Field determination of unsaturated hydraulic conductivity of forest soils

This study introduces a field method to determine unsaturated hydraulic conductivity which is applicable to sloping terrain with a limited water supply. A single steel ring infiltrometer and an artificial rainfall simulator are used in this method to reduce the amount of water required to attain a steady-state flux condition. Six tensiometers and a time domain reflectometry (TDR) are employed as the soil capillary pressure head and the volumetric soil water content measurement devices, respectively. Water contents measured by the TDR are corrected using a simple calibration method suggested by Hook and Livingston (1996). Unsaturated hydraulic conductivities are computed based on the instantaneous profile method using capillary pressure head and water content changes measured during a drainage process. The proposed method was applied to a forest soil profile in Rokko Mountain range. Results showed that the relationships between the unsaturated hydraulic conductivity and capillary pressure head developed by the proposed method coincide well with those measured by the conventional steady-state laboratory experiment. The proposedin-situ method is the effective simple means to determine unsaturated hydraulic conductivities of forest soils, since this method is enough accurate and consuming less amount of water and time. This research was partly supported by a Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (No. 08760149) from the Ministry of Education, Science, Sports, and Culture, Japan.     

晋西黄土区土壤水分空间异质性的地统计学分析

土壤水分的空间分布存在着一定的随机性和结构性特征,而对不同尺度土壤水分空间变异规律的研究是土壤水分研究中的热点问题.该文通过2004—2005年对山西吉县蔡家川小流域不同取样尺度（20 m×20 m、2 m×2 m） 391个样点土壤水分的测定（TDR土壤水分测定法）,使用地统计学方法进行土壤水分的空间异质性分析,以区域化变量理论为基础,以变异函数为主要工具,以克立格法为基本方法进行土壤水分异质性研究.结果表明:研究区土壤水分的理论变异模型为球状模型,20 m×20 m网格取样变程为494.16 m,2 m×2 m网格取样变程为27.4 m,试验区土壤水分的变异属于中等程度的变异;通过克立格插值估计,整个研究区坡面土壤水分平均值为10.94%（0～30 cm）和11.88%(30～60 cm).      

用于估算冻土中液态水分量的TDR数据校正(英文)

TDR作为1种野外测量土壤水分量简便而准确的方法而被人们熟知和使用。本研究使用TDR在河套灌区对冻土在冻结融解时进行了土壤水分测定。为了用TDR数据计算冻土的液态水分量,文中分析了众多计算模型和经验模型,最终找到了最适合本地区土壤特性的B irchak模型。     

Soil–water content and air-filled porosity affect height growth of Scots pine in afforested arable land in Finland

We examined the soil–water content (SWC) and air-filled porosity (AFP) of afforested arable land in situ and related them with tree growth, which was expressed as the total length of 5-year-height growth above 2.5 m stem height. A total of 34 randomly selected sites in western Finland afforested with Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris L.) were sampled and SWC was measured using time domain reflectometry (TDR). Increasing AFP up to 30% and correspondingly decreasing SWC significantly increased tree growth while concentrations of foliar nutrients and contents of soil nutrients had no effect. Increasing organic matter content (OMC) and decreasing bulk density (BD) were accompanied by increasing SWC and decreasing AFP in the 0–10 cm soil layer. SWC values above 70% indicated critical AFP below 10%. It was found that 44% of the studied sites had mean AFP lower than 10%. The results obtained indicate that the afforested Finnish arable land with high soil OMC is commonly characterized by high SWC and low soil aeration, which can limit tree growth.     

