Quick Search:    advanced search

GSW Home   GeoRef Home   My GSW Alerts   Contact GSW   About GSW   Journals List   Help

This Article Figures Only Full Text Full Text (PDF) Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Citation Map Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in Web of Science Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Citing Articles Citing Articles via HighWire Citing Articles via Web of Science (2) Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Germann, P. Articles by Vadilonga, T. Search for Related Content GeoRef GeoRef Citation

Rivulet Approach to Rates of Preferential Infiltration

Soil Science Section, Dep. of Geography, Univ. of Bern, Hallerstrasse 12, 3012 Bern, Switzerland

Correspondence: ^* Corresponding author (germann{at}giub.unibe.ch).

Received for publication 16 April 2006. Preferential infiltration is proposed to occur under atmospheric pressure but in unsaturated soil. Its domain is positioned between the domains of Richards' equation and Darcy's law. Rivulets in the form of tiny water streaks are considered to be the basic units of preferential infiltration. They move under atmospheric pressure and in pores that are filled with air before infiltration. Stokes flow relates variations in soil moisture with velocities of wetting and draining fronts, and with volume flux densities. We show that superposition of rivulets to rivulet ensembles leads to measurable soil moisture variations. The approach was applied to time series of soil moisture that result from sprinkler irrigation experiments and that were recorded with time domain reflectometry (TDR) equipment at depths of 0.1 and 0.2 m. A minimum water content, *, was identified that has to be exceeded at a particular depth before Stokes flow continues.

Abbreviations: TDR, time domain reflectometry.

This article has been cited by other articles:

				P. F. Germann and S. A. al Hagrey Gravity-Driven and Viscosity-Dominated Infiltration into a Full-Scale Sand Model Vadose Zone J., October 29, 2008; 7(4): 1160 - 1169. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]