Abstract
Understanding of hydrological processes, including consideration of interactions between vegetation growth and water transfer in the root zone, underpins efficient use of water resources in arid-zone agriculture. Water transfers take place in the soil-plant-atmosphere continuum, and include groundwater dynamics, unsaturated zone flow, evaporation/transpiration from vegetated/bare soil and surface water, agricultural canal/surface water flow and seepage, and well pumping. Models can be categorized into three classes: (1) regional distributed hydrological models with various land uses, (2) groundwater-soil-plant-atmosphere continuum models that neglect lateral water fluxes, and (3) coupled models with groundwater flow and unsaturated zone water dynamics. This review highlights, in addition, future research challenges in modeling arid-zone agricultural systems, e.g., to effectively assimilate data from remote sensing, and to fully reflect climate change effects at various model scales.
Highlights
Arid regions are found in many parts of the world[2]
Unlike humid areas where large quantities of surface runoff are produced by rainfall and converge into rivers, in arid areas water is diverted from canals/rivers to farmland, and consumed largely by evaporation/transpiration
Current hydrological models used in arid-zone agriculture can be classified into three types, i.e., regional distributed hydrological models, areal groundwater-soil-plant-atmosphere continuum (GSPAC) models that neglect lateral water fluxes and coupled models combining groundwater flow and unsaturated zone water dynamics
Summary
Arid regions (annual precipitation less than 200 mm[1]) are found in many parts of the world[2]. Since local precipitation is usually insufficient to sustain agriculture, water resources in arid areas mainly come from upstream surface water and groundwater. In situ monitoring of crop water consumption, groundwater levels and surface water flows provides essential data underpinning quantification of the dynamics of water transfers and partitioning into different uses. These tasks rely on comprehensive, integrated modeling of the water cycle and its interaction with vegetation, especially crop growth if agricultural regions are considered. Modeling hydrological processes in both saturated and unsaturated zones in agricultural regions is challenging because it requires extensive spatial and temporal knowledge of different parameters. We review the main factors involved in hydrological processes in arid-zone agriculture, together with current hydrological models
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