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Coupled hydrogeophysical inversion of electrical resistances and inflow measurements for topsoil hydraulic properties under constant head infiltration
Author(s) -
Mboh C.M.,
Huisman J.A.,
Van Gaelen N.,
Rings J.,
Vereecken H.
Publication year - 2012
Publication title -
near surface geophysics
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.639
H-Index - 39
eISSN - 1873-0604
pISSN - 1569-4445
DOI - 10.3997/1873-0604.2012009
Subject(s) - topsoil , soil science , geology , infiltration (hvac) , hydrogeology , vadose zone , hydraulic conductivity , inversion (geology) , vertical electrical sounding , regional geology , hydraulic head , hydrology (agriculture) , geomorphology , geotechnical engineering , groundwater , soil water , aquifer , meteorology , physics , metamorphic petrology , structural basin
Accurate estimation of topsoil hydraulic properties is important for understanding water flow and solute transport in the vadose zone. Coupled hydrogeophysical inversion schemes that enable the use of multiple geophysical and hydrological data for the estimation of soil hydraulic properties have recently been proposed. In these coupled inversion schemes, a hydrological model describing the process under investigation is coupled to a forward geophysical model and hydraulic parameters are directly estimated from geophysical measurements. While these schemes provide a suitable platform for the integration of multiple geophysical and hydrological data, efficient methods to combine these data types for improved parameter estimation still warrant investigation. In this study, we investigated the feasibility of estimating three topsoil Mualem‐van Genuchten parameters from the fusion of inflow and electrical resistance measurements obtained under constant head infiltration. In addition to using only inflow or electrical resistances, we investigated three methods of combining these data for improved estimation of topsoil hydraulic parameters. Our results show that using inflow alone does not provide a unique solution to the inverse problem. Better results are obtained with the additional use of electrical resistance data. We show that successful data fusion within the coupled hydrogeophysical inversion framework depends on the choice of an appropriate objective function. We obtained the best data fusion results with an objective function defined as the sum of the root mean square error of both data types normalized by the standard deviation of the respective measurements. In this case, the inverted hydraulic parameters were very comparable to reference values obtained from a multi‐step outflow experiment carried out with undisturbed soil cores from the experimental site. It is concluded that the coupled hydrogeophysical inversion frame‐work is a promising tool for non‐invasive near‐surface hydrological investigations.