Abstract
Knowledge of mass and energy transport is vital to developing and extending agricultural activities in arid and semiarid regions. This work was conducted to investigate the water vapor flux importance in moisture and energy transfer in subsurface soil shallow layers. The experiment was carried out in a sandy soil column installed in the field and irrigated with a pore volume of distilled water. A reference air-dried sandy soil cylinder was installed beside the column. The water content and temperature of the soil column at depths of 1, 5, and 10 cm; surface temperature of the soil column and the air-dried soil cylinder; and temperature at 5‑cm depth in the air-dried cylinder were monitored. The results showed that around 98% of vapor flux was because of thermal gradient. Although the contribution of vapor flux to the total moisture flux was low (about 1%), its role in the total energy flux was significant and ranged from 69 up to 75%. The values of cumulative evaporation estimated using a differential approach were in good agreement with those obtained by the energy balance method.
Published Version
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