networks

Abstract: Evapotranspiration (ET) is one of the basic components of the hydrologic cycle and is essential for estimating irrigation water requirements. In this study, artificial neural network (ANN) models for reference crop evapotranspiration () estimation were developed on a monthly basis (May~October). The models were trained and tested for Suwon, Korea. Four climate factors, daily maximum temperature (), daily minimum temperature (), rainfall (R), and solar radiation (S) were used as the input parameters of the models. The target values of the models were calculated using Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) Penman-Monteith equation. Future climate data were generated using LARS-WG (Long Ashton Research Station-Weather Generator), stochastic weather generator, based on HadCM3 (Hadley Centre Coupled Model, ver.3) A1B scenario. The evapotranspirations were 549.7 mm/yr in baseline period (1973-2008), 558.1 mm/yr in 2011-2030, 593.0 mm/yr in 2046-2065, and 641.1 mm/yr in 2080-2099. The results showed that the ANN models achieved good performances in estimating future reference crop evapotranspiration.

The Soil and Water Assessment Tool: Historical Development, Applications, and Future Research Directions

Abstract: The Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) model is a continuation of nearly 30 years of modeling efforts conducted by the USDA Agricultural Research Service (ARS). SWAT has gained international acceptance as a robust interdisciplinary watershed modeling tool as evidenced by international SWAT conferences, hundreds of SWAT-related papers presented at numerous other scientific meetings, and dozens of articles published in peer-reviewed journals. The model has also been adopted as part of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) Better Assessment Science Integrating Point and Nonpoint Sources (BASINS) software package and is being used by many U.S. federal and state agencies, including the USDA within the Conservation Effects Assessment Project (CEAP). At present, over 250 peer-reviewed published articles have been identified that report SWAT applications, reviews of SWAT components, or other research that includes SWAT. Many of these peer-reviewed articles are summarized here according to relevant application categories such as streamflow calibration and related hydrologic analyses, climate change impacts on hydrology, pollutant load assessments, comparisons with other models, and sensitivity analyses and calibration techniques. Strengths and weaknesses of the model are presented, and recommended research needs for SWAT are also provided.

Soil and Water Assessment Tool: Historical Development, Applications, and Future Research Directions, The

Abstract: The Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) model is a continuation of nearly 30 years of modeling efforts conducted by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), Agricultural Research Service. SWAT has gained international acceptance as a robust interdisciplinary watershed modeling tool, as evidenced by international SWAT conferences, hundreds of SWAT-related papers presented at numerous scientific meetings, and dozens of articles published in peer-reviewed journals. The model has also been adopted as part of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's BASINS (Better Assessment Science Integrating Point & Nonpoint Sources) software package and is being used by many U.S. federal and state agencies, including the USDA within the Conservation Effects Assessment Project. At present, over 250 peer-reviewed, published articles have been identified that report SWAT applications, reviews of SWAT components, or other research that includes SWAT. Many of these peer-reviewed articles are summarized here according to relevant application categories such as streamflow calibration and related hydrologic analyses, climate change impacts on hydrology, pollutant load assessments, comparisons with other models, and sensitivity analyses and calibration techniques. Strengths and weaknesses of the model are presented, and recommended research needs for SWAT are provided.

Watershed Modeling and its Applications: A State-of-the-Art Review

Abstract: Advances in the understanding of physical, chemical, and biological processes influencing water quality, cou- pled with improvements in the collection and analysis of hydrologic data, provide opportunities for significant innovations in the manner and level with which watershed-scale processes may be explored and modeled. This paper provides a re- view of current trends in watershed modeling, including use of stochastic-based methods, distributed versus lumped pa- rameter techniques, influence of data resolution and scalar issues, and the utilization of artificial intelligence (AI) as part of a data-driven approach to assist in watershed modeling efforts. Important findings and observed trends from this work include (i) use of AI techniques artificial neural networks (ANN), fuzzy logic (FL), and genetic algorithms (GA) to im- prove upon or replace traditional physically-based techniques which tend to be computationally expensive; (ii) limitations in scale-up of hydrological processes for watershed modeling; and (iii) the impacts of data resolution on watershed model- ing capabilities. In addition, detailed discussions of individual watershed models and modeling systems with their fea- tures, limitations, and example applications are presented to demonstrate the wide variety of systems currently available for watershed management at multiple scales. A summary of these discussions is presented in tabular format for use by water resource managers and decision makers as a screening tool for selecting a watershed model for a specific purpose.