Changes In Soil Moisture Storage Research Articles

The Project for Intercomparison of Land-surface Parameterization Schemes (PILPS) phase 2(c) Red–Arkansas River basin experiment:: 3. Spatial and temporal analysis of water fluxes

The water-balance components of 16 Soil–Vegetation Atmospheric Transfer (SVAT) schemes were evaluated by comparing predicted and observed streamflow, predicted evapotranspiration and evapotranspiration inferred from an atmospheric moisture budget analysis, and soil moisture storage changes for a seven-year period (1980–1986) using data from the Red–Arkansas River basins of the Southern Great Plains of the USA. The evaluations support the following suggestions: (a) The mean annual runoff of all models follows, at least generally, the strong climatic East–West gradient of precipitation, although most models predict too much runoff in the dry part of the basin. (b) The mean monthly storage change tends to be underestimated, even though all models capture reasonably well the seasonality of the evapotranspiration. (c) The wide range of conceptualizations used for generation of surface and subsurface runoff strongly affect runoff generation on seasonal, and shorter, time scales. Model responses to summer precipitation ranged from almost no summer runoff (one model) to the (more common) situation of persistent overprediction of summer runoff, especially in the driest part of the basin. (d) All models tended to underpredict evapotranspiration in summer and overpredict in winter. (e) Model-derived mean seasonal cycles of changes in soil moisture storage are qualitatively similar to those inferred from observations, but most models do not predict the decrease in April soil moisture storage and the increase in October that is inferred from observations.

ENERGY BALANCE OF A CORN RESIDUE‐COVERED FIELD DURING SNOWMELT1

ABSTRACT: Transport of agricultural chemicals in runoff and recharge waters from snowmelt and soil thawing may represent a significant event in terms of annual contaminant loadings in temperate regions. Improved understanding of the melt dynamics of shallow snowpacks is necessary to fully assess the implications for water quality. The objective of this study was to measure the energy balance components of a corn (Zea mays L.) stubble field during the melting of its snowcover. Net radiation (Rn), soil (G), sensible (H), and latent (Q) heat fluxes were measured in a field near Ames, Iowa, during the winter of 1994–1995. Energy consumed by melting including change in energy storage of the snowpack was determined as the residual of the measured energy balance. There was continuous snowcover at the field site for 71 days (maximum depth = 222 mm) followed by an open period of 11 days before additional snowfall and a second melt period. The net radiation and snow melt/energy storage change (5) terms dominated the energy balance during both measurement intervals. Peak daily sensible and latent heat fluxes were below 100 W m−2 on all days except the last day of the second melt period. There was good agreement between predicted and measured values of H and Q during the melting of an aged snow layer but poorer agreement during the melt of fresh snow. Both snowpacks melted rapidly and coincident changes in soil moisture storage were observed. Improved estimates of Q and H, especially for partially open surfaces, will require better characterization of the surface aerodynamic properties and spatially‐representative surface temperature measurements.

Water balance of a tropical woodland ecosystem, Northern Australia: A combination of micro-meteorological, soil physical and groundwater chemical approaches

A combination of micro-meteorological, soil physical and groundwater chemical methods enabled the water balance of a tropical eucalypt savanna ecosystem in Northern Australia to be estimated. Heat pulse and eddy correlation were used to determine overstory and total evapotranspiration, respectively. Measurements of soil water content, matric suction and water table variations were used to determine changes in soil moisture storage throughout the year. Groundwater dating with chlorofluorocarbons was used to estimate net groundwater recharge rates, and stream gauging was used to determine surface runoff. The wet season rainfall of 1585 mm is distributed as: evapotranspiration 810 mm, surface runoff (and shallow subsurface flow) into the river 410 mm, groundwater recharge 200 mm and increase in soil store 165 mm. Of the groundwater recharge, 160 mm enters the stream as baseflow in the wet season, 20 mm enters as baseflow in the dry season, and the balance (20 mm) is distributed to and used by minor vegetation types within the catchment or discharges to the sea. In the dry season, an evapotranspiration of 300 mm comprises 135 mm rainfall and 165 mm from the soil store. Because of the inherent errors of the different techniques, the water balance surplus (estimated at 20 mm) cannot be clearly distinguished from zero. It may also be as much as 140 mm. To our knowledge, this is the first time that such diverse methods have been combined to estimate all components of a catchment's water balance.

