Volumetric Water Research Articles

Relating soil properties to soil losses by wind erosion in a cultivated organic soil in the southwest of Quebec, Canada

Cultivated organic soils are known to be highly susceptible to wind erosion. The aim of this research was to explore the relationships between organic soil properties and measured soil height variation (SHV) in a cultivated organic soil and to analyze field soil erodibility (wind erodibility index: WEI) from known models. In the fall, 81 georeferenced soil samples were collected at a depth of 0–10 cm and analyzed in the laboratory to determine different soil properties. At the same time, soil height variations were measured over a 35-day period. Simple and multiple linear regressions were used to explore relationships between soil properties and analyze SHV and WEI. The average SHV across the farm was −0.19 mm per day, equivalent to a loss of 0.665 cm during the measurement period. Simple linear regression showed weak relationships with SHV. Nevertheless, the analysis showed that soil loss areas had a larger fraction of macro-aggregates. Conversely, deposition areas with low bulk density (BD) contained more fine material (organic matter [OM] and erodible material [EM]), suggesting wind erosion effects, i.e., deposition of fine matter. Many soil properties were found to correlate significantly with one another. Applying multiple linear regression with SHV and WEI as dependent variables and soil properties as independent variables produced the following results: a) 24% of the SHV was significantly explained by 6 soil properties (α=5%,p=0.001), BD, EM, mean weight diameter (MWD), elevation (Z), geometric mean diameter (GMD), and volumetric water (VW); and b) 75% of the variation in WEI was explained by 5 variables (α=5%,p=0.001), BD, VW, OM, MWD and GMD. This result shows that BD, VW, OM, MWD, EM, GMD, elevation Z are key soil properties in sustainable management of organic soil with >80% OM and will be used in a wind erosion risk model adapted to organic soils.

Accuracy investigations for volumetric head-motion navigators with and without EPI at 7T.

PurposeAccuracy investigation of volumetric navigators for motion correction, with emphasis on geometric EPI distortions at ultrahigh field.MethodsHigh‐resolution Dixon images were collected in different head positions and reconstructed to water, fat, T2*, and B0 maps. Resolution reduction was performed, and the T2* and B0 maps were used to apply effects of TE and EPI distortions to simulate various volumetric water and fat navigators. Registrations of the simulated navigators were compared with registrations of the original high‐resolution images.ResultsIncreased accuracy was observed with increased spatial resolution for non‐EPI navigators. When using EPI, the distortions had a negative effect on registration accuracy, which was most noticeable for high‐resolution navigators. Parallel imaging helped to alleviate those caveats to a certain extent, and 5‐fold acceleration gave close to similar accuracy to non‐EPI in most cases. Shortening the TE by partial Fourier sampling was shown to be mostly beneficial, except for water navigators with long readout durations. The EPI blip direction had an influence on navigator accuracy, and positive blip gradient polarities (yielding mostly image stretching frontally) typically gave the best accuracy for water navigators, whereas no clear recommendation could be made for fat navigators. Generally, fat EPI navigators had lower accuracy than water EPI navigators with otherwise similar parameters.ConclusionsEcho planar imaging has been widely used for MRI navigators, but the induced distortions reduce navigator accuracy at ultrahigh field. This study can help protocol optimization and guide the complex tradeoff between resolution and EPI acceleration in navigator parameter setup.

Interannual Relationship between Haze Days in December–January and Satellite-Based Leaf Area Index in August–September over Central North China

Haze pollution in central North China has become a hot topic in recent decades due to its serious environmental and health effects. In this work, the interannual relationship between haze days in December–January (DJ_HD) and leaf area index in August–September (AS_LAI) over central North China, along with the possible physical mechanisms involved, are investigated. The relationship varies in different periods, being significant during 1982–2000 (P1) but insignificant during 2001–2014 (P2). During P1, there is an in-phase relationship between AS_LAI and surface evaporation, and an out-of-phase relationship between AS_LAI and surface albedo in August–September. The surface evaporation and albedo anomalies persist to October–November and are associated with lower top-layer volumetric soil water, upward sensible heat flux and downward latent heat flux anomalies in October–November, which act as the bridge in the relationship between AS_LAI and DJ_HD. Both the volumetric soil water and heat fluxes anomalies persist to December–January and correspond to atmospheric circulations similar to the weakened East Asian winter monsoon pattern, which is the dominant system for winter haze events. Thus, the ventilation conditions in December–January are favorable for the accumulation of haze particles. However, during P2, the relationships are not significant between AS_LAI and volumetric soil water or surface soil temperature during October–January. Meanwhile, the East Asian winter monsoon is likely strengthened and tends to be more significantly affected by factors including Arctic sea ice, Arctic Oscillation, etc. Therefore, the effects of AS_LAI on the monsoon may become insignificant and, in turn, the relationship between AS_LAI and DJ_HD becomes insignificant during P2.

