A quick and inexpensive method to quantify spatially variable infiltration capacity for artificial recharge ponds using photographic images

JOURNAL OF HYDROLOGY

卷:430

Article

Pedretti, Daniele¹  Barahona-Palomo, Marco²  Bolster, Diogo³  Sanchez-Vila, Xavier¹  Fernandez-Garcia, Daniel¹ 

[1] Univ Politecn Catalunya UPC BarcelonaTech, GHS Hydrogeol Grp, Dept Geotech Engn & Geosci, Barcelona 08034, Spain

[2] Inst Environm Assessment & Water Res IDAEA CSIC, Dept Geosci, GHS Hydrogeol Grp, Barcelona 08034, Spain

[3] Univ Notre Dame, Dept Civil Engn & Geol Sci, Environm Fluid Dynam Labs, Notre Dame, IN 46556 USA

关键词: Managed artificial recharge;    Surface ponds;    Infiltration capacity;    Spatial variability;    Clogging;    Satellite images;   

DOI  :  10.1016/j.jhydrol.2012.02.008

来源: Elsevier

【 摘 要 】

The efficiency of artificial surface ponds (SPs) for managed aquifer recharge (MAR) is mostly controlled by the topmost portion of the soil. The most significant soil property controlling recharge is the infiltration capacity (I-c), which is highly variable in space. Assessing its spatial distribution in detail is prohibitive in practice due to high costs, time effort, and limited site accessibility. We present an alternative method for a quick and low-cost quantitative estimation of the spatial distribution of I-c based on satellite images. The fact that hydraulic properties of topsoils and color intensities of digital images depend on some common factors such as moisture content, nature and organization of grains, proportion of iron, and organic and clay content among others, allow us to infer infiltration capacities from color intensities. The relationship between these two variables is site specific and requires calibration. A pilot SP site in Catalonia (Spain) is used as an application example. Two high-resolution digital images of the site are provided at no cost by the local cartographic institute as well as from a popular Internet-based map server. An initial set of local infiltration experiments, randomly located, were found to correlate to color intensities of the digital images. This relationship was then validated against additional independent measurements. The resulting maps of infiltration were then used to estimate the total maximum infiltration of the artificial pond area, the results being consistent with an independent flooding test performed at the site. (C) 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

【 授权许可】

Free