Modeling Soil Water Uptake by Plants Using Nonlinear Dynamic Root Density Distribution Function

Water uptake by plants is one of the major components of water balance of the vadose zone that greatly influences the contaminant and moisture movement in variably saturated soils. In this study, a nonlinear macroscopic root water uptake model that includes the impact of soil moisture stress is developed. The model incorporates the spatial and temporal variation of root density in addition to the dynamic root depth considerations. The governing moisture flow equation coupled with the water extraction by plants term is solved numerically by an implicit finite-difference method. The simulation is performed for various physical scenarios subjected to different boundary conditions. The model is tested first without considering the water uptake and results are compared with observed data available in the literature for two cases. A nonlinear water uptake term is subsequently incorporated in the model which is then simulated for corn crop for constant root depth under various characteristic moisture availability environments. Results show that the water extraction rate is closely related to the soil moisture availability in addition to the root density. The plants are observed to extract moisture mainly from the upper root dense soil profile when water content is in an optimal range, otherwise, the peak of the uptake moves to other soil layers where the moisture is easily available. Finally, the model is applied to a corn field and simulated results are validated with field data. The simulated moisture content for 2 months of crop growing season shows a reasonably good agreement with the observed data.     

Modeling Water Uptake by Plant Roots

A mathematical model is developed that describes water uptake from soil by the roots of transpiring plants. Starting from a one-dimensional Richards equation with a root water extraction term, a partial differential equation predicting the moisture content in the soil profile is formulated. There are many expressions in literature that predict water extraction by plant roots, each one of them having its own merits and demerits. This study proposes a simple model with a linear root water extraction term that varies with time. The model also incorporates a sinusoidal root growth function that takes into account the root growth with time. The flow equation is subjected to a boundary condition that signifies the potential evaporation or the applied water (head) during the irrigation application time at the top boundary. The simulated model without the extraction function is validated by comparing the model results with experimental studies predicting soil moisture content for both a homogeneous and a layered medium. A linear root water extraction term is later adopted in the model, and a hypothetical case is simulated to compute the water uptake by plant roots. The comparison in all test cases was found to be reasonably good.     

Mapping Root Zone Soil Moisture Using Remotely Sensed Optical Imagery

Field-based soil moisture measurements are cumbersome. Remote sensing techniques based on active or passive microwave data have limitations. This paper presents and validates a new method based on land surface energy balances using remotely sensed optical data (including thermal infrared), which allows field and landscape-scale mapping of soil moisture depth-averaged through the root zone of existing vegetation. Root zone depth can be variable when crops are emerging. The pixel-wise “evaporative fraction” (ratio of latent heat flux to net available energy) is related to volumetric soil moisture through a standard regression curve that is independent of soil and vegetation type. Validation with measured root zone soil moisture in cropped soils in Mexico and Pakistan has a root mean square error of 0.05?cm3?cm?3; the error is less than 0.07?cm3?cm?3 in 90% of cases. Consequently, soil moisture data should be presented in class intervals of 0.05?cm3?cm?3. The utility of this method is demonstrated at the field scale using multitemporal thematic mapper imagery for irrigated areas near Cortazar in Mexico, and for river basin-scale water resources distribution in Pakistan. The potential limitation is the presence of clouds and the time lag between consecutive images with field-scale resolution. With the falling price of optical satellite imagery, this technique should gain wider acceptance with river basin planners, watershed managers, and irrigation and drainage engineers.     

Assessment of Soil Moisture Dynamics of the Nebraska Sandhills Using Long-Term Measurements and a Hydrology Model

Soil moisture, evapotranspiration, and other major water balance components were investigated for six Nebraska Sandhills locations during a 6 year period (1998–2004) using a hydrological model. Annual precipitation in the study period ranged from 330 to 580?mm. Soil moisture was measured continuously at 10, 25, 50, and 100?cm depth at each site. Model estimates of surface (0–30?cm), subsurface (30–91?cm), and root zone (0–122?cm) soil moisture were generally well correlated with observed soil moisture. The correlations were poorest for the surface layer, where soil moisture values fluctuated sharply, and best for the root zone as a whole. Modeled annual estimates of evapotranspiration and drainage beneath the rooting zone showed large differences between sites and between years. Despite the Sandhills’ relatively homogeneous vegetation and soils, the high spatiotemporal variability of major water balance components suggest an active interaction among various hydrological processes in response to precipitation in this semiarid region.     

