How Critical Is the Assimilation Frequency of Water Content Measurements for Obtaining Soil Hydraulic Parameters with Data Assimilation?

Data assimilation (DA) is a promising alternative to infer soil hydraulic parameters from soil water dynamics data. Frequency of measurements and updates are important controls of DA efficiency; however, no strict guidance exists on determining the optimal frequency. In this study, DA was performed...

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Main Authors: Javier Valdes-Abellan, Yakov Pachepsky, Gonzalo Martinez, Concepción Pla
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Wiley 2019-04-01
Series:Vadose Zone Journal
Online Access:https://dl.sciencesocieties.org/publications/vzj/articles/18/1/180142
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author Javier Valdes-Abellan
Yakov Pachepsky
Gonzalo Martinez
Concepción Pla
author_facet Javier Valdes-Abellan
Yakov Pachepsky
Gonzalo Martinez
Concepción Pla
author_sort Javier Valdes-Abellan
collection DOAJ
description Data assimilation (DA) is a promising alternative to infer soil hydraulic parameters from soil water dynamics data. Frequency of measurements and updates are important controls of DA efficiency; however, no strict guidance exists on determining the optimal frequency. In this study, DA was performed with the ensemble Kalman filter (EnKF) with a state augmentation approach to update both model states and parameters. We analyzed updates every 1, 2, 3, 5, 7, 9, 11, and 14 d. Two soil types (sandy loam and loam) and four climates (hot semiarid [Bwh], cold semiarid [Bsk], humid continental [Dfa], and humid subtropical [Cfa]) were considered. Results demonstrate that DA with high update frequencies does not provide better results than results obtained when using low frequencies. For sandy loam soil, assimilation of data every seven or more days yields better results for whatever climate considered. For loam soil, the same is true after 9 mo of assimilation. The chosen performance metric may affect the results, but the general trend of better results with low assimilation frequencies does not change.
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spelling doaj.art-2fc42d22a8874082a973c12cf8b9a9702022-12-22T03:39:39ZengWileyVadose Zone Journal1539-16632019-04-0118110.2136/vzj2018.07.0142How Critical Is the Assimilation Frequency of Water Content Measurements for Obtaining Soil Hydraulic Parameters with Data Assimilation?Javier Valdes-AbellanYakov PachepskyGonzalo MartinezConcepción PlaData assimilation (DA) is a promising alternative to infer soil hydraulic parameters from soil water dynamics data. Frequency of measurements and updates are important controls of DA efficiency; however, no strict guidance exists on determining the optimal frequency. In this study, DA was performed with the ensemble Kalman filter (EnKF) with a state augmentation approach to update both model states and parameters. We analyzed updates every 1, 2, 3, 5, 7, 9, 11, and 14 d. Two soil types (sandy loam and loam) and four climates (hot semiarid [Bwh], cold semiarid [Bsk], humid continental [Dfa], and humid subtropical [Cfa]) were considered. Results demonstrate that DA with high update frequencies does not provide better results than results obtained when using low frequencies. For sandy loam soil, assimilation of data every seven or more days yields better results for whatever climate considered. For loam soil, the same is true after 9 mo of assimilation. The chosen performance metric may affect the results, but the general trend of better results with low assimilation frequencies does not change.https://dl.sciencesocieties.org/publications/vzj/articles/18/1/180142
spellingShingle Javier Valdes-Abellan
Yakov Pachepsky
Gonzalo Martinez
Concepción Pla
How Critical Is the Assimilation Frequency of Water Content Measurements for Obtaining Soil Hydraulic Parameters with Data Assimilation?
Vadose Zone Journal
title How Critical Is the Assimilation Frequency of Water Content Measurements for Obtaining Soil Hydraulic Parameters with Data Assimilation?
title_full How Critical Is the Assimilation Frequency of Water Content Measurements for Obtaining Soil Hydraulic Parameters with Data Assimilation?
title_fullStr How Critical Is the Assimilation Frequency of Water Content Measurements for Obtaining Soil Hydraulic Parameters with Data Assimilation?
title_full_unstemmed How Critical Is the Assimilation Frequency of Water Content Measurements for Obtaining Soil Hydraulic Parameters with Data Assimilation?
title_short How Critical Is the Assimilation Frequency of Water Content Measurements for Obtaining Soil Hydraulic Parameters with Data Assimilation?
title_sort how critical is the assimilation frequency of water content measurements for obtaining soil hydraulic parameters with data assimilation
url https://dl.sciencesocieties.org/publications/vzj/articles/18/1/180142
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