Modeling agricultural land drainage under spring snowmelt conditions with DRAINMOD

Abstract

There are few computer models that can simulate winter freeze–thaw conditions and spring snowmelt hydrology for agricultural tile drained lands. DRAINMOD, which is used widely to simulate tile drainage flows, has not been extensively applied during colder periods in eastern Canada. This study analyzes the performance of DRAINMOD for surface runoff and subsurface drainage predictions in southern Quebec during spring snowmelt. The model was tested with five years of field data. DRAINMOD was found to be adequate in predicting spring snowmelt hydrology, except for subsurface drainage at one site. It was found that soil characteristics had a major influence on model performance.