News / 2023 /

APEX

February 2023

In work supported by the Bureau of Land Management, Dr. Jeong is using APEX in conjunction with MODFLOW to simulate soil erosion (by wind and water), salt transport, and vegetation growth in the Colorado River Basin. The effort is in response to the more than $30 million spent annually to mitigate over $350 million in salinity damage.

Dr. Jeong is also working with NRCS and ARS staff in Temple and scientists at the Texas A&M AgriLife Center in Stephenville to develop management guidelines for dairy manure management for a variety of soils, crops, and weather conditions. The integrated research plan includes field experiments in which varying rates of dairy manure are applied to clayey and sandy soils in Temple and Stephenville, respectively. Scientists are monitoring soil, runoff water, and plant growth (corn and bermuda grass). Soil and water samples are being monitored for N, P, C, antibiotics, and soil microbes. These field experiments are providing valuable information needed to calibrate and validate the APEX model.
Dr. Jeong Associate Professor 
COVID has made last few years a challenge for many of us. But “with a little help from our friends” we are getting back on track informing colleagues around the world of many of the exciting improvements and applications of these shared tools. Over the next several weeks, we will share a brief summary of the news. Please contact the relevant scientists for more information, and please send us summaries of any efforts that you would like to have included in this section of our website.

The Rural Development Agency (RDA) of South Korea is working with Dr. Jeong to enhance the SWAT+ and APEX models to simulate rice paddy processes. In this collaboration, AgriLife leads the development of mathematical models and source codes while RDA collects field data in South Korea for use in model evaluation. The enhanced SWAT+ and APEX rice models will be useful in assessing the effects of alternative management practices and climate change in Korea and other areas in east and southeast Asia with similar rice production systems.

Working with Dr. Jeong (at Blackland), Dr. Chris George (in England) has developed a public domain (QGIS) APEX desktop tool.