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Infiltration and runoff for small field plots under constant intensity rainfall
Author(s) -
Swartzendruber D.,
Hillel D.
Publication year - 1975
Publication title -
water resources research
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.863
H-Index - 217
eISSN - 1944-7973
pISSN - 0043-1397
DOI - 10.1029/wr011i003p00445
Subject(s) - surface runoff , infiltrometer , infiltration (hvac) , ponding , loam , hydrology (agriculture) , environmental science , soil science , runoff curve number , soil water , hydraulic conductivity , geotechnical engineering , geology , drainage , geography , meteorology , ecology , biology
A relatively simple infiltration equation is used to express the family of infiltration flux time curves that occur under constant rate water application (sprinkling or rain) from the time that excess water appears at the soil surface. The equation is easily integrated for cumulative water excess as a function of time, which in turn allows taking into account a simplified static surface storage volume to calculate cumulative water runoff. The runoff equation so obtained was tested by means of a sprinkling infiltrometer used on plots of 1 m 2 and was found to express with good accuracy the measured cumulative plot runoff as a function of time. The field data, taken with a modified Purdue‐Wisconsin sprinkling infiltrometer on Rehovot loamy sand, were then utilized successfully for obtaining the ultimate steady infiltration flux, even when the period of measuring transient runoff was less than 1 hour and the total runoff less than 1 cm of water. The value of steady flux so obtained was in good agreement with that found under the condition of continuous ponding of water on the soil surface.