Avaliação da estabilidade temporal da umidade do solo em uma bacia experimental no semiárido pernambucano e uso da termografia para estimativa da permeabilidade do solo.

Abstract

Soil water content has an important role for agricultural practices, influencing water movement and storage within the soil. In semiarid regions, knowledge concerning soil water content holds great relevance, mainly due to precipitation’s high spatial-temporal variability and high evapotranspiration indices, bringing about soil water deficit. The aim of this study was to evaluate spatial and temporal stability of soil water content under different cover crop conditions and soil types, in order to identify a representative point for soil water content readings. Additionally, it was evaluated the use of infrared thermography as a tool to estimate non-saturated hydraulic conductivity at a representative watershed, located in Pesqueira, in the semiarid region of Pernambuco. A grid of points for soil water content measurement was monitored, using a capacitive probe. In the first chapter, the soil water content data was evaluated on a hillslope with six measuring points, under natural vegetation and pasture with the same type of soil (Red Yellow Ultisol). According to temporal stability concept, the technique for relative mean differences and standard deviations was applied in order to investigate the point, which is capable of representing the mean temporal behavior of the other measuring points, and the correlation among soil water content points. In the second chapter, temporal variation patterns were analyzed for seventeen soil water content points distributed along the watershed, under two different soil types: Yellow Ulitsol and Regolithic Entisol, and two cover crop conditions, being used the mean relative differences technique and correlation among points in order to validate if the stable point would be the same found for the hill experiment. In the third chapter, published in the Quantitative Infrared Thermography Journal, v.11, 2:2014, p.161-169, infrared thermography technique was used to estimate soil hydraulic conductivity. The study was performed in a laboratory of the Coimbra University, using a slope soil channel and three types of soil and a thermographic video camera to record the images. Estimated hydraulic conductivity data with the infrared thermography technique were correlated to the values obtained with the aid of a constant-head permeameter, by statistical indices and regression analysis. For the fourth chapter, the thermography technique was used under field condition to estimate non-saturated hydraulic conductivity, in the Mimoso watershed, for two soil types: Yellow Ultisol and Fluvic Entisol. Four different hydraulic heads were applied to soil surface, with three replications and seven tests for each soil type under different initial conditions of soil temperature and thermal records using a thermographic camera. Thermal records were correlated to non-saturated soil hydraulic conductivity, which presented high correlations. Water content dynamics technique allowed the identification of a point of stability in the watershed. Thermal records enabled the distinction between the studied soil types, when subjected to different hydraulic heads, being related with the respective non-saturated hydraulic conductivities. It was verified that the thermography is an innovative technique capable of estimating non-saturated hydraulic conductivity, enabling the mapping of soil surface conditions.