Inference of Soil Hydrologic Parameters from Soil Moisture Monitoring Records

Abstract:

Soil moisture is an important control on hydrologic function, as it governs flux through the soil and responds to and determines vertical fluxes from and to the atmosphere, groundwater recharge and lateral fluxes through the soil. Most physically based hydrologic models require parameters to represent soil physical properties governing flow and retention of vadose water. The presented analysis compares four methods of objective analysis to determine field capacity, plant extraction limit (or permanent wilting point) and field saturated soil moisture content from decadal records of volumetric water content. These values are found as either data attractors or limits in the VWC records and may vary with interannual moisture availability. Results are compared to values from pedotransfer functions and discussed in terms of historic methods of measurement in soil physics.