Dear AGNPS User:                                          May 1995

We are pleased to announce the release of AGNPS version 5.00.  This latest 
version of the single-event model has the same look as it's predecessor-
-version 4.03b.  Version 5.00 may be downloaded from our anonymous ftp site by 
executing the following commands at the ftp prompt:  
"open ftp.mrsars.usda.gov"  <return>, "anonymous" <return>, 
"your E-mail address" <return>, "cd pub/ars/agnps" <return>, "bin" <return>, 
and "get about.txt" <return>.  Once you have downloaded this file, please read 

The basic processes of the AGRUN component for AGNPS version 5.00 (water, 
sediment, and chemicals) have been verified and corrected.  Also, the 
spreadsheet has been revised to read the input data files for AGNPS version 
4.0 and greater as if they were 5.00.  Conversions from the earlier versions 
to 5.00 are still permitted.  The spreadsheet was not verified although it 
contains some flaws (e.g., does not re-initialize when options are changed). 
Problems are known to occur when utilizing the spreadsheet editor for a large 
number of cells.  It is recommended that the spreadsheet not be used for 
modeling large watersheds.

Detailed verification reports are available with the distribution files.  The 
reports are:  (a) AGNPS Version 5.00 Verification Report:  Science (science 
report); and (b) AGNPS Version 5.00 Verification Report:  Software (software 
report).   Only the chemical & sediment trap components required correction 
because of failure to satisfy the science.  Also, some corrections were made 
to correct software-related problems.

Some of the reported errors with the sediment trap feature may have been the 
result of confusion with respect to the input requirement for channel length.  
Users often confuse segment with total channel length.  A warning message was 
added for some situations that had previously resulted in operational errors 
and lockups.

Division by zeros and some extended memory problems were corrected, however, 
we were unable to correct virtual memory problems.  Testing showed that the 
program was able to handle at least 16,384 cells on DOS PC's with 8  or more 
Mb of RAM configured solely for AGNPS.  More extended memory did not permit a 
greater number of cells.  The UNIX version of AGRUN uses the same corrected 
source code as the DOS version 5.00 and has been tested successfully for up to 
the 32,767 integer limit for the maximum number of cells.

We have included verification output files to version 5.00.  These files were 
designed for limited testing purposes only and will not be of use for actual 
data.  They are described in detail on pages 1-4 of the software report.
All divide by 0 errors encountered during testing were corrected, however 
potential situations still exist.  As a rule, if a divide by 0 error is 
encountered, check the channel geometry inputs for 0 values.  For more 
information on potential divide by 0 errors, see page 5 of the software 
report.

This summarizes the revisions for the AGNPS version 5.00 May 1995 release.  
The AGNPS User's Guide and the AGNPS Help Screens did not need to be revised 
for content so they were not  changed to reflect the new version number.  
Version 4.03 of the user's guide and help screens are still valid for version 
5.00.

Please read the AGNPS User's Guide before using the AGNPS version 5.00 
program. No further revision will be made in the single event version.

Respectfully,


Fred D. Theurer                                  Ward B. Voorhees
ANNAGNPS Project Manager                         Research Leader











