Spatio-Temporal Variability of Observed Ground Water Level at Peat Hydrology Unit in South Sumatera

Abstract

An integrated observation system, so-called SEnsory data transmission Service Assisted by Midori Engineering laboratory (SESAME) has been deployed to measure hydrological and climatological parameters at peatlands of South Sumatera since June 2017. One of the observed hydrological parameters is the Ground Water Level (GWL). This study evaluates the spatio-temporal variability of GWL observed at 4 locations, namely, Peat Hydrology Unit (PHU) Sungai Saleh 1 (SS1), Sungai Saleh 2 (SS2), Sungai Lumpur 1 (SL1), and Sungai Lumpur 2 (SL2). The data covered a period of July 1, 2017 to June 30, 2018. This study focused on analyzing types of observed tides at each SESAME location. It was found that at the study location SL2, SS1, and SS2 the tidal type was a mixed tide prevailing diurnal. On the other hand, the observed GWL at the SL1 was dominated by a mixed tide prevailing semidiurnal. Further analysis on the observed GWL indicates that the lowest GWL was observed in period September-October, while the highest GWL occurs in period March-April. Statistical analysis shows that the observed GWL was significantly correlated with the observed soil moisture at the SL1 and the SL2. The coefficient correlation at those SL1 and SL2 were 0.85 and 0.95, respectively. It was also found that GWL had a significant correlation with Rainfall (RF).