Możliwości zastosowania modelu SWAT w zlewniach leśnych

The Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) is a physical hydrological model for assessing the impact of land management on the water balance, erosion and pollution in catchment areas. It was developed by the United States Agricultural Research Service (USDA-ARS) and Texas A&M AgriLife Research and was initially used mainly for large areas (e.g. Mississippi and Missouri rivers), but over time it has also been applied in Europe, where it has been successfully used to model smaller catchments. The model integrates spatial and hydrological data, enabling the prediction of processes such as surface runoff, percolation or evapotranspiration. Studies have shown the effectiveness of SWAT in modelling hydrological processes, although the model still needs to be refined for small forest catchments, especially in the context of flow dynamics under extreme hydrological conditions. In addition, the development of SWAT enables the modelling of interactions between the water and carbon cycles, making it a valuable tool for climate and land use change studies. The model can be successfully applied on relatively small, forested watersheds.