Evaluation of a Nonlinear Root-Water Uptake Model

Soil-water movement due to root-water uptake, is a key process for plant growth and transport of water in the soil plant system. There are different root-water uptake models to determine the extraction rate of soil moisture by roots. The present study examines the performance of different root-water extraction models using available data as well as data generated under controlled conditions. Data pertaining to moisture uptake in respect to two crops: wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) and maize (Zea mays L.) along with soil-water characteristics have been monitored at the Indian Institute of Technology Roorkee, agricultural farm. For this purpose, a numerical model is also formulated by incorporating different moisture extraction terms as sink terms in the Richards equation. A nonlinear root-water uptake model selected as the base model was evaluated for its moisture uptake efficiency. The work establishes the merits of the base model over other extraction terms considered, particularly constant and linear extraction terms in predicting the soil moisture depletion in the root zone. The work stresses the nonlinearity parameter of the base model, which is capable of defining crop specific nonlinearity in the plant moisture uptake.     

Numerical Solution for Laterally Loaded Piles in a Two-Layer Soil Profile

Piles are often embedded in a layered soil profile, such as sand or clay layer underlain by rock. Several existing solutions are available for laterally loaded piles in a layered soil system. However, these solutions are only applicable to constant soil stiffness for each layer. In this paper, a variational approach is employed to numerically solve the problem of laterally loaded piles in layered soils using beam on an elastic foundation model. The soil stiffness can be either constant with depth or linearly varying with depth. The numerical solution is validated against an existing solution for linearly varying soil stiffness in a single soil layer system and an existing solution for a two-layer soil system with constant soil stiffness. Case studies using the proposed solution for field lateral load tests on full size drilled shafts embedded in weak rock with an overlying sand layer are presented. The simplicity and the relative ease of using the solution make it a good alternative approach for estimating the deflection and moment responses of a laterally loaded pile in a two-layer soil profile.     

Estimating Soil Moisture Under Low Frequency Surface Irrigation Using Crop Water Stress Index

The present study investigated the relationship between the crop water stress index (CWSI) and soil moisture for surface irrigated cotton (Gossypium hirsutum, Delta Pine 90b) at Maricopa, Arizona during the 1998 season. The CWSI was linked to soil moisture through the water stress coefficient Ks that accounts for reduced crop evapotranspiration when there is a shortage of soil water. A stress recovery coefficient Krec was introduced to account for reduced crop evapotranspiration as the crop recovered from water stress after irrigation events. A soil water stress index (SWSI) was derived in terms of Ks and Krec. The SWSI compared reasonably well to the CWSI, but atmospheric stability correction for the CWSI did not improve comparisons. When the CWSI was substituted into the SWSI formulation, it gave good prediction of soil moisture depletion (fDEP; when to irrigate) and depth of root zone depletion (Dr; how much to irrigate). Disagreement was greatest for fDEP<0.6 because cotton is less sensitive to water stress in this range.     

Vadose Zone Flow and Transport in Cracked Heavy Textured Soil

Investigated were physical processes governing vadose zone water flow and solute transport in a heavy-textured crack-prone soil of the semiarid Canadian Prairies. Soil moisture, soil temperature, and relevant meteorological observations were recorded over a period of about two years. Environmental chloride and tritium concentrations in the soil water were determined. Analysis of the data indicates that during snow melt, water and solutes are flushed down rapidly via cracks and fissures in the root zone. The soil at these depths is still frozen during snow melt. In late spring after the entire soil profile thaws, water and solutes move downward by a diffusion dominant advective-diffusive flow mechanism. The chloride and tritium profiles obtained within the vadose zone support this argument. This conceptual model of the flow and transport processes is supported by calculations of advective and diffusive soil water flux from chloride profiles. Simulation of the tritium profile using a simple analytical model also gives very good agreement with measured data.     

Soil Moisture Measurements: Comparison of Instrumentation Performances

It has long been recognized that reliable, robust, and automated instrumentation for the measurement of soil moisture content can be extremely useful, if not essential, in hydrological, environmental, and agricultural applications. A number of automated techniques for point measurement of soil water content have been developed to operational level over the past few decades. While each of those techniques has been individually calibrated by the gravimetric method, typically under laboratory conditions, there have been few studies that made a direct comparison between the various techniques, particularly under field conditions. This paper compares ECH2O probes, EC-5 (both sensors based on capacitance measurements, developed by Decagon Devices) and time domain reflectometer sensors (CS616 Campbell Scientific Water Content Reflectometer), with gravimetric data and with each other, under field conditions. Data were collected during two field experiments characterized by different soils and a wide range of soil moistures, resulting from irrigation/drying cycle. Results show that all the tested probes give acceptable results after being calibrated in the field. The capacitive sensors can be used in each type of soil with the same calibration equation, independently from depth, with root mean square error (RMSE) ranging between 2.5 and 3.6%. Time Domain Reflectometry probes showed a dependence on depth but a lower RMSE (1.6%).     

