Publication Details

Category Text Publication
Reference Category Journals
DOI 10.5194/hess-26-6263-2022
Licence creative commons licence
Title (Primary) Resolving seasonal and diel dynamics of non-rainfall water inputs in a Mediterranean ecosystem using lysimeters
Author Paulus, S.J.; El-Madany, T.S.; Orth, R.; Hildebrandt, A.; Wutzler, T.; Carrara, A.; Moreno, G.; Perez-Priego, O.; Kolle, O.; Reichstein, M.; Migliavacca, M.
Source Titel Hydrology and Earth System Sciences
Year 2022
Department CHS
Volume 26
Issue 23
Page From 6263
Page To 6287
Language englisch
Topic T5 Future Landscapes
Data and Software links https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.7354493
Abstract The input of liquid water to terrestrial ecosystems is composed of rain and non-rainfall water (NRW). The latter comprises dew, fog, and the adsorption of atmospheric vapor on soil particle surfaces. Although NRW inputs can be relevant to support ecosystem functioning in seasonally dry ecosystems, they are understudied, being relatively small, and therefore hard to measure. In this study, we apply a partitioning routine focusing on NRW inputs over 1 year of data from large, high-precision weighing lysimeters at a semi-arid Mediterranean site. NRW inputs occur for at least 3 h on 297 d (81 % of the year), with a mean diel duration of 6 h. They reflect a pronounced seasonality as modulated by environmental conditions (i.e., temperature and net radiation). During the wet season, both dew and fog dominate NRW, while during the dry season it is mostly the soil adsorption of atmospheric water vapor. Although NRW contributes only 7.4 % to the annual water input, NRW is the only water input to the ecosystem during 15 weeks, mainly in the dry season. Benefitting from the comprehensive set of measurements at our experimental site, we show that our findings are in line with (i) independent measurements and (ii) independent model simulations forced with (near-) surface energy and moisture measurements. Furthermore, we discuss the simultaneous occurrence of soil vapor adsorption and negative eddy-covariance-derived latent heat fluxes. This study shows that NRW inputs can be reliably detected through high-resolution weighing lysimeters and a few additional measurements. Their main occurrence during nighttime underlines the necessity to consider ecosystem water fluxes at a high temporal resolution and with 24 h coverage.
Persistent UFZ Identifier https://www.ufz.de/index.php?en=20939&ufzPublicationIdentifier=26102
Paulus, S.J., El-Madany, T.S., Orth, R., Hildebrandt, A., Wutzler, T., Carrara, A., Moreno, G., Perez-Priego, O., Kolle, O., Reichstein, M., Migliavacca, M. (2022):
Resolving seasonal and diel dynamics of non-rainfall water inputs in a Mediterranean ecosystem using lysimeters
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci. 26 (23), 6263 - 6287 10.5194/hess-26-6263-2022