Soil moisture monitoring in the Toce valley (Italy)

Menziani, M.; Pugnaghi, Sergio; Vincenzi, S.; Santangelo, R.

doi:10.5194/hess-7-890-2003

Cited by 8 publications

(7 citation statements)

References 10 publications

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“…These observations can also be seen in data from other studies (e.g., Menziani et al . ), and suggest that the same water was not travelling down the profile, supporting the theory of piston‐like displacement of stored water infiltration (Horton and Hawkins ; Hewlett and Hibbert ) as opposed to flow through unsaturated pores. While this behaviour is expected for fine‐grained soils (Youngs and Poulovassilis ), for the coarser‐grained site A (Figures a and a), this is an unusual result.…”

Section: Resultssupporting

confidence: 65%

“…This has also been observed in the data of other authors (Menziani et al . ; Curioni et al . ), and is due to the fact that water can enter the soil pores easier than it can escape due to surface tension (Haines ).…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…A comparable data‐set with equivalent resolution was also collected by Menziani et al . (), but this only covers a 7‐month period and therefore fails to record a whole seasonality cycle. Additional similar studies have been conducted to assess slope stability (e.g., Perrone et al .…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Unique insight into the seasonal variability of geophysical properties of field soils: practical implications for near‐surface investigations

Boddice

Metje

Chapman

2017

Near Surface Geophysics

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Electromagnetic wave propagation methods are extensively used in geophysical prospecting, such as in archaeological and utility surveys. The signal penetration and attenuation of electromagnetic waves depend strongly on the apparent permittivity and electrical conductivity of the soil, which vary on a seasonal basis, affecting the detection of buried features, especially their detected depth. Nevertheless, there is a significant lack of high-quality long-term seasonal field monitoring data of electromagnetic properties in different soil conditions to aid the understanding of how these properties vary in field conditions. The results reported in this paper will contribute to addressing this scarcity of data. Longterm data are presented and analysed from bespoke time-domain reflectometry monitoring stations designed to enable collection of apparent relative dielectric permittivity, bulk electrical conductivity, and temperature data at a high temporal resolution (hourly) from three remote sites with different soils over an extended period of time (16-23 months). In addition to providing an extensive dataset, the data highlight the importance of using accurate electromagnetic soil data for geophysical prospecting. The greatest changes in geophysical properties for all sites are detected in the near-surface soils (< 0.5 m), where many buried utilities are generally found, with rapid wetting events and slower drying events greatly affecting both the apparent relative dielectric permittivity and the bulk electrical conductivity. However, the most critical factor for determining these properties is the soil water holding capacity, which, in turn, is a function of the clay mineralogy and content. An analysis of the ratio of energy loss to energy storage shows that the optimum time for ground penetrating radar surveying is during the dry periods and when the soil temperature is low, displaying the significance of soil temperature on survey outcomes, due to its significant effect on the bulk electrical conductivity. The results from this paper will aid survey planning, thereby ensuring a better underground target detection rate.tected near-surface buried features will be reduced, thereby significantly reducing the risk of excavation.Several previous studies have shown links between geophysical and geotechnical properties for soil, including the soil particle size distribution (e.g.linear shrinkage (e.g., Thomas et al. 2010a;Thomas et al. 2010b), but by far the most important factor is the water content. These studies have primarily focused on testing the relationships in the laboratory over a range of volumetric water contents (VWCs) and temperatures, but with limited attention to the effects of the seasonal variation on the relationships between apparent permittivity and water content (e.g.

