Estimating soil water content in a thorny forest ecosystem by time‐lapse electrical resistivity tomography (ERT) and HYDRUS 2D/3D simulations

Estimating soil water content in a thorny forest ecosystem by time‐lapse electrical resistivity tomography (ERT) and HYDRUS 2D/3D simulations

Determination of soil volumetric water content θ in forest ecosystems is particularly challenging due to deep rooting systems and unknown soil vertical and spatial heterogeneity. This research aims to test two undisturbed methods, electrical resistivity tomography (ERT) and HYDRUS 2D/3D, for 2D θ de...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Hydrological processes Vol. 37; no. 10
Main Authors: Faúndez Urbina, Carlos A., Alanís, Daniel Cabrera, Ramírez, Elizabeth, Seguel, Oscar, Fustos, Ivo J., Donoso, Pablo Díaz, de Miranda, Jarbas Honorio, Rakonjac, Nikola, Palma, Sebastián Elgueta, Galleguillos, Mauricio
Format: Journal Article
Language:English
Published: Hoboken, USA John Wiley & Sons, Inc 01-10-2023
Wiley Subscription Services, Inc
Subjects:
applied geophysics
Calibration
Coefficients
Depth
Ecosystems
Electrical resistivity
Forest ecosystems
Forests
Fronts
Heterogeneity
HYDRUS 1D
Infiltration
Moisture content
Patchiness
Soil
Soil water
Spatial heterogeneity
Terrestrial ecosystems
Time measurement
Tomography
Vachellia caven
Verification
Water
water balance
Water content
Water depth
water transfer models
Wetting
Wetting front
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Summary:Determination of soil volumetric water content θ in forest ecosystems is particularly challenging due to deep rooting systems and unknown soil vertical and spatial heterogeneity. This research aims to test two undisturbed methods, electrical resistivity tomography (ERT) and HYDRUS 2D/3D, for 2D θ determination in a thorny forest ecosystem. The experiment consisted of infiltrating 10 L of water lasting 60 min. During infiltration, ERT measured apparent resistivity by time‐lapse measurements, and θ was measured with an FDR probe (EnviroSCAN) at 33, 63, 83, 97, and 163 cm depth close to the infiltration site. At the end of infiltration, a soil pit was dug, and 100 measurements of θ were performed with a TDR in a 10 × 10 cm regular grid. Archie law transformed soil resistivity (ERT) into θ using manual calibration, verified by an independent dataset. The 2D θ profile obtained by ERT was qualitatively compared with the HYDRUS 2D/3D one. HYDRUS 2D/3D was parametrized with calibrated parameters obtained with HYDRUS 1D using 106 days of θ obtained with EnviroSCAN. The results of HYDRUS 1D calibration and verification were satisfactory, with RMSE and Nash‐Sutcliffe coefficients ranging from 0.021 to 0.034 cm3 cm−3 and 0.11 to 0.77, respectively. The forward HYDRUS 2D/3D θ simulation disagrees with EnviroSCAN data for 33 cm depth. However, it follows the trend with near to zero variation of water content at 63 cm depth. Water content determination by ERT was satisfactory with RMSE for calibration and verification of 0.017 and 0.021 cm3 cm−3. HYDRUS 2D/3D and ERT comparisons were not equal, with a shallower wetting front by ERT and a deeper one for HYDRUS. Still, both wetting fronts agree with the wetting depth estimated by EnviroSCAN. We conclude that both methods are an alternative for θ determination in heterogeneous and deep soils of forest ecosystems. A detailed dataset is used for the calibration of HYDRUS 1D and set up HYDRUS 2D/3D The Water content θ can be satisfactorily determined using Electrical Resistivity Tomography (ERT). Comparison of ERT and HYDRUS 2D/3D partially match the wetting front.
ISSN:0885-6087
1099-1085
DOI:10.1002/hyp.15002