Rainfall Determines Shallow Soil Seepage in a Piedmont Summer Pasture of Alpine Meadow on the Northeastern Qinghai–Tibetan Plateau

Soil seepage is an important component used for quantifying hydrological processes that remains unclear in high-altitude alpine meadows. Shallow soil seepage was continuously measured using an auto-logged micro-lysimeter (diameter = 30 cm, depth = 30 cm) from July 2018 to June 2019 in a piedmont summer pasture of alpine meadow on the Northeastern Qinghai–Tibetan Plateau. The results showed that all the shallow soil seepage events occurred during the non-frozen period from April to September and that the cumulative amount was 106.8 mm, representing about 1/5 of the annual precipitation. The maximum and minimum monthly soil seepage were 30.7 mm in September and 1.0 mm in April, respectively. The boosted regression trees (BRT) model’s area under the curve averaged 0.92 and revealed that the daily half-hour rainfall frequency, volumetric soil water content, and air temperature played significant roles in the daily soil seepage probability, with the cumulative relative contribution of 68%. The stepwise linear regression analysis showed that the rainfall amount accounted for 59% of the variation in the daily amount of soil seepage. The monthly soil seepage was found to be significantly correlated with the monthly rainfall frequency (r = 0.86, p = 0.005). Our results highlighted that rainfall, including its amount and frequency, was the key determinant of the probability and amount of shallow soil seepage in the piedmont summer pasture of alpine meadows. These findings will be helpful for improving predictions of the water budgets of piedmont alpine meadows.

Numerical Analysis of Soil Water Dynamics during Spinach Cultivation in a Soil Column with an Artificial Capillary Barrier under Different Irrigation Managements

Artificial capillary barriers (CBs) are used to improve root zone conditions as they can keep water and nutrients in the root zone by limiting downward percolation. Numerical analysis is one of the promising tools for evaluating CB systems’ performance during the cultivation of leafy vegetables. This study aims to investigate the effects of the CB system on soil water dynamics during spinach cultivation in a soil column under different irrigation scenarios using HYDRUS (2D/3D) by comparing uniform (UNI), line-source (LSI), and plant-targeted (PTI) irrigations combined with alternative irrigation schedules. Simulation results of volumetric soil water contents were generally corresponding to measured data. Simulation results with various hypothetical irrigation scenarios exhibited that the CB was an effective system to diminish percolation losses and improve the root zone’s soil water storage capacity. On the other hand, evaporation loss can be increased as more water is maintained near the surface. While this loss can be significantly minimized by reducing the water application area, the irrigation amount must be carefully defined because applying water in a smaller area may accelerate downward water movement so that the water content at the CB interface can reach close to saturation. In addition to the malfunction of the CB layer, it may also cause a reduction of plant root water uptake (RWU) because the root zone is too wet. Among evaluated irrigation scenarios, irrigating every two days with PTI was the best scenario for the spinach as water use efficiency was greatly improved.

An Inverse Problem Approach for the Estimation of the Haverkamp and van Genuchten Retention Curves Parameters with the Luus-Jaakola Method

In academia, the study of the movement of water in the ground has been widespread since the last century. The same can be determined using the Richards equation. This is a nonlinear parabolic partial differential equation that requires parameters to generate the results of the problem. Some authors have proposed equations that represent the relationship between volumetric moisture and soil water potential, such as Haverkamp and van Genuchten. As main objective of this work, the inverse modeling was implemented to obtain the Richards equation parameters, applying the Luus-Jaakola method. To verify the mathematical model, a sensitivity analysis was performed, which allowed the observation of the effect that each parameter has on the output data, implying a linear dependence. The results produced proved to be satisfactory for the problem analyzed in our research.

