Infiltrometer studies in rangeland plant communities of the Northern Territory.

1978 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
pp. 142 ◽  
Author(s):  
GF Gifford
Keyword(s):  
Soil Moisture ◽  
Plant Communities ◽  
Flood Plain ◽  
Northern Territory ◽  
Infiltration Process ◽  
Antecedent Soil Moisture ◽  
Soil Movement ◽  
Sediment Yields ◽  
Moisture Conditions ◽  
The Impact

Infiltrometer studies were conducted within several plant communities near Alice Springs, Northern Territory. Plant commu- nities studied included mulga-perennial, mulga-shortgrass, savanna woodland, gilgai, flood-plain grassland, and scalded areas (no vegetation). Attempts were made to quantify the impact of surface crusting, antecedent soil moisture conditions, and time of year on infiltration rates and potential sediment yields. Results indicate that the infiltration process within certain plant communities is often complex, and hydrologic differences which occur both within and among the plant communities should be acknowledged. Sediment yields from a floodplain-grassland unit and a scald situation were about 2 and 5 times greater, respectively, than those from various mulga communities, woodland, or gilgai circumstances. With one exception, antecedent soil moisture had little influence on sediment yields. Removal of surface soil crusts significantly increased sediment yields, regardless of antecedent soil moisture conditions. The relationship between soil movement and loss and ecosystem stability needs to be established for most rangeland environments, but little has been done to satisfy this need.

scholarly journals Impacts of Antecedent Soil moisture on the Rainfall–Runoff Transformation Process Based on High-Resolution Observations in Soil Tank Experiments

Water ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 296 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shuang Song ◽  
Wen Wang
Keyword(s):  
Soil Moisture ◽  
Overland Flow ◽  
Response Times ◽  
Hysteretic Behavior ◽  
Rainfall Runoff ◽  
Moisture Index ◽  
Antecedent Soil Moisture ◽  
Non Linear ◽  
Subsurface Runoff ◽  
The Impact

An experimental soil tank (12 m long × 1.5 m wide × 1.5m deep) equipped with a spatially distributed instrument network was designed to conduct the artificial rainfall–runoff experiments. Soil moisture (SM), precipitation, surface runoff (SR) and subsurface runoff (SSR) were continuously monitored. A total of 32 rainfall–runoff events were analyzed to investigate the non-linear patterns of rainfall–runoff response and estimate the impact of antecedent soil moisture (ASM) on runoff formation. Results suggested that ASM had a significant impact on runoff at this plot scale, and a moisture threshold-like value which was close to field capacity existed in the relationship between soil water content and event-based runoff coefficient (φe), SSR and SSR/SR. A non-linear relationship between antecedent soil moisture index (ASI) that represented the initial storage capacity of the soil tank and total runoff was also observed. Response times of SR and SM to rainfall showed a marked variability under different conditions. Under wet conditions, SM at 10 cm started to increase prior to SR on average, whereas it responds slower than SR under dry conditions due to the effect of water repellency. The predominant contributor to SR generation for all events is the Hortonian overland flow (HOF). There is a hysteretic behavior between subsurface runoff flow and soil moisture with a switch in the hysteretic loop direction based on the wetness conditions prior to the event.

scholarly journals Investigating soil moisture-climate interactions with prescribed soil moisture experiments: an assessment with the Community Earth System Model (version 1.2)

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mathias Hauser ◽  
René Orth ◽  
Sonia I. Seneviratne
Keyword(s):  
Soil Moisture ◽  
Water Balance ◽  
Land Surface ◽  
Seasonal Cycle ◽  
Deep Soil ◽  
Surface Hydrology ◽  
Climate Interactions ◽  
Set Up ◽  
Moisture Conditions ◽  
The Impact

Abstract. Land surface hydrology is an important control of surface weather and climate. A valuable technique to investigate this link is the prescription of soil moisture in land surface models, which leads to a decoupling of the interaction between the atmosphere and land processes. Diverse approaches to prescribe soil moisture, as well as different prescribed soil moisture conditions can be envisaged. Here, we compare and assess three methodologies to prescribe soil moisture and investigate the impact of two estimates of the climatological seasonal cycle to prescribe soil moisture. This can help to guide the set up of future experiments prescribing soil moisture, as for instance planned within the "Land Surface, Snow and Soil Moisture Model Intercomparison Project" (LS3MIP). Our analysis shows that, though in appearance similar, the different approaches require substantially different long-term moisture inputs and lead to different temperature signals. The smallest influence on temperature and the water balance is found when prescribing the median seasonal cycle of deep soil liquid water, whereas the strongest signal is found when prescribing soil liquid and soil ice using the mean seasonal cycle. These results indicate that induced net water-balance perturbations in experiments investigating soil moisture-climate coupling are important contributors to the climate response, in addition to the intended impact of the decoupling.

scholarly journals Investigating the impact of initial soil moisture conditions on total infiltration by using an adapted double-ring infiltrometer

