scholarly journals Soil water storage and groundwater behaviour in a catenary sequence beneath forest in central Amazonia. II. Floodplain water table behaviour and implications for streamflow generation

1997 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
pp. 279-290 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. G. Hodnett ◽  
I. Vendrame ◽  
A. De O. Marques Filho ◽  
M. D. Oyama ◽  
J. Tomasella
Keyword(s):  
Soil Water ◽  
Water Table ◽  
Dry Season ◽  
Water Levels ◽  
Soil Water Storage ◽  
Published Data ◽  
Wet Season ◽  
Deep Drainage ◽  
Forested Catchments ◽  
Streamflow Generation

Abstract. Valley floor groundwater level data collected during the ABRACOS project (Gash et al. 1996), and published streamflow data from small forested catchments in geomorphologically similar areas nearby have been analysed to improve the understanding of the processes of streamflow generation. Early in the wet season, the floodplain water table is typically at 0.8 m depth, or less, and receives only local, vertical recharge. Large storms may create a groundwater ridge beneath the floodplain, temporarily creating a gradient in the direction of the hilislope. Later in the wet season, floodplain water levels are controlled primarily by the discharge of groundwater which maintains the dry season streamflow. The groundwater is recharged by deep drainage from beneath the plateau and slope areas once the dry season soil water deficit has been overcome. In the late wet season, the water level is almost at the floodplain surface and may create seeps on the lower slopes in very wet years. For the period 1966-1989, the recharge was estimated to range from 290 mm to 1601 mm with a mean of 1087 mm. Published data show that baseflow is 91% of annual runoff. Stormflow is generated on the floodplain, and water table recessions after rainfall events show that the runoff response depends on the depth to the water table. These results are from areas with deeply weathered and permeable soils; in areas of Amazonia with shallower soils, the predominant flow generation processes will differ (Elsenbeer and Lack, 1996).

scholarly journals Soil water storage and groundwater behaviour in a catenary sequence beneath forest in central Amazonia: I. Comparisons between plateau, slope and valley floor

1997 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
pp. 265-277 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. G. Hodnett ◽  
I. Vendrame ◽  
A. De O. Marques Filho ◽  
M. D. Oyama ◽  
J. Tomasella
Keyword(s):  
Soil Water ◽  
Water Table ◽  
Water Storage ◽  
Dry Season ◽  
Valley Floor ◽  
Soil Water Storage ◽  
High Porosity ◽  
Wet Season ◽  
Deep Drainage ◽  
Shallow Water Table

Abstract. Soil water storage was monitored in three landscape elements in the forest (plateau, slope and valley floor) over a 3 year period to identify differences in sub-surface hydrological response. Under the plateau and slope, the changes of storage were very similar and there was no indication of surface runoff on the slope. The mean maximum seasonal storage change was 156 mm in the 2 m profile but it was clear that, in the dry season, the forest was able to take up water from below 3.6 m. Soil water availability was low. Soil water storage changes in the valley were dominated by the behaviour of a shallow water table which, in normal years, varied between 0.1 m below the surface at the end of the wet season and 0.8 m at the end of the dry season. Soil water storage changes were small because root uptake was largely replenished by groundwater flow towards the stream. The groundwater behaviour is controlled mainly by the deep drainage from beneath the plateau and slope areas. The groundwater gradient beneath the slope indicated that recharge beneath the plateau and slope commences only after the soil water deficits from the previous dry season have been replenished. Following a wet season with little recharge, the water table fell, ceasing to influence the valley soil water storage, and the stream dried up. The plateau and slope, a zone of very high porosity between 0.4 and 1.1 m, underlain by a less conductive layer, is a probable route for interflow during, and for a few hours after, heavy and prolonged rainfall.

scholarly journals General procedure to initialize the cyclic soil water balance by the Thornthwaite and Mather method

2010 ◽  
Vol 67 (1) ◽  
pp. 87-95 ◽  
Author(s):  
Durval Dourado-Neto ◽  
Quirijn de Jong van Lier ◽  
Klaas Metselaar ◽  
Klaus Reichardt ◽  
Donald R. Nielsen
Keyword(s):  
Water Balance ◽  
Soil Water ◽  
General Procedure ◽  
Water Storage ◽  
Dry Season ◽  
Soil Water Balance ◽  
Soil Water Storage ◽  
Wet Season ◽  
Water Balance Components ◽  
Semi Arid

The original Thornthwaite and Mather method, proposed in 1955 to calculate a climatic monthly cyclic soil water balance, is frequently used as an iterative procedure due to its low input requirements and coherent estimates of water balance components. Using long term data sets to establish a characteristic water balance of a location, the initial soil water storage is generally assumed to be at field capacity at the end of the last month of the wet season, unless the climate is (semi-) arid when the soil water storage is lower than the soil water holding capacity. To close the water balance, several iterations might be necessary, which can be troublesome in many situations. For (semi-) arid climates with one dry season, Mendonça derived in 1958 an equation to quantify the soil water storage monthly at the end of the last month of the wet season, which avoids iteration procedures and closes the balance in one calculation. The cyclic daily water balance application is needed to obtain more accurate water balance output estimates. In this note, an equation to express the water storage for the case of the occurrence of more than one dry season per year is presented as a generalization of Mendonça's equation, also avoiding iteration procedures.

