Field experimental approach to bromide leaching as affected by scale‐specific rainfall characteristics

Abstract

Although inherent soil spatial and temporal variabilities complicate analysis of solute leaching, impacts of specific processes associated with rainfall amount, intensity, and frequency on solute leaching under field conditions require investigation. The objective of this study was to introduce (1) a new experimental approach to quantify bromide (Br−) leaching under field conditions as influenced by rainfall characteristics and (2) analytical opportunities applicable to scale‐specific spatial treatment distribution. The quantitative range of treatments was established in nonrandom periodically oscillating patterns. The characteristic length of a period over which a treatment fluctuates was considered the specific treatment scale. A Br−tracer study was established in the field with treatments applied at two different spatial scales. The tracer was applied with a sprayer in a transect of 32 plots, each 2 m long, followed by a site‐specific sprinkler irrigation, and 128 soil cores subsequently taken at 0.5 m intervals and divided into 10‐cm depth increments. The scale‐specific associations between treatments and Br−center of mass (COM) were addressed. Treatments can be periodically imposed over specific scales and their spatial relationships quantified with semivariance and power spectral analysis. An additive state‐space model was applied to separate the long‐ and short‐wave components of Br−COM. Subsequently, the large‐scale process was described in an autoregressive state‐space model. The proposed experimental approach and the separation of small‐ and large‐scale variability components support studying soil ecosystem processes that vary at different scales even in the presence of underlying large‐scale trends that are currently considered obstacles in field research.