Evaporation from shallow water table through layered soil profiles

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to estimate the steady state evaporation rates from layered soils in the presence of high water table under isothermal conditions. A finite difference numerical scheme based upon the one-dimensional Richards equation has been employed to estimate the evaporation rates from a two-layered soil profile overlying a shallow water for appropriate initial and boundary conditions. The method takes into account the relevant atmospheric factors and soil moisture characteristics of the two layers. The effects of sequence and thickness of the soil layers and water table depth on the evaporation rates have been examined.