2016 ◽  
pp. 1-17 ◽  
Author(s):  
Romed Ruggenthaler ◽  
Gertraud Meißl ◽  
Clemens Geitner ◽  
Georg Leitinger ◽  
Nikolaus Endstrasser ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Soil Moisture ◽  
Double Ring ◽  
Initial Soil Moisture ◽  
Initial Soil ◽  
Moisture Conditions ◽  
The Impact

Multidimensional context for extreme analysis of daily streamflow, rainfall and accumulated rainfall across USA

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maria Nezi ◽  
Ioannis Tsoukalas ◽  
Charalampos Ntigkakis ◽  
Andreas Efstratiadis
Keyword(s):  
Soil Moisture ◽  
Daily Rainfall ◽  
Extreme Rainfall ◽  
Annual Rainfall ◽  
Event Analysis ◽  
Antecedent Soil Moisture ◽  
Daily Streamflow ◽  
Accumulated Rainfall ◽  
Moisture Conditions ◽  
Parameter Values

<p>Statistical analysis of rainfall and runoff extremes plays a crucial role in hydrological design and flood risk management. Usually this analysis is performed separately for the two processes of interest, thus ignoring their dependencies, which appear at multiple temporal scales. Actually, the generation of a flood strongly depends on soil moisture conditions, which in turn depends on past rainfall. Using daily rainfall and runoff data from about 400 catchments in USA, retrieved from the MOPEX repository, we investigate the statistical behavior of the corresponding annual rainfall and streamflow maxima, also accounting for the influence of antecedent soil moisture conditions. The latter are quantified by means of accumulated daily rainfall at various aggregation scales (i.e., from 5 up to 30 days) before each extreme rainfall and streamflow event. Analysis of maxima is employed by fitting the Generalized Extreme Value (GEV) distribution, using the L-moments method for extracting the associated parameters (shape, scale, location). Significant attention is paid for ensuring statistically consistent estimations of the shape parameter, which is empirically adjusted in order to minimize the influence of sample uncertainty. Finally, we seek for the possible correlations among the derived parameter values and hydroclimatic characteristics of the studied basins, and also depict their spatial distribution across USA.</p>

scholarly journals Effects of antecedent soil moisture on runoff modeling in small semiarid watersheds of southeastern Arizona

2011 ◽  
Vol 15 (10) ◽  
pp. 3171-3179 ◽  
Author(s):  
Y. Zhang ◽  
H. Wei ◽  
M. A. Nearing
Keyword(s):  
Soil Moisture ◽  
Standard Deviation ◽  
Soil Layer ◽  
Arid Environment ◽  
Storm Events ◽  
Runoff Generation ◽  
Antecedent Soil Moisture ◽  
Small Watersheds ◽  
Runoff Modeling ◽  
Moisture Conditions

Abstract. This study presents unique data on the effects of antecedent soil moisture on runoff generation in a semi-arid environment, with implications for process-based modeling of runoff. The data were collected from four small watersheds measured continuously from 2002 through 2010 in an environment where evapo-transpiration approaches 100% of the infiltrated water on the hillslopes. Storm events were generally intense and of short duration, and antecedent volumetric moisture conditions were dry, with an average in the upper 5 cm soil layer over the nine year period of 8% and a standard deviation of 3%. Sensitivity analysis of the model showed an average of 0.05 mm change in runoff for each 1% change in soil moisture, indicating an approximate 0.15 mm average variation in runoff accounted for by the 3% standard deviation of measured antecedent soil moisture. This compared to a standard deviation of 4.7 mm in the runoff depths for the measured events. Thus the low variability of soil moisture in this environment accounts for a relative lack of importance of storm antecedent soil moisture for modeling the runoff. Runoff characteristics simulated with a nine year average of antecedent soil moisture were statistically identical to those simulated with measured antecedent soil moisture, indicating that long term average antecedent soil moisture could be used as a substitute for measured antecedent soil moisture for runoff modeling of these watersheds. We also found no significant correlations between measured runoff ratio and antecedent soil moisture in any of the four watersheds.

scholarly journals On the Relationship of Soil Moisture and Extreme Temperatures in East China

2014 ◽  
Vol 18 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-20 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lei Meng ◽  
Yanjun Shen
Keyword(s):  
Soil Moisture ◽  
Standardized Precipitation Index ◽  
Heat Fluxes ◽  
East China ◽  
Daily Minimum Temperature ◽  
Antecedent Soil Moisture ◽  
Surface Temperatures ◽  
Quantile Regression Analysis ◽  
Temperature Indices ◽  
Moisture Conditions

Abstract Soil moisture conditions affect energy partitioning between sensible and latent heat fluxes, resulting in a change in surface temperatures. In this study, the relationships between antecedent soil moisture conditions [as indicated by the 6-month standardized precipitation index (SPI)] and several temperature indices are statistically quantified using the quantile regression analysis across East China to investigate the influence of soil moisture on summer surface temperatures. These temperature indices include percentage of hot days (%HD), heat-wave duration (HWD), daily temperature range (DTR), and daily minimum temperature (Tmin). It was demonstrated that soil moisture had a significant impact on %HD and HWD at higher quantiles in all regions but the east, suggesting that drier soil moisture conditions tend to intensity summer hot extremes. It was also found that hot extremes (%HD and HWD at higher quantiles) had increased substantially from 1958 to 2010. Soil moisture also significantly affected the DTR in all regions but tended to have more impacts on the DTR in soil moisture-limited regimes than in energy-limited regimes. This study provides observational evidence of soil moisture influences on hot extremes in East China.

