Soil moisture: applications and needs in vadose zone hydrology
Abstract
In this presentation, we address the state of the art in using soil moisture measurements to derive soil hydraulic properties, to quantify water and energy fluxes in the vadose zone, to retrieve spatial and temporal dynamics of soil moisture profiles, and to develop monitoring networks. We will discuss these issues at two different scales important in vadose zone hydrology: the field and the catchment scale. Analyzing the value of soil moisture measurements is motivated by our increasing ability to measure soil moisture due to the availability of novel non- invasive measurement techniques at the field and catchment scale, of remote sensing platforms and improved retrieval algorithms as well as of novel soil moisture network sensor technologies in providing high quality soil moisture data with high spatial and temporal resolution. We advocate that optimal use of soil moisture measurements will require further development of down- and upscaling algorithms to bridge the disparity in scales between hydrological measurements and mathematical models, to improve data assimilation techniques for retrieving the vertical and horizontal distribution of soil moisture including its temporal dynamics but also hydrological parameters driving the flow of water and to explore the potential in combining hydrogeophysical techniques with remote sensing measurement of soil moisture. With respect to the issue of upscaling we feel that stochastic upscaling theories developed in vadose zone research have not really been optimally used at scales larger than the field scale. This will be illustrated by applying stochastic theories in interpreting observed soil moisture fields. Applications of these theories might help in bridging the gap between model and measurement scale at larger scales.
- Publication:
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AGU Fall Meeting Abstracts
- Pub Date:
- December 2007
- Bibcode:
- 2007AGUFM.H53H..01V
- Keywords:
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- 1865 Soils (0486);
- 1866 Soil moisture;
- 1875 Vadose zone;
- 1899 General or miscellaneous