Soil moisture assessed by digital mapping techniques and its field validation

Abstract

Digital techniques and tools can assist not only in the prediction of soil properties, such as soil moisture, but also in planning the use and management of areas for agriculture and, or, environmental purposes. In this sense, this work aimed to study wetness indexes methods, defining the spatial resolution and selecting the estimation method that best correlates with water content data measured in the field, evaluating even moisture at different soil depths and seasons. This study was developed in a landscape with strongly undulated relief and covered with Nitosols at the summit and upper middle third, and Argisols at the low middle third, ranging in altitude from 845 to 890 m, located in the southern state of Minas Gerais, Brazil. It were performed analyses of Pearson linear correlation between soil moisture determined in the field, at depths of 10, 20, 30, 40, 60 and 100 cm and the water storage in 0-100 cm depth, and the topographic and SAGA wetness indexes, TWI and SWI, respectively, obtained from digital elevation models at different spatial resolutions. In most studied conditions, the TWI with resolution of 10 m provided better results, particularly for the dry season. In this study, only the depth of 100 cm resulted in a significant and positive correlation, suggesting that the moisture levels are suitable for water dynamic studies in the subsurface, assisting in studies of hydrological dynamics and planning the soil use and management, especially for perennial plants with deeper root systems.