Water Resources Research Act Program

Details for Project ID 2012KY204B

Field-scale water and bromide transport as affected by land use and rainfall characteristics

Institute: Kentucky
Year Established: 2012 Start Date: 2012-03-01 End Date: 2013-02-28
Total Federal Funds: $5,000 Total Non-Federal Funds: $10,364

Principal Investigators: Ole Wendroth

Project Summary: The main objective of this project is to quantify the influence of rainfall characteristics on water and bromide transport within and across cropland and grassland (two common land use systems in Kentucky). The study will address the following questions: 1) How do the amount and intensity of rainfall and land use affect the leaching behavior of a surface applied salt, 2) How does the time between surface application of bromide and subsequent rainfall affect the leaching behavior, 3) Can a treatment effect on bromide leaching be identified under field conditions, and 4) Can water and solute transport processes be efficiently modeled under field conditions? Solute sampling devices will be installed in the experimental field site that has been established already with tensiometers and water content access tubes. A bromide tracer will be applied and its downward movement monitored during several sampling campaigns at 48 different locations. Cross-semivariogram and spectral analysis will be used to evaluate the spatial correlation between solute transport properties and rainfall characteristics between and across the two land use systems.