Soil Hydrology of Agricultural Landscapes: Quantitative Description, Research Methods, and Availability of Soil Water

Soil hydrology has deep Russian roots, which are primarily related to the theory of soil hydrological constants and their practical application. These constants have been used to assess the hydrological soil conditions in stationary observations, for which attempts to arrange regular hydrological observations in the landscape faced impracticable complexity of work and calculations and provided unreliable quantitative predictions. At present, there are new opportunities for experimental research, digital analysis, and prediction of hydrological indicators of soils in the landscape. A new quantitative approach to the use of digital technologies for monitoring soil water and temperature in the soils of agricultural landscapes, their dynamics, and their probabilistic calculations has been developed. Based on the soil map, it is proposed to create an information and measurement system with the studied thermal and hydrophysical characteristics of soils using mathematical models to calculate the dynamics of moisture and temperature for given periods and conditions of different availability of heat and precipitation, which allows us to quantify the availability of moisture reserves in the soils of the agricultural landscape. This system of observations, assessment, and forecast includes the use of modern technologies for determining soil water content and temperature, the adaptation of predictive physically based models for calculating the dynamics of moisture reserves depending on the availability of precipitation and conditions at the lower boundary of soil profiles. The paper deals with the hydrological analysis of soils by the example of the agricultural landscape of the Zelenograd station of the Dokuchaev Soil Science Institute in the village of El’digino, Pushkino district, Moscow oblast.