Abrupt changes in soil water content variability for various time scales and at different depths at the catchment scale

A current challenge in hydrology is to observe, explain and model soil water content (SWC) patterns across multiple space-time scales. A promising technique for the assessment of SWC patterns at the catchment scale is the wireless sensor network. This technique has the potential to continuously monitor three-dimensional SWC fields with high spatial and temporal resolution, i.e. to detect abrupt changes in SWC patterns. The objective of this study was to analyze the dynamics of SWC patterns at the TERENO forest hydrologic observatory Wüstebach (0.27 km2) for different depths (surface and subsurface soil) and various time scales (annual, seasonal scale and wetting and drying periods). We used the SoilNet wireless network system developed at Forschungszentrum Jülich. SWC measurements were taken every 15 minutes in three depths (5, 20, 50 cm) at 150 locations using EC-5 and 5TE sensors (Decagon Devices). This particular analysis is based on hourly aggregated SWC data measured from 1st of August 2009 to 31st of July 2010. Descriptive statistics and geostatistics were used to investigate the data set depending on soil depth and time scale. We analyzed the mean SWC, standard deviation, coefficient of variation and geostatististical parameters (nugget, sill and range) as a function of time and mean SWC. We found that the dynamics of SWC variability depended on depth, mean soil moisture status, time scale and wetting versus drying period. The magnitude and the variability of the mean SWC, standard deviation, coefficient of variation, and the range decreased with depth depending on soil moisture status. As already observed by others, the standard deviation peaked at medium (critical) SWC, which means that during wetting the standard deviation increased for mean SWC below the critical SWC and decreased above the mean SWC (and vice versa for drying). In addition, we observed that the standard deviation was higher during wetting periods than during drying periods in the medium SWC range, leading to hysteresis effects during abrupt changes in soil moisture status. In the low and high SWC range, the relationship between standard deviation and mean SWC was linear. This systematic behaviour was independent of the time scale. The topography and shallow groundwater are important controls especially in very dry situations. Underlying factors that are variable in space and time and interact in a complex, non-linear way have still to be investigated. The results of this study demonstrated that the SoilNet sensor network was able to detect abrupt changes in SWC patterns at the catchment scale.