Insentek Sensor: An Alternative to Estimate Daily Crop Evapotranspiration for Maize Plants

Estimation of ground-truth daily evapotranspiration (ETc) is very useful for developing sustainable water resource strategies, particularly in the North China Plain (NCP) with limited water supplies. Weighing lysimetry is a well-known approach for measuring actual ETc. Here, we introduced an alternative to lysimetry for ETc determination using Insentek sensors. A comparison experiment was conducted for maize plants at Xuchang Irrigation Experiment Station, in the NCP, in 2015 and 2016. Insentek ETc was evaluated using data on clear days and rainy days independently. We found that daily ETc increased gradually from VE (emergence) to VT (tasseling) stages, peaked at the R1 (silking) stage with the highest value of 7.8 mm·d−1, and then declined until maturity. On average, cumulative total of lysimetric ETc was 19% higher than that of Insentek ETc. The major depth of soil water extraction might be 60 cm for maize plants on lysimeters according to soil water depletion depth monitored by Insentek sensors. Daily ETc significantly related to soil water content (SWC) in topsoil (0–30 cm) in an exponential function (coefficients of determination (R2) = 0.32–0.53), and to precipitation (Pre) in a power function (R2 = 0.84–0.87). The combined SWC (0–30 cm)–Pre–ETc model may offer significant potential for accurate estimation of maize ETc in semi-humid environment of the NCP.

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Effects of Typical Chemical Agents on Preventing Pollution and Controlling Drought in a Cherry Orchard

Advanced Materials Research ◽

10.4028/www.scientific.net/amr.550-553.1340 ◽

2012 ◽

Vol 550-553 ◽

pp. 1340-1344

Author(s):

Ren Kuan Liao ◽

Pei Ling Yang ◽

Shu Mei Ren ◽

Hang Yi ◽

Long Wang ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Water Content ◽

Soil Water ◽

Soil Water Content ◽

North China Plain ◽

North China ◽

Root Zone ◽

Soil Layer ◽

The North ◽

The North China Plain ◽

Chemical Agents

In the North China plain, serious Non-point-source (NPS) pollution and drought are two great concerns in agricultural production. In our studies, two typical chemical agents ( SAP and FA ) were selected to control drought and pollution in a cheery orchard. Soil water content, nutrient transport in soil profile have been researched. The results showed that the soil water content of treatments with chemical agents increased maximally by 19.4% relative to treatment without chemical agents, and increased by 35.2% for Ammonium-N in 20-60 cm soil layer ( main root zone ). However, in 60-120 cm deeper soil layer, the water leakage of treatments with chemical agents decreased averagely by 15.1% relative to treatment without chemical agents, and increased by 43.8% for Nitrate-N. The chemical agents hold water and nutrient in root zone and thus reducing the risk of pollutant leaching into the underground water. It can be found that treatment ( 150kg/h㎡ SAP + 300 times FA ) is the optimal combination group in all treatments. The chemical prevention technology provided a new guide for controlling drought and reducing NPS pollution in cherry planting in the North China plain.

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Root growth and soil water utilization of winter wheat in the North China Plain

Hydrological Processes ◽

10.1002/hyp.5533 ◽

2004 ◽

Vol 18 (12) ◽

pp. 2275-2287 ◽

Cited By ~ 106

Author(s):

Xiying Zhang ◽

Dong Pei ◽

Suying Chen

Keyword(s):

Winter Wheat ◽

Root Growth ◽

Soil Water ◽

North China Plain ◽

North China ◽

Water Utilization ◽

The North ◽

The North China Plain

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The effects of subsurface irrigation at different soil water potential thresholds on the growth and transpiration ofPopulus tomentosain the North China Plain

Australian Forestry ◽

10.1080/00049158.2014.920552 ◽

2014 ◽

Vol 77 (3-4) ◽

pp. 159-167 ◽

Cited By ~ 12

Author(s):

Benye Xi ◽

Guangde Li ◽

Mark Bloomberg ◽

Liming Jia

Keyword(s):

Water Potential ◽

Soil Water ◽

North China Plain ◽

North China ◽

Soil Water Potential ◽

The North ◽

The North China Plain

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Diurnal variations of aerosol optical properties in the North China Plain and their influences on the estimates of direct aerosol radiative effect

Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics ◽

10.5194/acp-15-5761-2015 ◽

2015 ◽

Vol 15 (10) ◽

pp. 5761-5772 ◽

Cited By ~ 33

Author(s):

Y. Kuang ◽

C. S. Zhao ◽

J. C. Tao ◽

N. Ma

Keyword(s):

Optical Properties ◽

North China Plain ◽

Early Morning ◽

Diurnal Variations ◽

Accurate Estimation ◽

Diurnal Changes ◽

Aerosol Optical Properties ◽

Late Afternoon ◽

The North ◽

Temporal Coverage

Abstract. In this paper, the diurnal variations of aerosol optical properties and their influences on the estimation of daily average direct aerosol radiative effect (DARE) in the North China Plain (NCP) are investigated based on in situ measurements from Haze in China campaign. For ambient aerosol, the diurnal patterns of single scattering albedo (SSA) and asymmetry factor (g) in the NCP are both highest at dawn and lowest in the late afternoon, and quite different from those of dry-state aerosol. The relative humidity (RH) is the dominant factor which determines the diurnal pattern of SSA and g for ambient aerosol. Basing on the calculated SSA and g, several cases are designed to investigate the impacts of the diurnal changes of aerosol optical properties on DARE. The results demonstrate that the diurnal changes of SSA and g in the NCP have significant influences on the estimation of DARE at the top of the atmosphere (TOA). If the full temporal coverage of aerosol optical depth (AOD), SSA and g are available, an accurate estimation of daily average DARE can be achieved by using the daily averages of AOD, SSA and g. However, due to the lack of full temporal coverage data sets of SSA and g, their daily averages are usually not available. Basing on the results of designed cases, if the RH plays a dominant role in the diurnal variations of SSA and g, we suggest that using both SSA and g averaged over early morning and late afternoon as inputs for radiative transfer model to improve the accurate estimation of DARE. If the temporal samplings of SSA or g are too few to adopt this method, either averaged over early morning or late afternoon of both SSA and g can be used to improve the estimation of DARE at the TOA.

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