Plant-Enhanced Subsurface Bioremediation of Nonvolatile Hydrocarbons

In recent years, phytoremediation, i.e., the use of plants to clean up soils contaminated with organics, has become a promising new area of research, particularly for in-situ cleanup of large volumes of slightly contaminated soils. A model that can be used as a predictive tool in phytoremediation operations was developed to simulate the transport and fate of a residual hydrocarbon contaminant interacting with plant roots in a partially saturated soil. Time-specific distribution of root quantity through soil, as well as root uptake of soil water and hydrocarbon, was incorporated into the model. In addition, the microbial activity in the soil rhizosphere was modeled with a biofilm theory. A sandy loam, which is dominant in soils of agricultural importance, was selected for simulations. Cotton, which has well-documented plant properties, was used as the model plant. Model parameters involving root growth and root distribution were obtained from the actual field data reported in the literature and ranges of reported literature values were used to obtain a realistic simulation of a phytoremediation operation. Following the verification of the root growth model with published experimental data, it has been demonstrated that plant characteristics such as the root radius are more dominant than contaminant properties in the overall rate of phytoremediation operation. The simulation results showed enhanced biodegradation of a hydrocarbon contaminant mostly because of increased biofilm metabolism of organic contaminants in a growing root system of cotton. Simulations also show that a high mean daily root-water uptake rate increases the contaminant retardation factors because of the resulting low water content. The ability to simulate the fate of a hydrocarbon contaminant is essential in designing technically efficient and cost-effective, plant-aided remedial strategies and in evaluating the effectiveness of a proposed phytoremediation scheme. The model presented can provide an insight into the selection and optimization of a specific strategy.     

Performance Evaluation and Uncertainty Measurement in Irrigation Scheduling Soil Water-Balance Approach

The present work aims at approaching the study of the performance and uncertainty associated with an irrigation scheduling method based on a soil-water balance. On a daily time step, a water-balance-based irrigation scheduling model has been developed. A Monte Carlo simulation of the irrigation scheduling model is developed using a series of actual daily weather data of evapotranspiration and precipitation and bootstrapping stochastic technique to resampling them. Performance evaluation measurements and their uncertainty are studied by means of several parameters: reliability, resiliency, vulnerability, total irrigation water allocation, total water loosed by deep percolation, and actual evapotranspiration/potential evapotranspiration rate along the growing season. The behaviors of 12 different types of soils (between coarse-textured soils and fine-textured soils) are compared using pedotransfer functions. Total available water (TAW) is the most important hydraulic property of the soil as far as irrigation scheduling performance is concerned. The statistical relationship between evaluation performance measures and TAW has been calculated. Soils with high values of TAW perform better. Rooting depth (Zr) and fraction of TAW that can be depleted from the root zone before moisture stress (p) are two variables that directly affect the TAW. It has been studied how evaluation performance measurements change when Zr and p change too. High values of Zr and p perform better too.     

Moisture Diffusion in Shallow Clay Masses

Seasonal cycles of moisture and suction variation in shallow clay masses create repeating episodes of soil shrinkage and swelling that can adversely affect a wide variety of structures including pavements, shallow foundations, piers, and slopes. Design of such structures requires a means of adequately characterizing the depth of this moisture active zone and the magnitude of suction variations within the zone. This paper describes an analytical framework for characterizing suction variations in the moisture active zone and for estimating the soil mass moisture diffusion coefficient, one of the critical parameters governing the rate of moisture penetration in the soil. The paper presents extensions to an existing analysis for sinusoidal variations in surface suction to general nonsinusoidal conditions. It also presents a review of moisture diffusion coefficient data obtained from field measurements and shows that these data exceed laboratory measurements on intact soil specimens by up to two orders of magnitude. A conceptual model of moisture diffusion in a fractured soil mass provides an explanation of the differences between the field and laboratory values of the moisture diffusion coefficient.     

