Characterizing soil infiltration parameters using field/laboratory measured and remotely-sensed data

Abstract

Characterizing soil infiltration parameters is time consuming and costly. We carried out the current research to predict different parameters of soil infiltration using field/laboratory measured and remotely-sensed data. The investigated parameters included infiltration rates at different time intervals and the parameters of the three well-known infiltration models. We employed soil sampling and field measurements on late spring 2012 and acquired ETM+ data for the correspondent dates. We measured several soil properties as well as infiltration. Then, we developed several pedo-transfer functions (PTFs) from the collected field/laboratory measured and remotely sensed data to predict the intended infiltration parameters. Results showed that field/laboratory measured data were able to predict soil infiltration rates and parameters of the investigated models with reasonably high accuracies (E value up to 0.961). The results also revealed that, although there was no significant and robust relationship between soil surface reflectance and the investigated parameters, the developed PTFs had reasonable accuracies (E value up to 0.634) in estimating the intended infiltration parameters using soil characteristics (moisture content, soil separates, and organic carbon) which are predictable from remotely sensed data.

Keywords

• lighvan watershed
• remote sensing
• soil infiltration
• pedo-transfer functions