Future directions for hydropedology: quantifying impacts of global change on land use

Abstract

Abstract. Hydropedology is well positioned to address contemporary issues resulting from climate change. We propose a six-step process by which digital, field-scale maps will be produced to show where climate change impacts will be greatest for two land uses: a) home sites using septic systems, and b) wetlands. State and federal laws have defined critical water table levels that can be used to determine where septic systems will function well or fail, and where wetlands are likely to occur. Hydrologic models along with historic rainfall and temperature data can be used to compute long records of water table data. However, it is difficult to extrapolate such data across land regions, because too little work has been done to test different ways for doing this reliably. The modeled water table data can be used to define soil drainage classes for individual mapping units, and the drainage classes used to extrapolate the data regionally using existing digital soil survey maps. Estimates of changes in precipitation and temperature can also be input into the models to compute changes to water table levels and drainage classes. To do this effectively, more work needs to be done on developing daily climate files from the monthly climate change predictions. Technology currently exists to use the NRCS Soil Survey Geographic (SSURGO) Database with hydrologic model predictions to develop maps within a GIS that show climate change impacts on septic system performance and wetland boundaries. By using these maps, planners will have the option to scale back development in sensitive areas, or simply monitor the water quality of these areas for pathogenic organisms. The calibrated models and prediction maps should Correspondence to: M. J. Vepraskas (michael vepraskas@ncsu.edu) be useful throughout the Coastal Plain region. Similar work for other climate-change and land-use issues can be a valuable contribution from hydropedologists.

东南湿润区坡面土壤水文过程研究进展与展望

“…地球关键带(Earth's Critical Zone)处于地表岩 石圈、 水圈、 土壤圈和生物圈的交互地带(图 1a)， 地 球关键带土壤水文过程及其与环境因子之间的交 互关系是近年来国内外关注的新兴交叉研究方向 (Lin et al, 2005;Pachepsky et al, 2006;Vepraskas et al, 2009) (Bárdossy et al, 1998) (Mualem, 1976;van Genuchten, 1980…”

Hydropedology as a Powerful Tool for Environmental Policy and Regulations

“…Soil maps show the spatial distribution of mapping units and their soil horizons and they can be used to provide data for regional hydrological models, which are currently often only calibrated on limited base-flow data (e.g. A detailed analysis is beyond the scope of this text but Vepraskas et al (2006Vepraskas et al ( , 2009 have shown how pedological information on mottling patterns can be used to improve simulation of regional water regimes. But many problems remain because soil surveys provide no data on the internal variability of the mapping units (e.g.…”

Remote sensing imagery detects hydromorphic soils hidden under agriculture system

“…satellite data) with machine learning algorithms to explore the relationship between soil and hydrology 21 . Some works focused on how the soil and landscape attributes affect channels morphometry 22 – 26 , while others explored the behavior within the soil 27 – 30 . Thompson 1997 31 presented an early effort to quantitatively map HS through a soil color index using field sampling and terrain attributes derived from a digital elevation model.…”