Development and evaluation of the SoilClim model for water balance and soil climate estimates

The newly developed SoilClim model is introduced as a tool for estimates of reference (ETo) and actual (ETa) evapotranspiration, presence of snow cover, soil temperature at 0.5 m depth and the soil moisture course within two defined layers. It enables one to determine the soil moisture and temperature regimes according to the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) soil taxonomy. SoilClim works with daily time steps and requires maximum and minimum air temperature, global solar radiation, precipitation, vapor pressure and wind speed as meteorological inputs as well as basic information about the soil properties and vegetation cover. The behavior of SoilClim was assessed using observations at 5 stations in central Europe and 15 stations in the central U.S. The modeled ETo was compared with atmometers so that the coefficient of determination (R²) was 0.91 and root mean square error (RMSE) was 0.53 mm. The estimated ETa was compared against eddy-covariance and Bowen ratio measurements (R² varied from 0.74 to 0.80; RMSE varied from 0.49 to 0.58 mm). The soil temperature (at 0.5 m depth) was estimated with good accuracy (R² varied from 0.94 to 0.97; RMSE varied from 1.23 °C to 2.95 °C). The ability of the SoilClim model to mimic the observed soil water dynamics was carefully investigated (relative root mean square error rRMSE varied from 2.8% to 34.0%). The analysis conducted showed that SoilClim gives reasonable estimates of evaluated parameters at a majority of the included stations. Finally, a spatial analysis of soil moisture and temperature regimes (according to USDA) within the region of the Czech Republic and the northern part of Austria under present conditions was conducted and diagnosed the appearance of Perudic, Subhumid Udic, Dry Tempudic (the highest frequency), Wet Tempustic and Typic Tempustic. The simulated mean soil temperature (0.5 m depth) varied from less than 7.0 °C to 11.0 °C throughout this region. Based on these results, the SoilClim model is a useful and suitable tool for water balance and soil climate assessment on local and regional scales.     

扬州地区TDR法田间测定不同土壤含水量的标定

使用美国Spectrum TDR 100便携式水分测定仪,在扬州地区不同土壤,找出TDR法和烘干法测定土壤含水量之间的关系。通过试验证明,容重在1.3 g/cm3处TDR测定值接近真实值,容重越小或越大,其偏差就越大。粘粒含量为0~200 g/kg,砂粒含量在300~500 g/kg范围内,TDR测定值接近于烘干法。利用TDR测定土壤水分,砂土和壤土可以不用调整,而粘壤土和粘土要进行系数换算,粘壤土的测定结果要除以1.18,粘土的测定结果要除以1.44。     

Comparison of three dielectric moisture sensors for measurement of water in saline sandy soil

The number of sensor types available for measuring soil water content has increased but investigations to compare their performance in saline soils needs clarification. In this study the performance of commercially available, low-cost soil moisture sensors [time domain reflectometry (TDR), PR1 and WET], all measuring changes in the dielectric constant of the soil water, was evaluated under laboratory conditions in a saline sandy soil. The three sensors were also tested in the same sandy soil growing drip irrigated sorghum ( Sorghum bicolor L. cv. Moench) in a greenhouse. Plants were irrigated daily with either saline water (ECw: 9.4 dS/m) or fresh water (0.11 dS/m). The volume of irrigation was equivalent to 100% of the pan evaporation. The results showed that measurement accuracy was strongly dependent on the salinity of the soil. The PR1 sensor overestimated volumetric water content ( θ ) when the salinity level exceeded 4 dS/m [root mean square of the standard error (RMSE) = 0.009 cm³/cm³]. The WET sensor significantly overestimated θ irrespective of the salinity level (RMSE = 0.014 cm³/cm³). The TDR sensor estimated θ with more accuracy (RMSE = 0.007   cm³/cm³) and thus can be considered as more reliable than the other two sensors. The calibrations were strongly affected by the salinity level of the water, so we recommend that calibration equations are modified to take account of salinity.     

TDR测定不同湿度土壤含水量的精度比较研究

[目的]探讨TDR测定土壤含水量的原理,找出TDR测量土壤含水量的适合范围.[方法]用波兰TDR/MUX/mpts水分测定仪,对不同湿度土样的体积含水量进行测定,同时用烘干法和环刀法分别测量其质量含水量和容重,然后转化成体积含水量与TDR的测量值进行比较.[结果]对于质量含水量为0～5％之间的干燥土壤和质量含水量为22％以上的湿润土壤,TDR的测量精度较低.与烘干法相比,绝对误差均大于2％,相对误差大于10％.对于质量含水量为5％ ～22％之间的土壤,TDR的测量精度较高.[结论]在湿润或半湿润地区,TDR法测量土壤体积含水量有较高的精度.