Water balance and the water-table in deep sandy soils of the upper south-east, South Australia

1960 ◽  
Vol 11 (6) ◽  
pp. 970 ◽  
Author(s):  
JW Holmes
Keyword(s):  
Soil Water ◽  
Water Table ◽  
South Australia ◽  
Soil Water Storage ◽  
Annual Rainfall ◽  
Wetting Front ◽  
Wet Season ◽  
The Mean ◽  
Upper South ◽  
Static Level

A water-table occurs at an average depth of 11.3 m below the surface in deep sand country of the upper south-east of South Australia (County Cardwell). By observing the depth to which water penetrated into the soil profile during the wet season, and the static level of the water in bore-holes, it was proved that the watertable was not replenished by local rainfall. In three years of records, the wetting front penetrated 6.0, 2.1, and 3.6 m on the average, and the soil water thus stored was all used by the prevailing vegetation, either natural mallee heath or lucerne. The performance of the vegetation growing on the deep sand in ability to resist drought was characterized quantitatively by the supply rate of soil moisture as a function of the soil water storage. It was estimated that the yearly potential evaporation for 1957 was 113 cm. The mean annual rainfall is about 50 cm. The ground-water comes, it is suggested, from intake areas about 40 km east of the area under study, where surface floodwaters accumulate in wet seasons. The quantity of water flowing through the aquifer at present is calculated to be about 37 m3/(metre width of strip)/year.

scholarly journals Analysis of the drought recovery of Andosols on southern Ecuadorian Andean páramos

2016 ◽  
Vol 20 (6) ◽  
pp. 2421-2435 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vicente Iñiguez ◽  
Oscar Morales ◽  
Felipe Cisneros ◽  
Willy Bauwens ◽  
Guido Wyseure
Keyword(s):  
Soil Moisture ◽  
Soil Water ◽  
Potential Evapotranspiration ◽  
Water Storage ◽  
Dry Season ◽  
Time Domain Reflectometry ◽  
Soil Water Storage ◽  
Wet Season ◽  
Catchment Scale ◽  
Normal Value

Abstract. The Neotropical Andean grasslands above 3500 m a.s.l., known as páramo, offer remarkable ecological services for the Andean region. The most important of these is the water supply of excellent quality to many cities and villages in the inter-Andean valleys and along the coast. The páramo ecosystem and especially its soils are under constant and increased threat by human activities and climate change. In this study, the recovery speed of the páramo soils after drought periods are analysed. The observation period includes the droughts of 2009, 2010, 2011, and 2012 together with intermediate wet periods. Two experimental catchments – one with and one without páramo – were investigated. The Probability Distributed Moisture (PDM) model was calibrated and validated in both catchments. Drought periods and its characteristics were identified and quantified by a threshold level approach and complemented by means of a drought propagation analysis. At the plot scale in the páramo region, the soil water content measured by time domain reflectometry (TDR) probes dropped from a normal value of about 0.84 to  ∼ 0.60 cm3 cm−3, while the recovery time was 2–3 months. This did not occur at lower altitudes (Cumbe) where the soils are mineral. Although the soil moisture depletion observed in these soils was similar to that of the Andosols (27 %), decreasing from a normal value of about 0.54 to  ∼ 0.39 cm3 cm−3, the recovery was much slower and took about 8 months for the drought in 2010. At the catchment scale, however, the soil water storage simulated by the PDM model and the drought analysis was not as pronounced. Soil moisture droughts occurred mainly in the dry season in both catchments. The deficit for all cases is small and progressively reduced during the wet season. Vegetation stress periods correspond mainly to the months of September, October and November, which coincides with the dry season. The maximum number of consecutive dry days were reached during the drought of 2009 and 2010 (19 and 22 days), which can be considered to be a long period in the páramo. The main factor in the hydrological response of these experimental catchments is the precipitation relative to the potential evapotranspiration. As the soils never became extremely dry nor close to the wilting point, the soil water storage capacity had a secondary influence.

scholarly journals Control of Dry Season Evapotranspiration over the Amazonian Forest as Inferred from Observations at a Southern Amazon Forest Site

2007 ◽  
Vol 20 (12) ◽  
pp. 2827-2839 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robinson I. Negrón Juárez ◽  
Martin G. Hodnett ◽  
Rong Fu ◽  
Michael L. Goulden ◽  
Celso von Randow
Keyword(s):  
Soil Moisture ◽  
Soil Water ◽  
Dry Season ◽  
Root Uptake ◽  
Surface Radiation ◽  
Soil Water Storage ◽  
Forest Site ◽  
Amazon Forest ◽  
Wet Season ◽  
Soil Moisture Storage

