The Lisse Effect Revisited

Abstract

The Lisse effect is a rarely noted phenomenon occurring when infiltration caused by intense rain seals the surface soil layer to airflow, trapping air in the unsaturated zone. Compression of air by the advancing front results in a pressure increase that produces a water-level rise in an observation well screened below the water table that is several times as large as the distance penetrated by the wetting front. The effect is triggered by intense rains and results in a very rapid water-level rise, followed by a recession lasting a few days. The Lisse effect was first noted and explained by Thal Larsen in 1932 from water-level observations obtained in a shallow well in the village of Lisse, Holland. The original explanation does not account for the increased air pressure pushing up on the bottom of the wetting front. Analysis of the effect of this upward pressure indicates that a negative pressure head at the base of the wetting front, psi(f), analogous to that postulated by Green and Ampt (1911) to explain initially rapid infiltration rates into unsaturated soils, is involved in producing the Lisse effect. Analysis of recorded observations of the Lisse effect by Larsen and others indicates that the water-level rise, which typically ranges from 0.10 to 0.55 m, should be only slightly larger than psi(f) and that the depth of penetration of the wetting front is no more than several millimeters.

Experimental and Modeling Investigation of Shallow Water Table Fluctuations in Relation to Reverse Wieringermeer Effect

“…This rise has been attributed by numerous researchers to one of two major phenomena. The first, known as the Lisse effect, occurs when infiltration caused by intense rain seals the surface soil layer to airflow, trapping and compressing air under pressure in the unsaturated zone [7,8]. For a comprehensive outline of the Lisse effect, the reader is referred to [8].…”

“…The first, known as the Lisse effect, occurs when infiltration caused by intense rain seals the surface soil layer to airflow, trapping and compressing air under pressure in the unsaturated zone [7,8]. For a comprehensive outline of the Lisse effect, the reader is referred to [8]. The second is the reverse Wieringermeer effect (RWE) dealing with the case where the capillary fringe extends from the water table almost to the ground surface leading to a limited or no storage capacity in the zone between water table and soil surface as well as a specific yield approaching zero value.…”

Temporal scaling phenomena in groundwater-floodplain systems using robust detrended fluctuation analysis

“…Figure 9 shows 398 the response of the borehole water level to individual rainfall events during August (a summer 399 month) where the Lisse effect is clearly observed and during November-December (winter months) 400 where the Lisse effect is less prominent. The Lisse effect tends to occur in shallow unconfined 401 riparian aquifers similar to the that studied here (Weeks 2002). During these changes in level there 402 are also concurrent changes in groundwater temperature (Figure 9).…”

Theoretical study of the impact of tide-induced airflow on hydraulic head in air-confined coastal aquifers

“…Shan, 1995;Elberling et al, 1998;Weeks, 2002;, the impact of airflow on hydraulic head fluctuation has not been well addressed in the literature. Jiao & Li (2004) employed a twodimensional numerical model to investigate relations among sea tides, groundwater in the aquifer, airflow in the unsaturated zone, barometric pressure variations, and rainfall in a coastal reclamation site.…”