Soil Salinity Modeling over Shallow Water Tables. II: Application of LEACHC

Root zone salinity is one of the major factors adversely affecting crop production. A saline shallow water table can contribute significantly to salinity increases in the root zone. A soil salinity model (LEACHC) was used to simulate the effects of various management alternatives and initial conditions on root zone salinity, given a consistently high water table. The impact of water table salinity levels, irrigation management strategies, soil types, and crop types on the accumulation of salts in the root zone and on crop yields was evaluated. There were clear differences in soil salinity accumulations depending upon the depth and salinity of the water table. In general, increasing water table depth reduced average soil profile salinity, as did having lower salinity in the water table. Among the four irrigation strategies that were compared, the 14-day irrigation interval with replenishment of 75% of evapotranspiration (ET) resulted in the lowest soil salinity. With a 4-day interval and 50% ET replenishment, a wheat yield reduction of nearly 40% was predicted after three years of salt accumulation. Soil type and crop type had minimal or no impact on soil salinity accumulation. Under all conditions, soil water average electrical conductivity increased during the 3-year simulation period. This trend continued when the simulation period was extended to 6 years. Under the conditions shown to develop the highest average soil salinity (high water table, low irrigation), an annual presowing irrigation of 125 mm caused a nearly 50% reduction in soil salinity at the end of the 6-year simulation period, as compared with the soil salinity given no presowing irrigation.     

Impacts of Unsaturated Zone Soil Moisture and Groundwater Table on Slope Instability

The combined effect of soil moisture in unsaturated soil layers and pore-water pressure in saturated soil layers is critical to predict landslides. An improved infinite slope stability model, that directly includes unsaturated zone soil moisture and groundwater, is derived and used to analyze the factor of safety’s sensitivity to unsaturated zone soil moisture. This sensitivity, the change in the factor of safety with respect to variable unsaturated zone soil moisture, was studied at local and regional scales using an active landslide region as a case study. Factors of safety have the greatest sensitivity to unsaturated zone soil moisture dynamics for shallow soil layers (<2?m) and comparatively deep groundwater tables (1 m). For an identical groundwater table, the factor of safety for a 1 m thick soil mantle was four times more sensitive to soil moisture changes than a 3-m thick soil. At a regional scale, the number of unstable areas increases nonlinearly with increasing unsaturated zone soil moisture and with moderately wet slopes exhibiting the greatest sensitivity.     

Analysis of Deep Moisture Barriers in Expansive Soils. I: Constitutive Model Formulation

Expansive soils cause important economical losses in many arid or semiarid countries in the world. Considering the large economic impact, relatively few efforts have been devoted to develop analytical methods that may help practitioner engineers to adequately design civil infrastructure on this type of soil. A rational design method should be able to quantify the heave or subsidence of the soil associated with the suction changes during water diffusion, as well as the contact pressures on soil-structure interfaces. Accordingly, in this and in a companion paper, the problem of volume changes due to nonpermanent water flow in expansive soils is studied and applied to the case of vertical moisture barriers. In this paper, a constitutive model for expansive soils is proposed. This model is an extension of that developed by Alonso et al. in 1990, in the sense that it can take into account the behavior of expansive soils. The advanced model is evaluated by comparing the numerical results with experimental data.     

Regional Salinity Modeling for Conjunctive Water Use Planning in Kheri Command

A one-dimensional water and solute transport UNSATCHEM model is calibrated and validated with a saline water use experiment for wheat and cotton crops. The model is further employed for regional scale salinity modeling with distributed data on soil, irrigation water supply, and its quality from six representative locations from the Kheri command of the Bhakra irrigation system. The wheat–cotton crop rotation, the main rotation in the command, is considered during long-term simulations. The CROPWAT model is used to determine the evapotranspiration requirements of different wheat and cotton crops, while soil water retention parameters are estimated by the RETC model. Atmospheric water and solute boundary conditions are assumed at the top boundary, while free drainage is considered for the lower boundary, as the watertable in the command is sufficiently deep. Simulated salinity and yield values are compared with observed values for regional validation of the model. Critical areas in the command are identified using regional scale modeling results, and applying irrigation water availability and root zone salinity criteria. Guidelines for sustainable conjunctive water use planning are for the Kheri command to get optimum agricultural production despite the use of saline water for irrigation under prevailing scenarios of water availability and its quality.     