Moment Analysis for Modeling Soil Water Distribution in Furrow Irrigation: Variable vs. Constant Ponding Depths

Despite increasing use of pressurized irrigation methods, most irrigation projects worldwide still involve surface systems. Accurate estimation of the amount of infiltrating water and its spatial distribution in the soil is of great importance in the design and management of furrow irrigation systems. Moment analysis has previously been applied to describe the subsurface water distribution using input data from numerical simulations rather than field measured data, and assuming a constant ponding depth in the furrow. A field experiment was conducted in a blocked-end level furrow at Maricopa Agricultural Center, Arizona, USA, to study the effect of time-variable ponding depths on soil water distribution and the resulting wetting bulb under real conditions in the field using moment analysis. The simulated volumetric soil water contents run with variable and constant (average) ponding depths using HYDRUS 2D/3D were almost identical, and both compared favorably with the field data. Hence, only the simulated soil water contents with variable ponding depths were used to calculate the moments. It was concluded that the fluctuating flow depth had no significant influence on the resulting time-evolving ellipses. This was related to the negligible 10-cm variation in ponding depths compared to the high negative matric potential of the unsaturated soil.

Soil-water resistivity curve of a tropical soil

The evaluation of soil-water characteristic curve is one of the most important procedures in the matter of understanding the soil behaviour during wetting and drying processes. Even though it might be carried out by established methods, this practice is considered a time-consuming technique, and because of this it is still under-used in comparison with its potential applications. In this way, this paper aims to analyse the correlation of soil suction and soil resistivity to produce a time-reduced soil-water characteristic curve (SWCC), based on resistivity measured values. To perform this research, it was used a set of soil samples collected from Nova Friburgo, Rio de Janeiro – Brazil. The material was geotechnically characterized by standard methods. To determine the (SWCC), it was used the filter paper method and the volumetric water content/suctions were obtained by wetting and drying stages for two paths that emerged from the field moisture content. The results revealed a remarkable relationship between suction and the resistivity measured data, emphasizing the feasibility of determining the Soil-Water Characteristic Curve by resistivity measurements, here named Soil-Water Resistivity Curve (SWResC).

Effect of once-off tillage on soil water, inorganic nitrogen and glomalin contents under conservation agriculture in the Swartland sub-region of the Western Cape

Strategic tillage can be regarded as an important management option under conservation agriculture (CA). The effects of tillage practice and cropping sequence on volumetric water (mm mm-1), inorganic N (mg kg-1) and glomalin (mg g-1) content in the 0-300 mm soil layer were studied. Responses after no till (NT), inversion (MP) and non-inversion tillage (DT) treatments on wheat-lupine-wheat-canola (WLWC), wheat-medic (McWMcW and WMcWMc) and lupine-wheat-canola-wheat (LWCW) rotations were studied. Tillage did not influence soil water content (SWC) in WLWC or the wheat-medic sequences. Soil water content in LWCW during year 1 tended to be lower in NT than MP and DT, however not always significantly. During year 2, NT resulted in higher SWC at 20 August as well as 21 September in LWCW. Soil inorganic N was not influenced by tillage practice in the LWCW and WLWC sequences in year 1. During year 2, inorganic N content of NT tended to be lower than MP and DT, although not always significantly. During year 1, DT significantly increased glomalin content. It is concluded that strategic tillage did not negatively influence SWC or mycorrhizal growth and did increase inorganic N content in WLWC and LWCW in year 2 after tillage.

Effect of tillage and irrigation on Southeastern U.S. soils under cellulosic sorghum feedstock production

ABSTRACT Sorghum may be a good cellulosic material for bioenergy production because it can be cultivated in current row-crop systems. However, the production of sorghum for bioenergy and its impacts on Southeastern U.S. soils should be investigated to determine the most environmentally sustainable system. The objective of this study was to evaluate tillage (conventional vs. conservation systems), and irrigation effect (irrigated vs. non-irrigated) on soil characteristics when producing cellulosic feedstock from three forage sorghums and one forage corn (control) in 2008 and 2009. Results showed that soil organic carbon (SOC) increased at a depth of 0.10–0.15 m, but decreased at a depth of 0.40–0.45 m with higher losses being found using conventional tillage as opposed to conservation tillage. Total nitrogen (TN) and bulk density (Bd) increased at all evaluated soil depths (0–0.50 m) after 2 years. Conventional tillage plots also showed higher Bd at 0.15–0.30 m. Higher Bd in conventional tillage plots might restrict water drainage which could explain higher volumetric soil water content (SWC) at 0.10, 0.20 and 0.40 m soil depths. Cone Index (CI) values also showed improved soil conditions at in-row positions for conservation plots.