The impact of selective commercial logging on stream hydrology, chemistry and sediment loads in the Ulu Segama rain forest, Sabah, Malaysia

1992 ◽  
Vol 335 (1275) ◽  
pp. 397-406 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Rain Forest ◽  
Drainage System ◽  
Flood Plain ◽  
Sediment Yields ◽  
The Road ◽  
Sediment Loads ◽  
Commercial Logging ◽  
Three Stages ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Degree Of Recovery

Three stages of selective commercial logging in a 0.54 km 2 catchment in the Ulu Segama caused great changes in the output of sediment and water over a 27-month period from June 1988. The ratio of monthly suspended sediment yield from the logged catchment to that from a nearby undisturbed catchment changed from the order of 1:1 before disturbance; to 4:1 after a logging road had been built across the head of the catchment; to 5:1 after logging within 37 m of the road; and to 18:1 in the five months after logging of the remainder of the catchment. A year after logging had ceased the largest monthly sediment yields of the whole period were only 3.6 times those of the undisturbed catchment, indicating a degree of recovery. Sediment accumulated in the channel bed and on the narrow flood plain remained to be evacuated, and gullies on abandoned logging trails continued to supply sediment to the drainage system.

scholarly journals Modeling Antecedent Soil Moisture to Constrain Rainfall Thresholds for Shallow Landslides Occurrence

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maurizio Lazzari ◽  
Marco Piccarreta ◽  
Ram L. Ray ◽  
Salvatore Manfreda
Keyword(s):  
Soil Moisture ◽  
Rainfall Intensity ◽  
Shallow Landslide ◽  
Rainfall Thresholds ◽  
Antecedent Soil Moisture ◽  
Correct Definition ◽  
Triggering Conditions ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
Moisture Conditions ◽  
Traditional Approaches

Rainfall-triggered shallow landslide events have caused losses of human lives and millions of euros in damage to property in all parts of the world. The need to prevent such hazards combined with the difficulty of describing the geomorphological processes over regional scales led to the adoption of empirical rainfall thresholds derived from records of rainfall events triggering landslides. These rainfall intensity thresholds are generally computed, assuming that all events are not influenced by antecedent soil moisture conditions. Nevertheless, it is expected that antecedent soil moisture conditions may provide critical support for the correct definition of the triggering conditions. Therefore, we explored the role of antecedent soil moisture on critical rainfall intensity-duration thresholds to evaluate the possibility of modifying or improving traditional approaches. The study was carried out using 326 landslide events that occurred in the last 18 years in the Basilicata region (southern Italy). Besides the ordinary data (i.e., rainstorm intensity and duration), we also derived the antecedent soil moisture conditions using a parsimonious hydrological model. These data have been used to derive the rainfall intensity thresholds conditional on the antecedent saturation of soil quantifying the impact of such parameters on rainfall thresholds.

scholarly journals The Effect of the Dry Line and Convective Initiation on Drought Evolution over Oklahoma during the 2011 Drought

2017 ◽  
Vol 2017 ◽  
pp. 1-16 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paul X. Flanagan ◽  
Jeffrey B. Basara ◽  
Bradley G. Illston ◽  
Jason A. Otkin
Keyword(s):  
Soil Moisture ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Warm Season ◽  
Convective Initiation ◽  
Model Simulations ◽  
Variable Surface ◽  
Oklahoma Mesonet ◽  
Dry Conditions ◽  
Moisture Conditions ◽  
The Impact

Observations from the Oklahoma Mesonet and high resolution Weather Research and Forecasting model simulations were used to evaluate the effect that the dry line and large-scale atmospheric patterns had on drought evolution during 2011. Mesonet observations showed that a “dry” and “wet” pattern developed across Oklahoma due to anomalous atmospheric patterns. The location of the dry line varied due to this “dry” and “wet” pattern, with the average dry line location around 1.5° longitude further to the east than climatology. Model simulations were used to further quantify the impact of variable surface conditions on dry line evolution and convective initiation (CI) during April and May 2011. Specifically, soil moisture conditions were altered to depict “wet” and “dry” conditions across the domain by replacing the soil moisture values by each soil category’s porosity or wilting point value. Overall, the strength of the dry line boundary, its position, and subsequent CI were dependent on the modification of soil moisture. The simulations demonstrated that modifying soil moisture impacted the nature of the dry line and showed that soil moisture conditions during the first half of the warm season modified the dry line pattern and influenced the evolution and perpetuation of drought over Oklahoma.

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