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| Titel |
Combining sprinkling experiments and superconducting gravimetry in the field: a qualitative approach to identify dominant infiltration patterns |
| VerfasserIn |
Marvin Reich, Michal Mikolaj, Theresa Blume, Andreas Güntner |
| Konferenz |
EGU General Assembly 2017
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| Medientyp |
Artikel
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| Sprache |
en
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| Digitales Dokument |
PDF |
| Erschienen |
In: GRA - Volume 19 (2017) |
| Datensatznummer |
250149712
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| Publikation (Nr.) |
 EGU/EGU2017-14089.pdf |
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| Zusammenfassung |
| Hydrological process research at the plot to catchment scale commonly involves invasive
field methods, leading to a large amount of point data. A promising alternative, which gained
increasing interest in the hydrological community over the last years, is gravimetry. The
combination of its non-invasive and integrative nature opens up new possibilities to
approach hydrological process research. In this study we combine a field-scale
sprinkling experiment with continuous superconducting gravity (SG) measurements. The
experimental design consists of 8 sprinkler units, arranged symmetrically within a
radius of about ten meters around an iGrav (SG) in a field enclosure. The gravity
signal of the infiltrating sprinkling water is analyzed using a simple 3D water mass
distribution model. We first conducted a number of virtual sprinkling experiments
resulting in different idealized infiltration patterns and determined the pattern specific
gravity response. In a next step we determined which combination of idealized
infiltration patterns was able to reproduce the gravity response of our real-world
experiment at the Wettzell Observatory (Germany). This process hypothesis is then
evaluated with measured point-scale soil moisture responses and the results of the
time-lapse electric resistivity survey which was carried out during the sprinkling
experiment.
This study demonstrates that a controlled sprinkling experiment around a gravimeter in
combination with a simple infiltration model is sufficient to identify subsurface flow patterns
and thus the dominant infiltration processes. As gravimeters become more portable and can
actually be deployed in the field, their combination with sprinkling experiments as shown
here constitutes a promising possibility to investigate hydrological processes in a
non-invasive way. |
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