Water Resources in Chile

2022 ◽  
pp. 90-100
Author(s):  
Javier Lozano Parra ◽  
Jacinto Garrido Velarde ◽  
Ignacio Aguirre

This study quantifies the current and future soil water balance in a spatially distributed way for the whole of Chile and establishes what biomes will be the most affected by variations in water resources. The study of water resources reveals that 90% of surface Chile will reduce its soil water resources in the future if greenhouse gas concentration in the atmosphere does not stop. The most disadvantaged biomes are the forests, where soil water availability could decrease an average of 100 mm/year. Desert biomes could not perceive the hydrological imbalances; however, it is expected its surface increases.

2015 ◽  
Vol 50 (7) ◽  
pp. 515-525 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thieres George Freire da Silva ◽  
Jorge Torres Araújo Primo ◽  
Magna Soelma Beserra de Moura ◽  
Sérvulo Mercier Siqueira e Silva ◽  
José Edson Florentino de Morais ◽  
...  

Abstract: The objective of this work was to evaluate soil water dynamics in areas cultivated with forage cactus clones and to determine how environmental conditions and crop growth affect evapotranspiration. The study was conducted in the municipality of Serra Talhada, in the state of Pernambuco, Brazil. Crop growth was monitored through changes in the cladode area index (CAI) and through the soil cover fraction, calculated at the end of the cycle. Real evapotranspiration (ET) of the three evaluated clones was obtained as the residual term in the soil water balance method. No difference was observed between soil water balance components, even though the evaluated clones were of different genus and had different CAI increments. Accumulated ET was of 1,173 mm during the 499 days of the experiment, resulting in daily average of 2.35 mm. The CAI increases the water consumption of the Orelha de Elefante Mexicana clone. In dry conditions, the water consumption of the Miúda clone responds more slowly to variation in soil water availability. The lower evolution of the CAI of the IPA Sertânia clone, during the rainy season, leads to a higher contribution of the evaporation component in ET. The atmospheric demand controls the ET of clones only when there is higher soil water availability; in this condition, the water consumption of the Miúda clone decreases more rapidly with the increase of atmospheric demand.


Proceedings ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 30 (1) ◽  
pp. 76
Author(s):  
Ioannis N. Daliakopoulos ◽  
Ioanna Panagea ◽  
Luca Brocca ◽  
Erik van den Elsen

Under arid conditions, where water availability is the limiting factor for plant survival, water balance models can be used to explain vegetation dynamics. [...]


2009 ◽  
Vol 13 (7) ◽  
pp. 1061-1074 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. Minacapilli ◽  
C. Agnese ◽  
F. Blanda ◽  
C. Cammalleri ◽  
G. Ciraolo ◽  
...  

Abstract. Actual evapotranspiration from typical Mediterranean crops has been assessed in a Sicilian study area by using surface energy balance (SEB) and soil-water balance models. Both modelling approaches use remotely sensed data to estimate evapotranspiration fluxes in a spatially distributed way. The first approach exploits visible (VIS), near-infrared (NIR) and thermal (TIR) observations to solve the surface energy balance equation whereas the soil-water balance model uses only VIS-NIR data to detect the spatial variability of crop parameters. Considering that the study area is characterized by typical spatially sparse Mediterranean vegetation, i.e. olive, citrus and vineyards, alternating bare soil and canopy, we focused the attention on the main conceptual differences between one-source and two-sources energy balance models. Two different models have been tested: the widely used one-source SEBAL model, where soil and vegetation are considered as the sole source (mostly appropriate in the case of uniform vegetation coverage) and the two-sources TSEB model, where soil and vegetation components of the surface energy balance are treated separately. Actual evapotranspiration estimates by means of the two surface energy balance models have been compared vs. the outputs of the agro-hydrological SWAP model, which was applied in a spatially distributed way to simulate one-dimensional water flow in the soil-plant-atmosphere continuum. Remote sensing data in the VIS and NIR spectral ranges have been used to infer spatially distributed vegetation parameters needed to set up the upper boundary condition of SWAP. Actual evapotranspiration values obtained from the application of the soil water balance model SWAP have been considered as the reference to be used for energy balance models accuracy assessment. Airborne hyperspectral data acquired during a NERC (Natural Environment Research Council, UK) campaign in 2005 have been used. The results of this investigation seem to prove a slightly better agreement between SWAP and TSEB for some fields of the study area. Further investigations are programmed in order to confirm these indications.


2012 ◽  
Vol 44 (4) ◽  
pp. 690-705 ◽  
Author(s):  
Changchun Zhou ◽  
Yi Luo ◽  
Melanie Zeppel

System dynamics (SD) is one of the most suitable methods available to simulate and quantify the behaviour of complex systems due to it non-linear, multivariable, information feedback and temporally changing characteristics. This paper has improved on Khan et al.'s established model (see Khan et al. (2009) ‘Analyzing complex behavior of hydrological systems through a system dynamics approach’, Environmental Modeling & Software24, 1363–1372) by adding water production functions for three main crops (winter wheat, summer maize and cotton) based on soil water balance at the field level. Conclusions based on the simulation were as follows. (1) The model could simulate the dynamics of water balance components of winter wheat and summer maize relatively accurately through testing and validation. (2) Two to four irrigations were needed for the water-use requirement for winter wheat and summer maize when irrigation level was 75 mm each time. Cotton did not need to be irrigated except for the addition of 60 mm pre-sowing water. (3) Exploiting groundwater as far as possible and taking measures to reduce soil evaporation and at the same keeping irrigation unchanged was one of the best ways for sustainable utilization of water resources in the upper reaches of the Panzhuang District. (4) Water-use efficiencies were consistent with the regions' measured results showing that the model could simulate the water cycle in the field comparatively accurately.


2021 ◽  
Vol 312 ◽  
pp. 107354 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ai-Tian Ren ◽  
Rui Zhou ◽  
Fei Mo ◽  
Shu-Tong Liu ◽  
Ji-Yuan Li ◽  
...  

Forests ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 95
Author(s):  
Yuan Gong ◽  
Christina L. Staudhammer ◽  
Susanne Wiesner ◽  
Gregory Starr ◽  
Yinlong Zhang

Understanding plant phenological change is of great concern in the context of global climate change. Phenological models can aid in understanding and predicting growing season changes and can be parameterized with gross primary production (GPP) estimated using the eddy covariance (EC) technique. This study used nine years of EC-derived GPP data from three mature subtropical longleaf pine forests in the southeastern United States with differing soil water holding capacity in combination with site-specific micrometeorological data to parameterize a photosynthesis-based phenological model. We evaluated how weather conditions and prescribed fire led to variation in the ecosystem phenological processes. The results suggest that soil water availability had an effect on phenology, and greater soil water availability was associated with a longer growing season (LOS). We also observed that prescribed fire, a common forest management activity in the region, had a limited impact on phenological processes. Dormant season fire had no significant effect on phenological processes by site, but we observed differences in the start of the growing season (SOS) between fire and non-fire years. Fire delayed SOS by 10 d ± 5 d (SE), and this effect was greater with higher soil water availability, extending SOS by 18 d on average. Fire was also associated with increased sensitivity of spring phenology to radiation and air temperature. We found that interannual climate change and periodic weather anomalies (flood, short-term drought, and long-term drought), controlled annual ecosystem phenological processes more than prescribed fire. When water availability increased following short-term summer drought, the growing season was extended. With future climate change, subtropical areas of the Southeastern US are expected to experience more frequent short-term droughts, which could shorten the region’s growing season and lead to a reduction in the longleaf pine ecosystem’s carbon sequestration capacity.


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