Many studies of water flow and solute transport in the vadose zone require estimates of the unsaturated soil hydraulic properties, including the soil water retention curve ~WRC! describing the relationship between soil suction and water content. An artificial neural network ~ANN! approach was developed to describe the WRC using observed data from several soils. The ANN approach was found to pro...

In cold climate regions winter conditions significantly influence the performance of stormwater infiltration devices. Frozen soil and water storage by snow changes their operation. In this paper winter operation of a grassed infiltration swale was investigated using on-site and laboratory measurements. The field investigation of a grassed swale at a parking place in an Alpine region showed that...

Soil moisture plays a key role in most environmental processes, as evaporation and transpiration are heavily dependent on soil moisture variability. While it is one of the few important hydrological variables that can be directly observed, the high spatial and temporal variability makes it difficult to measure globally or even regionally. Reliance is therefore placed on land surface models to p...

Thomas, Matthew, B.S., May 2017 Geosciences Using Thermal Infrared Imaging to Estimate Soil Hydraulic Parameters: A Novel Approach Faculty Mentor: W. Payton Gardner, Marco Maneta In this study, skin temperature measured with a thermal infrared (TIR) camera was used to estimate soil hydraulic parameters. These physical properties that control how soils transport and retain water are notoriously ...

A review of recent developments related to soil hydraulic property estimation using remote sensing is presented. Several soil hydraulic parameter estimation techniques using proximal-, air-, or satellite-based remotely sensed soil moisture, land surface temperature, and/ or evapotranspiration time series have evolved over the past decades. In particular, microwave remote sensing of near-surface...

It is well known that there is a spectrum of pores in a soil profile. The conventional use of a single lumped value of soil hydraulic conductivity to describe a spectrum of hydraulically active pores may have unintentionally impeded the development of field-scale chemical transport theoryand perhaps indirectly hindered the development ofmanagement protocols for chemical application andwaste dis...

Many forest roads are being closed as a step in watershed restoration. Ripping roads with subsoilers or rock rippers is a common practice to increase the infiltration capacity of roads prior to closure. When considering the effectiveness of ripping for reducing runoff and erosion and the potential reduction in slope stability by saturating road fills, it is important to know how ripping changes...

This paper describes the scientific principles of Darcy’s law and hydraulic resistance as they relate to the in-ground dispersal of onsite wastewater effluent. A clear understanding of how water moves into the ground via dispersal trenches is needed to facilitate proper system design and effect some standardization of dispersal trench sizing and design. Hydraulic conductivity of the media, hydr...

Experimentally determined values of unsaturated soil hydraulic conductivity are presented for an Alfisol of the county of Piracicaba, S.P., Brazil. Simultaneous measurements of soil water content and pressure head are made along a 125 m transect within an irrigated field during the internal drainage process. Calculations of the soil hydraulic conductivity were made using the instantaneous profi...