Irrigation planning in cotton through simulation modeling

Experiments were undertaken at CCS Haryana Agricultural University Farm, Sirsa (India) to estimate the optimum irrigation schedule for cotton resulting in minimum percolation losses. The sprinkler line source technique was adopted for creating various irrigation regimes at different crop growth stages. The SWASALT (Simulation of Water And SALT) model after calibration and validation provided water balance components. The wa-ter management response indicators (WMRI's) such as transpiration efficiency Et/(Irr + P), relative transpiration Et/Etp, evapotranspiration efficiency ET/(Irr + P), soil moisture storage change ΔW/Wint (deficit/excess) and percolation loss Perc/(Irr. + P) were evaluated using water balance components as estimated by the simulation study. Under limited water supply conditions, the optimum irrigation depth was found to be 57 mm at crop growth stages with pre-sowing and 1st irrigation of 120 mm and 80 mm respectively for sandy clay loam underlain by sandy loam soil (Type I). The corresponding values of relative transpiration, transpiration efficiency and evapotranspiration efficiency were 0.65, 0.65 and 0.89 respectively. The crop yield varied linearly with increasing irrigation depth which was evident from increase in relative transpiration with increasing depth of water application. However, increased depth of irrigation resulted in less moisture utilisation from soil storage (20% depletion at 40 mm depth and 4.4% moisture built up at 100 mm depth). The extended simulation study for sandy soil underlain by loamy sand (Type II) indicated that two pre-sowing irrigations each 40 mm and subsequent irrigations of 40 mm at an interval of 20 days depending upon rainfall were optimum. This irrigation scenario resulted in zero percolation loss accompanied by 74% relative transpiration and 14 per cent soil moisture depletion.

Modeling vadose zone liquid water fluxes: Infiltration, runoff, drainage, interflow

Because of the large water storage capacity of soil relative to the atmosphere, changes in soil moisture storage can significantly affect the regional atmospheric budgets of water and energy on monthly, seasonal and longer time scales. Therefore proper modeling of soil liquid water processes is essential to a correct representation of the climate system. This study focuses on the class of summary models of liquid water fluxes in the vadose, or unsaturated zone of the soil, which are applicable to global or regional climate modeling studies. Fourteen such models are represented in this intercomparison study. Observational data from the HAPEX experiment provide validation. Because only limited observational data were available to constrain these models during their development and validation, the models have evolved very diverse treatments of the relevant processes: the basic Darcian (soil internal) and Hortonian (surface liquid flow) processes, as well as the boundary conditions of baseflow drainage and lateral interflow. The annual total local runoff is systematically underestimated by all but one of the participant models. This is one of the few significant biases between the consensus of participant models and the observations. The modeled runoff, averaged over the 14 models, differs from the budget estimate from observations by about 40%. During the period of runoff generation (late winter and early spring) the average model fails to deplete the soil water store as rapidly as is observed, a result consistent with the underprediction of runoff. One cannot rule out insufficient characterization of the field site soils as a primary cause of these discrepancies. Results suggest that model sources of the discrepancy are about equally likely to be related to the prediction of bare soil evaporation (discussed elsewhere in this issue) as they are to the parameterization of runoff and drainage processes.

Evapotranspiration from a Humid-Region Developing Citrus Grove with Grass Cover

ABSTRACT EVAPOTRANSPIRATION (ET) of a developing citrus grove in a humid climate in the Flatwoods Land Resource Area was determined by water balance from measured rainfall, irrigation, subsurface drainage, surface runoff, and the change in soil moisture storage. The change in soil moisture storage was estimated from soil moisture characteristic curves and measured water table elevations. Annual ET ranges from 820 to 1280 mm and averaged 1090 mm across all treatments. When soil moisture was not seriously limited the annual ET averaged 1210 mm. Linear regression of ET vs time indicated a significant increase of 13% in ET over the 8 years of the study. This increase was attributed to increasing tree size since the grass understory was maintained to provide similar cover conditions throughout the study. Daily ET rate, averaged by months, ranged from 1.5 mm in January to 5.0 mm in June. Four predictive equations for ET gave good estimates of measured values, but require crop coefficients that are slightly modified from previously published values.

Soil water balance and evapotranspiration of irrigated cotton

In a series of five irrigated cotton sowings (T2, T7, T9, T11, T14) evapotranspiration (Et) was determined for the period between October 1961 and October 1962 by observing frequently the changes in soil moisture storage, calculating through drainage, and solving for evapotranspiration in the water balance equation. Thus a water balance was obtained for each sowing extending over the entire crop.The average evapotranspiration in wet season sowings was of the order of 6·5 mm day−1 and in dry season sowings of the order of 4·5 mm day−1. The highest evapotranspiration values ranged between 10 and 12 mm day−1 in T2, T7 and T9 and between 7 and 9·5 mm day−1 in T11 and T14.