Impact of Anthropogenic Heat on Surface Balance of Energy and Water in Beijing

Anthropogenic heat (AH) is an important part of urban surface energy balance. Although AH affects regional climates through changing land-atmosphere interactions, the climate forcing from AH are not usually calculated in state-of-the-art regional climate simulations. In this paper, the spatial pattern of AH in 20 automatic weather station sites in the Beijing municipal administrative area is parameterized by employing nighttime light data. Two experiments were designed and performed to quantify the influence of AH on the surface balance of energy and water through running the Integrated urban Land Model (IUM). The results show that due to accounting for AH, the simulated LST increases; the net radiation decreases around noon; the absolute value of the ground heat flux increases around noon; the sensible heat flux increases in the daytime; the evapotranspiration decreases around noon and increases in the morning and evening; volumetric soil moisture and soil water storage decrease; aggregated evapotranspiration increases.

ANALYSIS THE WETTED AREA FOR SUBSURFACE DRIP IRRIGATION IN DIFFERENT SOILS TEXTURE

Subsurface drip irrigation is one of the most efficient systems for management of water. This study is aimed to analysis the wetted area for subsurface drip irrigation system. Several models are developed for predicting the wetted widths and the wetted depths which are very important for designing an optimal irrigation system. HYDRUS/2D is used for predicting the dimensions of wetting patterns numerically by using the two dimensional transient flow of water from a subsurface drip irrigation through sandy loam and loamy sand soils. The wetting patterns from a subsurface drip source are simulated by using the system of United States Department of Agriculture, USDA, the wetting patterns are simulated at different values of applied heads, different diameters of drip, and different values of initial volumetric soil water contents which selected as initial conditions. In this work, greater spreading occurs in loamy sand than sandy loam in vertical and horizontal directions. Moreover, the results showed that the empirical formulas which can be used for estimating the wetting dimensions of wetted width and wetted depth in terms of initial volumetric soil water contents, applied heads, diameters of the drip and times of operation, are good with an average relative error not exceed 3%, so it can be used to assist the designers in irrigation field.

Water use efficiency of Irish dairy processing

Dairy processing uses a significant amount of water for processing and cleaning. Withdrawing and distributing water and treating wastewater represent significant costs to the Irish dairy processing industry. Stringent discharge limits also add pressure for water use efficiency, particularly during peak production months. Improving water use efficiency is therefore critical for Irish dairy processing. We conducted a detailed analysis of water use efficiency in 4 Irish dairy processing plants. Using farm gate to processor gate (gate-to-gate) life cycle assessment, we assessed on-site water data quality and investigated gate-to-gate volumetric water use and eutrophication potential (EP) for 3 common dairy products. We also benchmarked the on-site water use and water balance, characterized wastewater nutrient load, analyzed the influencers of on-site water use, and identified scope for increased water use efficiency. We found that condensate from evaporation represented a significant input at the site level (0.51 to 1.14 L/L of fresh water purchased or extracted from nature). In terms of gate-to-gate volumetric water use, butter used 1,326 to 1,843 m3/t of solids, with electricity being the largest contributor, whereas milk powders used 3,006 to 3,754 m3/t of solids, with electricity and ingredients being the largest contributors. Eutrophication of butter was found to be 0.51 to 0.77 kg of PO4equivalents (eq)/t of solids, with transportation and nutrient emissions from wastewater treatment being the largest contributors. Eutrophication of milk powder was found to be 0.96 to 3.35 kg of PO4eq/t of solids, and contributions varied depending on powder specifications. Milk intake water use and various leakages were found to be hotspots that could be managed to reduce water use on site. Comprehensive metering is urgently needed to improve water use efficiency in light of the ongoing expansion of dairy production and hence processing in Ireland. Significant opportunities exist to optimize operator behavior, water reuse, and off-site transportation and energy. This study represents the first attempt to define water efficiency opportunities both at the site level and along the supply chain. Processors need to be aware of off-site contributors that significantly affect both volumetric water use and environmental impacts of processed dairy products.