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Section: Resultssupporting

confidence: 65%

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Unique insight into the seasonal variability of geophysical properties of field soils: practical implications for near‐surface investigations

Boddice

Metje

Chapman

2017

Near Surface Geophysics

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“…In summary, severe difficulties remain in monitoring soil moisture in mountain catchments. Ground and laboratory measurements confirmed a relatively high variability of the soil moisture content during the SOP Menziani et al, 2003) with volumetric soil moisture content rapidly varying from 20% to 50% in the upper soil layers.…”

Section: Field Measurementsmentioning

confidence: 89%

Hydrological aspects of the Mesoscale Alpine Programme: findings from field experiments and simulations

Ranzi

Zappa

Bacchi

2007

Quart J Royal Meteoro Soc

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ABSTRACT:The Mesoscale Alpine Programme (MAP) was a unique initiative to improve the understanding of processes involved in orographically influenced precipitation events and in the related emergence and mitigation of floods in the Alps. This study presents a summary of the results from investigations of hydrological relevance in areas to the south (Lago Maggiore watershed) and north (Ammer watershed) of the Alps. A special focus is given to the 1999 Special Observing Period (SOP) experiment. MAP has been an important dialogue platform between the hydrological and meteorological communities. A common goal has been the verification and the assessment of errors and sources of uncertainty of new coupled techniques for flood forecasting in mountainous environments. The ensemble multi-model error in the hydrometeorological forecast, two days in advance, was 30% of the observed peaks and 15% of the observed runoff volumes, on average. To provide some insight on the relative importance and priority of observation strategies of hydrological factors such as soil moisture and reservoir volume in contributing to the flood intensity, the MAP project 'Hydrology' focused also on the role and magnitude of water storage in reservoirs. The presented analyses indicate that for the investigated basins and flood events, the storage reservoirs may retain, on average, up to 10% of the event runoff volume and are key elements contributing to the mitigation of peak runoff. The observed variability of soil moisture is large and therefore it has been confirmed that severe difficulties remain in instrumental monitoring of soil moisture in mountainous environments. The sensitivity of floods to soil moisture in the physio-geographic context analysed here seems, however, to be minor, due to the shallow soil layer covering the underlying rocks and the relatively high permeability of soils which reduce the 'hydrological memory' of the soil cover in the mountain basins investigated.

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“…The third objective was to study the role of soil moisture prior to flood events in determining the production of runoff and evapotranspiration processes. The soil moisture was sampled continuously at five sites in the Toce (Menziani et al;Montaldo et al, 2003) and Ticino basins (Zappa and Gurtz, 2003), and in greater spatial detail (Falappi et al, 2001), during the four missions of a helicopter-borne microwave radiometer in the C-X and L band and different polarisations (Macelloni et al, 2003).…”

Section: Hydrological Measurements and Flood Simulations During The Mmentioning

confidence: 99%

Hydrological and meteorological aspects of floods in the Alps: an overview

Bacchi

Ranzi

2003

Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci.

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Abstract. This introductory paper presents and summarises recent research on meteorological and hydrological aspects of floods in the Alps. The research activities were part of the international research project RAPHAEL (Runoff and Atmospheric Processes for flood HAzard forEcasting and controL) together with experiments within the Special Observing Period-SOP conducted in autumn 1999 for the Mesoscale Alpine Programme —MAP. The investigations were based on both field experiments and numerical simulations, using meteorological and hydrological models, of ten major floods that occurred in the past decade in the European Alps. The two basins investigated were the Ticino (6599 km2) at the Lago Maggiore outlet on the southern side of the Alps and the Ammer catchment (709 km2) in the Bavarian Alps. These catchments and their sub-catchments cover an appropriate range of spatial scales with which to investigate and test in an operational context the potential of both mesoscale meteorological and distributed hydrological models for flood forecasting. From the data analyses and model simulations described in this Special Issue, the major sources of uncertainties for flood forecasts in mid-size mountain basins are outlined and the accuracy flood forecasts is assessed. Keywords: floods, mountain hydrology, meteorological models, Alps

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Soil moisture monitoring in the Toce valley (Italy)

Cited by 8 publications

References 10 publications

Unique insight into the seasonal variability of geophysical properties of field soils: practical implications for near‐surface investigations

Unique insight into the seasonal variability of geophysical properties of field soils: practical implications for near‐surface investigations

Hydrological aspects of the Mesoscale Alpine Programme: findings from field experiments and simulations

Hydrological and meteorological aspects of floods in the Alps: an overview

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