The soil-moisture zone in a physically-based hydrologic model

Abstract

The present paper describes an approach to modelling the unsaturated soil-moisture zone in the framework of an integrated physically-based hydrologic response model. It is supposed that the subsurface flow regime may be viewed as two separate entities — a saturated flow system which may be modelled by standard two-dimensional regional techniques, and a single overlying unsaturated zone in which the flow is essentially vertical. Coupling takes place via the definition of saturation at the lower boundary of the unsaturated zone, and via a conservative water balance. Attention is focused on the computational procedure for the unsaturated zone as a self-contained module. The major difficulties are the definition of the interface between the saturated and unsaturated zones, the nonlinear character of the equation used to describe unsaturated flow, the inclusion of realistic atmospheric boundary conditions, and, the interaction between water uptake by plants and available soil-moisture. Each of these points is discussed, in turn, with the emphasis on mathematically formulating the problem in such a way that the most important physical features are reproduced with a minimal amount of computational effort. The text concludes with a few illustrative examples.