Effect of degree and duration of water saturation on iron, manganese and exchangeable cations in wetland soils of Maputaland, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa

Soils of the Maputaland Coastal Plain are naturally grey, do not contain any redoximorphic features, and are therefore problematic to interpret during wetland delineation. This study was consequently initiated to determine if these soils were able to reduce in a controlled environment. The study was set up by saturating disturbed soil cores, packed to a density of 1.4 Mg m−3 and then saturating them to 65%, 70%, 75%, 80%, and 85% of porosity. The redox potential (Eh), pH(H2O), iron (Fe), manganese (Mn), and soluble and exchangeable cations were then measured every 3.5 d in the cores. The pH, Fe and Mn increased significantly with increased degree of water saturation, whereas Eh decreased significantly. The concentrations of exchangeable cations were not affected significantly. The optimal threshold degree of water saturation for the onset of reduction was calculated to be between 72% and 78% of porosity and can be used with some confidence to quantitatively differentiate between oxidised and reduced systems during the evaluation of volumetric soil water content data.

Interaction of livestock grazing and rainfall manipulation enhances herbaceous species diversity and aboveground biomass in a humid savanna.

Understanding of the interaction of livestock grazing and rainfall variability may aid in predicting the patterns of herbaceous species diversity and biomass production. We manipulated the amount of ambient rainfall received in grazed and ungrazed savanna in Lambwe Valley-Kenya. The combined influence of livestock grazing and rainfall on soil moisture, herbaceous species diversity, and aboveground biomass patterns was assessed. We used the number of species (S), Margalef's richness index (Dmg), Shannon index of diversity (H), and Pileou's index of evenness (J) to analyze the herbaceous community structure. S, Dmg, H and J were higher under grazing whereas volumetric soil water contents (VWC) and aboveground biomass (AGB) decreased with grazing. Decreasing (50%) or increasing (150%) the ambient rainfall by 50% lowered species richness and diversity. Seasonality in rainfall influenced the variation in VWC, S, Dmg, H, and AGB but not J (p = 0.43). Overall, Dmg declined with increasing VWC. However, the AGB and Dmg mediated the response of H and J to the changes in VWC. The highest H occurred at AGB range of 400-800 gm-2. We attribute the lower diversity in the ungrazed plots to the dominance (relative abundance > 70%) of Hyparrhenia fillipendulla (Hochst) Stapf. and Brachiaria decumbens Stapf. Grazing exclusion, which controls AGB, hindered the coexistence among species due to the competitive advantage in resource utilization by the more dominant species. Our findings highlight the implication of livestock grazing and rainfall variability in maintaining higher diversity and aboveground biomass production in the herbaceous layer community for sustainable ecosystem management.

New Insights on Land Surface-Atmosphere Feedbacks over Tropical South America at Interannual Timescales

We present a simplified overview of land-atmosphere feedbacks at interannual timescales over tropical South America as structural sets of linkages among surface air temperature (T), specific humidity at 925 hPa (q925), volumetric soil water content (Θ), precipitation (P), and evaporation (E), at monthly scale during 1979–2010. Applying a Maximum Covariance Analysis (MCA), we identify the modes of greatest interannual covariability in the datasets. Time series extracted from the MCAs were used to quantify linear and non-linear metrics at up to six-month lags to establish connections among variables. All sets of metrics were summarized as graphs (Graph Theory) grouped according to their highest ENSO-degree association. The core of ENSO-activated interactions is located in the Amazon River basin and in the Magdalena-Cauca River basin in Colombia. Within the identified multivariate structure, Θ enhances the interannual connectivity since it often exhibits two-way feedbacks with the whole set of variables. That is, Θ is a key variable in defining the spatiotemporal patterns of P and E at interannual time-scales. For both the simultaneous and lagged analysis, T activates non-linear associations with q925 and Θ. Under the ENSO influence, T is a key variable to diagnose the dynamics of interannual feedbacks of the lower troposphere and soil interfaces over tropical South America. ENSO increases the interannual connectivity and memory of the feedback mechanisms.

Threshold Based Footprints (for Water)

Thresholds are an emergent property of complex systems and Coupled Natural Human Systems (CNH) because they indicate “tipping points” where a complicated array of social, environmental, and/or economic processes combine to substantially change a system’s state. Because of the elegance of the concept, thresholds have emerged as one of the primary tools by which socio-political systems simplify, define, and especially regulate complex environmental impacts and resource scarcity considerations. This paper derives a general framework for the use of thresholds to calculate scarcity footprints, and presents a volumetric Threshold-based Water Footprint (TWF), comparing it with the Blue Water Footprint (BWF) and the Relevant for Environmental Deficiency (RED) midpoint impact indicator. Specific findings include (a) one requires all users’ BWF to calculate an individual user’s TWF, whereas one can calculate an individual user’s BWF without other users’ data; (b) local maxima appear in the Free from Environmental Deficiency (FED) efficiency of the RED metric due to its nonlinear form; and (c) it is possible to estimate the “effective” threshold that is approximately implied by the RED water use impact metric.

