Microbial processes in soil are moisture, nutrient and temperature dependent and, consequently, accurate calculation of soil temperature is important for modelling nitrogen processes. Microbial activity in soil occurs even at sub-zero temperatures so that, in northern latitudes, a method to calculate soil temperature under snow cover and in frozen soils is required. This paper describes a new and simple model to calculate daily values for soil temperature at various depths in both frozen and unfrozen soils. The model requires four parameters: average soil thermal conductivity, specific heat capacity of soil, specific heat capacity due to freezing and thawing and an empirical snow parameter. Precipitation, air temperature and snow depth (measured or calculated) are needed as input variables. 2 -values of the testing period were between 0.87 and 0.94 at a depth of 20cm, and between 0.80 and 0.98 at 50cm. Thus, despite the simplifications made, the model was able to simulate soil temperature at these study sites. This simple model simulates soil temperature well in the uppermost soil layers where most of the nitrogen processes occur. The small number of parameters required means that the model is suitable for addition to catchment scale models.
Preferential flow dominates water movement and solute transport in boreal forest hillslopes.However, only a few model applications to date have accounted for preferential flow at forest sites. Here we present a parallel and coupled simulation of flow and transport processes in the preferential flow domain and soil matrix of a forested hillslope section in Kangaslampi, Finland, using a new, three-dimensional, physically based dual-permeability model. Our aim is to simulate lateral subsurface stormflow and solute transport at the slope during a chloride tracer experiment, and to investigate the role of preferential flow in the tracer transport. The model was able to mimic the observed tracer transport during tracer irrigation, but overestimated the dilution velocity of the tracer plume in the highly conductive soil horizons near the soil surface after changing the irrigation to tracer-free water. According to the model, 140 times more chloride was transported downslope in the preferential flow domain than in the soil matrix during the tracer irrigation. The simulations showed, together with reference simulations with a traditional one pore domain model, that a two pore domain approach was required to simulate the observed flow and transport event. The event was characterized by the transmissivity feedback phenomenon and controlled by preferential flow mechanisms, in particular by lateral by-pass flow. According to our results, accounting for the slowflow and fast-flow domains of soil, as well as the water and solute exchange between the domains, is essential for a successful simulation of flow and solute transport in preferential flow dominated hillslopes.
A two dimensional model, FEMMA, to describe water and nitrogen (N) fluxes within and from a forested first-order catchment (Kangasvaara in Eastern Finland) was constructed by linking the most significant processes affecting the fluxes of water, ammonium, nitrate and dissolved organic nitrogen along a hillslope from the water divide to the stream. The hillslope represents the average flowpath of water in the catchment and the model was used to estimate the N fluxes for a catchment in eastern Finland before and after clear-cutting. The simulated results were in reasonable agreement with the nitrate, dissolved organic N and dissolved total N measurements from the study catchment and with other results in the literature. According to the simulations, the major sinks of N after clear-cutting were immobilisation by soil microbes, uptake by ground vegetation and sorption to soil. These sinks increased downslope from the clear-cut area, indicating the importance of an uncut buffer zone between the stream and the clear-cut area in reducing N exports. The buffer zone retained 76% of the N flux coming from the clear-cut area. Nitrification was a key process in controlling the N export after clear-cutting and N increases were mainly as nitrate. Most of the annual N export took place during the spring flood, when uptake of N by plants was minimal.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.