Soil water infiltration evaluation from punctual to hillslope scales

• Published in: Environmental monitoring and assessment Vol. 194; no. 4; p. 300
• Main Authors: Koppe, Ezequiel, Schneider, Fabio José Andres, Londero, Ana Lúcia, de Queiroz, Rosemar, Buligon, Lidiane, Minella, Jean Paolo Gomes
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Cham Springer International Publishing 01.04.2022; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Atmospheric precipitations; Atmospheric Protection/Air Quality Control/Air Pollution; Earth and Environmental Science; Ecology; Ecotoxicology; Environment; Environmental Management; Environmental Monitoring; Environmental science; Evaluation; Hydrology; Hyetographs; Infiltration; Land management; Land use planning; Methods; Monitoring; Monitoring/Environmental Analysis; Precipitation; Rain; Rainfall; Rainfall intensity; Runoff; Runoff estimation; Soil; Soil conservation; Soil water; Surface runoff; Temporal variability; Temporal variations; Terraces; Water; Water infiltration; Soil and water conservation; Land management; Environment monitoring; Surface runoff; Paired catchments
• ISSN: 0167-6369; 1573-2959
• DOI: 10.1007/s10661-022-09893-x

Quantifying infiltration and surface runoff at the hillslope scale is indispensable for soil conservation studies. However, the spatial and temporal variability of infiltration imposes a major constraint on surface runoff estimation. Point infiltration values do not fully express the complexity of the surface runoff in the landscape. Considering the need to improve the estimation of runoff volume from infiltration data, this study aimed to measure the apparent infiltration at hillslope-scale and compare it with two methods of infiltration estimative derived from point information. The study was carried out in six hydrological monitoring units paired. A set of hyetographs and hydrographs allowed the determination of apparent infiltration I a to each monitoring unit as a function of precipitation rate P . The measured I a values were used: (1) to evaluate the efficiency of the different land management in increasing infiltration; and (2) to evaluate the efficiency of two methods of hillslope-scale infiltration estimation based on point data: (a) derived from concentric rings method ( I p ), and (b) derived from a physically-based modeling ( I k ). Regarding the differences in land managements, terraces proved to be the most efficient land management practice, followed by phytomass addition. Regarding the methods, for precipitation rates greater than 40 mm h - 1 the point infiltration-based I p underestimates apparent infiltration I a with PBIAS ranging from - 14.1 to - 45.5 % . Even so, I p proved efficient in representing I a at less intense rainfall events. Nonetheless, the point infiltration-based method I k properly represented I a to all rainfall intensities (Nash-Sutcliffe coefficient = 0.72 ).