Numerical Modeling of Water Movement from Buried Vertical Ceramic Pipes through Soils

The problem of water scarcity is becoming common in many parts of the world, to overcome part of this problem proper management of water and an efficient irrigation system are needed. Irrigation with a buried vertical ceramic pipe is known as a very effective in the management of irrigation water. The two- dimensional transient flow of water from a buried vertical ceramic pipe through homogenous porous media is simulated numerically using the HYDRUS/2D software. Different values of pipe lengths and hydraulic conductivity were selected. In addition, different values of initial volumetric soil water content were assumed in this simulation as initial conditions. Different values of the applied head were assumed in this simulation as boundary conditions. The results of this research showed that greater spreading occurs in the horizontal direction. Increasing applied heads, initial soil water contents and pipe hydraulic conductivities, cause increasing the size of wetting patterns but in a few increases. Also, the results showed that the empirical formulas which can be used for expressing the wetted width and depth in terms of applied head, initial soil water content, application time, pipe hydraulic conductivity, and pipe length, are good and can be used as design equations. 

Arbuscular mycorrhiza effects on Faidherbia albida (Del.) A. Chev. growth under varying soil water and phosphorus levels in Northern Ethiopia

Tree seedling establishment, survival and growth in dryland areas is greatly impacted by water, land use effects and soil nutrient availability. Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) can have a substantial effect on water and nutrient uptake by seedlings and are affected by nutrient application, water availability and inoculum source. In this study, we examined the effect of AMF inoculation, phosphorus application levels, soil water status, and inoculum source on the growth of Faidherbia albida seedlings. Two greenhouse experiments were conducted on F. albida seedlings: to compare (a) ±AMF inoculation, at three levels of volumetric soil water content (field capacity (FC), 60% of FC and 20% of FC), and three AMF inoculum sources (derived from cultivated land, grazing land and area exclosure); (b) ±AMF inoculation, at four levels of phosphorus application (0, 25, 50 and 100 mg kg−1) and three AMF inoculum sources. Inoculation with AMF, higher soil water and higher P application significantly increased the growth of seedlings (P < 0.05). F. albida seedlings responded positively to increased water levels. The highest growth and AMF colonization of seedlings was recorded under the lowest water stress with AMF inoculum from area exclosure followed by grazing land inoculum source. The lowest growth was recorded under the highest water stress and cultivated land inoculum source. Plant growth and biomass were positively correlated with increased soil P application, however, AMF colonization decreased with increasing P application. Applying P and inoculating F. albida seedlings with indigenous AMF under low water stress enables optimum plant growth improvement in dryland farming systems.

Real-time 2D visualization of soil fertilizer dynamics in potatoes using a multi-sensor capacitance probe array

The use of intensive soil water monitoring with multiple-depth sensor arrays in representative soil volumes can indicate plant water usage rates in the broader scale. Multiple Sentek TriSCAN soil moisture monitoring probes were installed in a cross-hair arrangement adjacent to potatoes ('Ruby Lou') irrigated with a centre pivot. Volumetric soil water content (VWC - site-specifically calibrated) and volumetric ion content (VIC) data was collected for the full growth season on a near-continuous basis simultaneously across the probe array. This was analysed using IrriMAX™ 2D Viewer and VIC Filter software to visualise the water and salt distribution within the soil in 2 dimensions. This software uses automated cubic spline interpolation techniques to generate contour maps and video animations of the water and salt dynamics. The parameter scales are obtained from the whole dataset and planar views (transects) are painted with false colours to visualise the dynamics of the water and salt movements throughout the soil profile. When this is interpreted with known fertilizer input records, this method allows the visualisation of the spatial distribution of nutrients within the soil and the duration of time over which such a distribution persists. This gave insights into the plant usage and soil drainage characteristics that were then applied over the larger area, thus helping the operator to optimize fertilizer and irrigation inputs to best suit plant requirements. Of particular benefit was the routine timed application of irrigation waters to control salt build-up within the soil.