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Soil moisture deficit and water‐table depth in London clay beneath neutral grassland
Author(s) -
Coleman J. D.,
Farrar D. M.
Publication year - 1966
Publication title -
quarterly journal of the royal meteorological society
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.744
H-Index - 143
eISSN - 1477-870X
pISSN - 0035-9009
DOI - 10.1002/qj.49709239118
Subject(s) - water table , water content , environmental science , hydrology (agriculture) , soil water , field capacity , moisture , soil science , soil horizon , humidity , table (database) , grassland , geology , meteorology , agronomy , geotechnical engineering , geography , groundwater , biology , computer science , data mining
During the period 1954 to 1964 the amount of water was estimated and the depth of the water‐table was measured in a soil profile beneath meadow grass at a site on London clay at Uxbridge, Middlesex. Each winter the soil profile was saturated and draining freely and the water‐table was within six inches of the surface. During the spring and summer the soil profile dried out from the surface downwards with a corresponding lowering of the water‐table. By late autumn the water‐table reached a depth of six feet, and the moisture deficit in the soil profile reached a value of from five to six inches. Re‐charge of the soil profile to the winter conditions occurred in late autumn or early winter. Measurements of humidity, sunshine, wind, temperature and other data were used to calculate the monthly potential evaporation, and this information, combined with rainfall data, permitted the calculation of the total deficit of soil moisture at any time from that held at field capacity. For the particular site investigated, the observed depth of the water‐table at any season varied linearly with the calculated moisture deficit in the soil profile beneath the grass, thus providing a simple method for continuously logging the moisture deficit in the soil. The result also provides a basis for correlating weather data with moisture conditions in the soil beneath roads; the moisture conditions are largely controlled by the depth of the water‐table.