Abstract The extent to which soil water storage can support an average dry season evapotranspiration (ET) is investigated using observations from the Rebio Jarú site for the period of 2000 to 2002. During the dry season, when total rainfall is less than 100 mm, the soil moisture storage available to root uptake in the top 3-m layer is sufficient to maintain the ET rate, which is equal to or higher than that in the wet season. With a normal or less-than-normal dry season rainfall, more than 75% of the ET is supplied by soil water below 1 m, whereas during a rainier dry season, about 50% of ET is provided by soil water from below 1 m. Soil moisture below 1-m depth is recharged by rainfall during the previous wet season: dry season rainfall rarely infiltrates to this depth. These results suggest that, even near the southern edge of the Amazon forest, seasonal and moderate interannual rainfall deficits can be mitigated by an increase in root uptake from deeper soil. How dry season ET varies geographically within the Amazon and what might control its geographic distribution are examined by comparing in situ observations from 10 sites from different areas of Amazonia reported during the last two decades. Results show that the average dry season ET varies less than 1 mm day−1 or 30% from the driest to nearly the wettest parts of Amazonia and is largely correlated with the change of surface net radiation of 25% and 30%. Thus the geographic variation of the average dry season ET appears to be mainly determined by the surface radiation.

Observations and Modeling of Profile Soil Water Storage above a Shallow Water Table

2004 ◽  
Vol 68 (3) ◽  
pp. 719-724 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mahmood Nachabe ◽  
Caroline Masek ◽  
Jayantha Obeysekera
Keyword(s):  
Shallow Water ◽  
Soil Water ◽  
Water Table ◽  
Water Storage ◽  
Soil Water Storage ◽  
Shallow Water Table

Simulated soil water storage effects on streamflow generation in a mountainous snowmelt environment, Idaho, USA

2009 ◽  
Vol 23 (6) ◽  
pp. 858-873 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. S. Seyfried ◽  
L. E. Grant ◽  
D. Marks ◽  
A. Winstral ◽  
J. McNamara
Keyword(s):  
Soil Water ◽  
Water Storage ◽  
Soil Water Storage ◽  
Streamflow Generation ◽  
Storage Effects

Soil water balance and evapotranspiration of irrigated cotton

1967 ◽  
Vol 69 (1) ◽  
pp. 95-101 ◽  
Author(s):  
W. R. Stern
Keyword(s):  
Soil Moisture ◽  
Water Balance ◽  
Soil Water ◽  
Balance Equation ◽  
Dry Season ◽  
Soil Water Balance ◽  
Wet Season ◽  
Water Balance Equation ◽  
Soil Moisture Storage ◽  
Moisture Storage

In a series of five irrigated cotton sowings (T2, T7, T9, T11, T14) evapotranspiration (Et) was determined for the period between October 1961 and October 1962 by observing frequently the changes in soil moisture storage, calculating through drainage, and solving for evapotranspiration in the water balance equation. Thus a water balance was obtained for each sowing extending over the entire crop.The average evapotranspiration in wet season sowings was of the order of 6·5 mm day−1 and in dry season sowings of the order of 4·5 mm day−1. The highest evapotranspiration values ranged between 10 and 12 mm day−1 in T2, T7 and T9 and between 7 and 9·5 mm day−1 in T11 and T14.

Observations on the ecology of Glossina morsitans submorsitans Newst. in the Northern Guinea Savannah of Northern Nigeria

1965 ◽  
Vol 56 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-16 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. M. Jordan
Keyword(s):  
Dry Season ◽  
Published Data ◽  
Northern Nigeria ◽  
Wet Season ◽  
Glossina Morsitans ◽  
Vegetation Zone ◽  
Breeding Sites ◽  
Resting Sites ◽  
Glossina Morsitans Submorsitans ◽  
Forest Islands

Observations, largely based on regular catches along a fly-round, were made over the five years 1959–64 on a population of Glossina morsitans submorsitans Newst. in the Northern Guinea Savannah of Nigeria. The results showed that the largest numbers of flies were caught in the early dry season (November–January) and that, as the climate became progressively drier and more severe, fly numbers declined to reach their annual minimum at the end of the dry season or in the early rains (March–May). These results are tentatively interpreted in terms of the true density of the flies and their activity. Differences occurred between the various years, some of which could be explained by climatic differences.Of the 7,412 flies caught over the five years, 1,128 (15·2%) were females; the percentage of females was highest in the dry season, rising to a peak of 24·1 per cent, in February, and was below 10 per cent. during the wet season. Many more females were caught on the bodies of the catching team than on vegetation or the ground near the team.The flies rarely fed on civet cat (Civettictis civetta) or duiker (Cephalophus rufilatus, Sylvicapra grimmia), which were the potential hosts most frequently observed in the experimental area, but fed mainly on wart-hog (Phacochoerus aethiopicus) and man, the next most commonly observed potential hosts.During the heavy rains, males of G. m. submorsitans were evenly distributed over the fly-round, but at all other seasons they were concentrated to some extent in areas of thicker vegetation. During the dry season, pupae were found in the dry soil of forest islands and riverine vegetation in the savannah; the wet season breeding sites were not discovered. Previously published data on the resting sites and trypanosome infection rate of G. m. submorsitans in the area are summarised.The results are discussed and compared with the conclusions reached by other workers from earlier more extensive studies on G. m. morsitans Westw. in Tanganyika and on G. m. submorsitans in the Sudan Savannah vegetation zone of Northern Nigeria.

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