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Climate, soil, and vegetation: 6. Dynamics of the annual water balance

Climate, soil, and vegetation: 6. Dynamics of the annual water balance Mass conservation is employed to express the natural water balance of climate‐soil‐vegetation systems in terms of the average annual values of precipitation, evapotranspiration, surface runoff, and groundwater runoff as derived from the probability distributions of storm properties and from the physics of the appropriate storm and interstorm soil moisture fluxes. The resulting conservation equation is used to define the dimensionless parameters governing the dynamic similarity of the annual water balance. An asymptotic analysis of this water balance equation yields a set of rational criteria for the classification of climate‐soil‐vegetation systems. Sensitivity with respect to the primary climate, soil, and vegetal parameters demonstrates that qualitative changes in water balance behavior are primarily dependent upon the exfiltration effectiveness of the soil. A natural selection hypothesis is presented which specifies the stable vegetation density and the plant coefficient for a given climate‐soil system in which water and not nutrition or light is limiting. http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png Water Resources Research Wiley

Climate, soil, and vegetation: 6. Dynamics of the annual water balance

Water Resources Research , Volume 14 (5) – Oct 1, 1978

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References (19)

Publisher
Wiley
Copyright
Copyright © 1978 by the American Geophysical Union.
ISSN
0043-1397
eISSN
1944-7973
DOI
10.1029/WR014i005p00749
Publisher site
See Article on Publisher Site

Abstract

Mass conservation is employed to express the natural water balance of climate‐soil‐vegetation systems in terms of the average annual values of precipitation, evapotranspiration, surface runoff, and groundwater runoff as derived from the probability distributions of storm properties and from the physics of the appropriate storm and interstorm soil moisture fluxes. The resulting conservation equation is used to define the dimensionless parameters governing the dynamic similarity of the annual water balance. An asymptotic analysis of this water balance equation yields a set of rational criteria for the classification of climate‐soil‐vegetation systems. Sensitivity with respect to the primary climate, soil, and vegetal parameters demonstrates that qualitative changes in water balance behavior are primarily dependent upon the exfiltration effectiveness of the soil. A natural selection hypothesis is presented which specifies the stable vegetation density and the plant coefficient for a given climate‐soil system in which water and not nutrition or light is limiting.

Journal

Water Resources ResearchWiley

Published: Oct 1, 1978

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