Impact of Soil Type and Compaction Conditions on Soil Water Characteristic

Tests were conducted to determine the variation of water content and pore water suction for compacted clayey soils. The soils had varying amounts of clay fraction with plasticities ranging from low to high plasticity. The unsaturated soil behavior was investigated for six conditions, covering a range of compactive efforts and water contents. The experimental data were fit to four commonly used models for the water content-pore water suction relationship. Each model provided a satisfactory fit to the experimental data. However, the individual parameters obtained from the curve fits varied significantly between models. The soil water characteristic curves (SWCCs) were more sensitive to changes in compaction effort than changes in compaction water content. At similar water contents, the pore water suction increased with increasing compaction effort for each compaction condition and soil type. For all compaction conditions, the lowest plasticity soils retained the smallest water content and the highest plasticity soils retained the highest water content at a specified suction. In addition, SWCCs for soils compacted in the laboratory and in the field were similar.     

Estimating Evaporation from Bare Soil Using Soil Moisture Data

A method is presented that uses continuous soil moisture measurements and hourly reference evapotranspiration data to estimate a soil hydraulic factor (β) for modeling soil evaporation. The β factor is used to assess the end of the energy limited soil evaporation phase (Stage 1) and the evaporation rate during the soil hydraulic limited phase (Stage 2) of a two-stage soil evaporation model. A previously developed and tested method to determine β uses an energy balance approach with sensible heat flux density estimated using the surface renewal method to obtain the continuous soil evaporation. A new method is presented, which uses a hydroprobe soil moisture measuring device to estimate the continuous soil evaporation. The estimation of evaporation with soil moisture sensors was simpler and less expensive when compared to the energy balance technique. The methods, evaluated in two field experiments, showed good agreement with evaporation data. Using the evaporation model and β derived from either method provided a good estimate of measured soil evaporation. Modeled daily soil evaporation, using either energy balance or soil measurements to obtain β, gave a root-mean-square error of 0.6 mm?day?1 when compared with soil evaporation measured using the energy balance method. When daily soil evaporation from soil moisture measurements was compared with soil evaporation estimated from energy balance measurements, the root-mean-square error was 1.3 mm?day?1. Direct soil monitoring method had bigger error, but the method is less costly.     

Numerical Analysis of Neutron Moisture Probe Measurements

The neutron probe has proven to be an effective means for monitoring long term in situ soil moisture variations. However, it is difficult to experimentally correlate neutron probe data (i.e., neutron counts) with accurate estimates of absolute soil moisture content, particularly for unsaturated clay soils. In this paper, a numerical model based on multigroup neutron diffusion theory is employed to predict the distribution of neutron flux in a neutron probe system. The model discretizes the neutron energy spectrum into seven intervals, with energy-dependent diffusion coefficients and parameters for each energy interval. The finite element method is employed to solve the coupled seven-group neutron diffusion equations. It is demonstrated that the numerical results compare very well with both laboratory experimental results and field measurements. The theoretical approach to neutron probe calibration described herein offers significant time and cost savings over traditional calibration methods, and potentially opens up new applications for neutron probe monitoring.     

Surface Soil Moisture Simulation for a Typical Torrential Event with a Modified Noah LSM Coupling to the NWP Model

Surface soil moisture has great impact on both meso- and microscale atmospheric processes, especially on severe local convection processes and on the dynamics of short-lived torrential rains. To promote the performance of the land surface model (LSM) in surface soil moisture simulations, a hybrid hydrologic runoff parameterization scheme based upon the essential modeling theories of the Xin'anjiang model and Topography based hydrological Model (TOPMODEL) was developed in preference to the simple water balance model (SWB) in the Noah LSM. Using a strategy for coupling and integrating this modified Noah LSM to the Global/Regional Assimilation and Prediction System (GRAPES) analogous to that used with the standard Noah LSM, a simulation of atmosphere-land surface interactions for a torrential event during 2007 in Shandong was attempted. The results suggested that the surface, 10-cm depth soil moisture simulated by GRAPES using the modified hydrologic approach agrees well with the observations. Improvements from the simulated results were found, especially over eastern Shandong. The simulated results, compared with the products of the Advanced Microwave Scanning Radiometer-Earth Observing System (AMSR-E) soil moisture datasets, indicated a consistent spatial pattern over all of China. The temporal variation of surface soil moisture was validated with the data at an observation station, also demonstrated that GRAPES with modified Noah LSM exhibits a more reasonable response to precipitation events, even though biases and systematic trends may still exist.