Supplemental information for "Data Driven Model to Estimate Furrow Irrigation Sediment Loss in Western U.S."

<p>The area irrigated by furrow irrigation in the U.S. has been steadily decreasing but still represents about 20% of the total irrigated area. Furrow irrigation sediment loss is a major water quality issue in the western U.S. and a method for estimating sediment loss is needed to quantify the environmental impacts and estimate effectiveness and economic value of conservation practices. A data driven model was developed to estimate furrow irrigation sediment loss in the western U.S. A transfer learning approach was used to estimate furrow sediment loss. Predicted furrow sediment loss was 17% less than measured sediment loss on average with a coefficient of determination of 0.83. When the data set was randomly split into model development (90%) and validation (10%) data sets the prediction results were similar. The furrow sediment loss prediction model was implemented in a spreadsheet for easy prediction of furrow sediment loss without the need for special software. </p>