379-7 Assessing Snowpack Melt Rates Using Penta-Needle Heat Pulse Probes and Snowmelt Lysimeters.

See more from this Division: S01 Soil Physics
See more from this Session: General Soil Physics: II
Wednesday, October 24, 2012: 11:30 AM
Hyatt Regency, Bluegrass AB, Third Floor
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Scott Jones, Plants, Soils and Climate, Utah State University, Logan, UT, Jobie Carlisle, Utah State University, Logan, UT and Masaru Sakai, Faculty of Bioresources, Mie University, Tsu, Japan
The fate of snowmelt is not only important for water supply, but also a crucial input to hydrological modeling for flood forecasting. Snowmelt measurements are desirable for monitoring networks but lysimeters are expensive and challenging to manage. A Penta-needle Heat-Pulse Probe (PHPP) has a central heater needle surrounded by two pairs of orthogonally arranged temperature sensing needles. In situ calibration of the apparent spacing between each heater-thermistor needle pair is critical for accurate water flux estimates. The calibration and complexity of fitting soil-thermal property and heat flux estimates from temperature rise data has been automated and simplified with microprocessor-based optimization and SDI-12 communication, yielding a user-friendly and multifunctional research tool. Heat-pulse measurements used to assess water flux in soil have shown promise for determination of infiltration rates ranging from about 1 to 1000 cm d-1. Snow melt-based soil water flux estimates may exceed 10 cm d-1 being proportional to the up- and down-stream temperature differences among needle pairs. Additional applications of the PHPP for water flux estimates include monitoring stream beds, riparian zones and irrigated soils.
See more from this Division: S01 Soil Physics
See more from this Session: General Soil Physics: II