Promises of hydropedology.

Abstract

Integrative studies are needed as the response to mounting environmental challenges. The new discipline-hydropedology-has been defined as an intertwined branch of soil science and hydrology that encompasses the multiscale basis and applied research of interactive and hydrologic processes and their properties in the unsaturated zone. This review focuses on the relationship between soil structure and soil hydraulic functions at different scales, which is the distinct focus of hydropedology that makes it a desirable development for its parent disciplines. Status and perspectives are reviewed for revealing relationships between hydrologic functions of soils and soil structure at the aggregate/ped scale, the horizon/pedon scale, the field/hillslope scale and the watershed/basin scale. Transcending scales can be achieved by acknowledging that relationships between soil structure and hydrologic functioning at a particular scale are controlled by such relationships at a finer scale and greatly influenced by those at a coarser scale. Addressing soil hydrologic functioning at societally important scales can be achieved by applying data fusion, pedotransfer relationships, and concurrent use of models. Hydropedology emerges as the logical consequence of the progress in science and as the timely response to society's needs.

A new time‐space accounting scheme to predict stream water residence time and hydrograph source components at the watershed scale

“…Such a multiscale integration approach is in development. Lastly, we should note that recent hydropedological descriptions of watershed behavior [Lin et al, 2006;McDonnell et al, 2007;Pachepsky et al, 2008] appear very much in line with the findings presented in this paper and this explicit treatment of soil depth in particular shows an exciting pathway forward for future work that aims to rise to the Hewlett and Troendle challenge of models capture more than just flow.…”

Soil Systems for Upscaling Saturated Hydraulic Conductivity for Hydrological Modeling in the Critical Zone

“…The success of predictions when modeling hydrologic processes depends on the accurate representation of spatial and temporal variability of major external drivers such as weather, land use, land management, geomorphic surface, and soils (Pachepsky et al, 2008; Seyfried and Sivapalan, 2005; Wilcox, 1995). The spatial and temporal variability of soils has been long recognized by soil science (Boul et al, 2003; Jenny, 1941; Lin et al, 2006; McBratney et al, 2003; Odeh et al, 1992, 1994; Runge, 1973; Simonson, 1959; Soil Survey Division Staff, 1993; Soil Survey Staff, 2003; Tugel et al, 2005; Wilding, 2000; Zhu et al, 1997).…”

“…The spatial and temporal variability of soils has been long recognized by soil science (Boul et al, 2003; Jenny, 1941; Lin et al, 2006; McBratney et al, 2003; Odeh et al, 1992, 1994; Runge, 1973; Simonson, 1959; Soil Survey Division Staff, 1993; Soil Survey Staff, 2003; Tugel et al, 2005; Wilding, 2000; Zhu et al, 1997). The evolution of soil models capturing the spatial and temporal variability has recently focused the attention of soil scientists on current soil information, especially soil properties as they relate to hydrologic modeling (MacMillan, 2008; McBratney et al, 2003; Pachepsky et al, 2008). Deriving soil hydraulic properties from current soil map unit polygons for hydrologic modeling has increased the focus on the spatial representation of these properties (Ersahin, 2003; Kozak and Ahuja, 2005).…”

Kirkham's Legacy and Contemporary Challenges in Soil Physics Research

“…One strategy that has been used to overcome this diffi culty is to assume that the spatial void structure is random, which allows average water fl ow and retention properties to be inferred from a knowledge of the eff ect of structure on water behavior at the local scale, together with a statistical representation of the structure (Pachepsky et al, 2008). Several versions of this approach have been proposed for soils and other materials in the vadose zone.…”