Arid site water balance using monolith lysimeters
Four weighing lysimeters, containing monoliths of undisturbed soil, are located at the Arid Lands Ecology Reserve near Richland, Washington (USA), and are used to measure the water balance of two native plant communities. Each monolith excavated on site from silt loam soil, has a surface area 1.5 m {times} 1.5 m, is 1.7 m deep and weighs about 6 Mg. Two lysimeters have a mixed vegetative cover of sagebrush and bunchgrass while two have a cover of bunchgrass alone (no sagebrush). The lysimeters are positioned on platform scales (9 Mg capacity) and lysimeter weight changes are resolved electronically to 50 g (equivalent to 0.02 mm water). Measurements of evapotranspiration (ET) and other water balance parameters (precipitation, storage, drainage) have been made with these lysimeters on a daily seasonal and annual basis for the two plant communities since 1987. Water loss by evapotranspiration has been virtually the same for both plant communities during the past two years (1989 and 1990). 10 refs., 4 figs.
- Research Organization:
- Pacific Northwest Lab., Richland, WA (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- DOE; USDOE, Washington, DC (United States)
- DOE Contract Number:
- AC06-76RL01830
- OSTI ID:
- 5608216
- Report Number(s):
- PNL-SA-18507; CONF-910794--4; ON: DE91015530
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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Related Subjects
540210* -- Environment
Terrestrial-- Basic Studies-- (1990-)
540310 -- Environment
Aquatic-- Basic Studies-- (1990-)
ARID LANDS
CONSTRUCTION
DATA ACQUISITION SYSTEMS
DESIGN
DEVELOPED COUNTRIES
EVAPORATION
FEDERAL REGION X
GROUND COVER
GROUND WATER
HYDROGEN COMPOUNDS
LYSIMETERS
MEASURING INSTRUMENTS
MEASURING METHODS
NEUTRON PROBES
NORTH AMERICA
OXYGEN COMPOUNDS
PHASE TRANSFORMATIONS
PROBES
SOILS
SUBSURFACE ENVIRONMENTS
TRANSPIRATION
USA
VARIATIONS
WASHINGTON
WATER
WATER REQUIREMENTS
WATER USE