Determination of groundwater recharge using the change in soil temperature
1993
Taniguchi, M. | Sharma, M.L.
The groundwater recharge rate was determined by using the change in soil temperature, beneath two densities of pine plantation on a sandy soil in a region with a Mediterranean climate, in Western Australia. According to the numerical analysis, with different patterns of water flux and with the same volume of applied water, it was found that the groundwater recharge rate could be estimated using the 'relative soil temperature difference method'. The method may be applied when annual recharge is low and temperature measurements are available within the top few metres. Using the annual change in soil temperature at 1.5 and 2.0 m depths, the ratio of estimated recharge rate at the sparse pine site to that at the dense pine site was about 1.98. Recharge rates so determined correspond closely to those estimated by tracer methods using natural chloride and artificial bromide. The heat balance method, involving change in the heat capacity of the soil after rainfall events, can estimate the water flux only near the surface; it cannot determine water flux at greater depths because the change in soil temperature caused by rainfall events can be detected only down to a metre or so.
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