• Journal of Ecology and Environment
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• v.33 no.1
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• pp.47-57
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• 2010

To understand day-to-day fluctuations in soil moisture content in Seoul, I simulated daily soil moisture content from 1908 to 2009 using long-term climatic precipitation and temperature data collected at the Surface Synoptic Meteorological Station in Seoul for the last 98 years with a hydrological simulation model, BROOK. The output data set from the BROOK model allowed me to examine day-to-day fluctuations and the severity and duration of droughts in the Seoul area. Although the soil moisture content is highly dependent on the occurrence of precipitation, the pattern of changes in daily soil moisture content was clearly quite different from that of precipitation. Generally, there were several phases in the dynamics of daily soil moisture content. The period from mid-May to late June can be categorized as the initial period of decreasing soil moisture content. With the initiation of the monsoon season in late June, soil moisture content sharply increases until mid-July. From the termination of the rainy season in mid-July, daily soil moisture content decreases again. Highly stochastic events of typhoons from late June to October bring large amount of rain to the Korean peninsula, culminating in late August, and increase the soil moisture content again from late August to early September. From early September until early October, another sharp decrease in soil moisture content was observed. The period from early October to mid-May of the next year can be categorized as a recharging period when soil moisture content shows an increasing trend. It is interesting to note that no statistically significant increase in mean annual soil moisture content in Seoul, Korea was observed over the last 98 years. By simulating daily soil moisture content, I was also able to reconstruct drought phenomena to understand the severity and duration of droughts in Seoul area. During the period from 1908 to 2009, droughts in the years 1913, 1979, 1939, and 2006 were categorized as 'severe' and those in 1988 and 1982 were categorized as 'extreme'. This information provides ecologists with further potential to interpret natural phenomenon, including tree growth and the decline of tree species in Korea.

• The Korean Journal of Ecology
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• v.5 no.2_3
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• pp.123-131
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• 1982

The growth and the resistance of Amorpha fructicosa L. under water control was experimented in frames out of doors. The plant grew in a wagner's pot under water control. The soil moisture content was controlled at 5%, 10%, 15% and 20%. The growth of leaf, stem and root in the groups of 5% and 10% soil moisture content were different from values in the groups of 15% and 20%. The T/R ratio in the groups of 5% and 10% soil moisture content were different from the ratio in the groups of 15% and 20% soil moisture content. The T/R ratio of former was lower than the latter, but the C/F ratio of the former was higher than the latter. RGR and NAR of Amorpha fructicosa decreased in 5% and 10% soil moisture content but increased in 15% and 20% soil moisture content during growing period. The maximum values of RGR and NAR were respectively 0.089 and 0.080 at 20% soil moisture content. The highest value of LAR was 1.560 at 5% soil moisture content. RGR and NAR were comparatively affected by soil moisture content.

• KOREAN JOURNAL OF CROP SCIENCE
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• v.49 no.1
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• pp.46-51
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• 2004

The film coated snap bean (Phaseolus vulgaris) seeds with five different coating materials treated with 3% increase in seed weight were planted at sandy loam soil controlled moisture content of 18, 19, 20 and 21 %. The oxygen diffusion rate (ODR) was calculated from the different moisture content soil. The number of normal seedlings, seedling vigor, and seedling capability in field (seed vigor x dry matter weight) were observed at 9 days after planting and compared to the changes of ODR. The germination rate and ODR were sharply decreased simultaneously in the seeds planted at 21 % soil moisture content. Seedling emergence did not occur at all as the soil moisture content increased above 22 %. Hence this value should be considered as the threshold of soil moisture content for seedling emergence. An ODR value under 20% did not influence the percent emergence significantly. The certain difference observing in the emergence at the same ODR was not related clearly to the condition of soil. So it can be assumed that the limit of soil moisture content for the emergence of snap bean was approximately 20%. The value of 18% soil moisture content may be considered as the optimum for snap bean emergence. There was close relationship between the mean value of ODR in different soil moisture contents and the emergence. The germination rates of the seeds coated with the different materials were quite different when the seeds were planted at 21 % soil moisture. Dry weight of the seedlings from film coated seeds was decreased slightly, but the germination rates were not much different from the non-treated control under relatively higher soil moisture content (21 %). Major factor lowering emergence rate was oxygen stress while film coating act as a minor constraint for snap bean sown in excess soil moisture condition.

• Korean Journal of Soil Science and Fertilizer
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• v.47 no.4
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• pp.235-241
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• 2014

A ground-based microwave scatterometer has an advantage for monitoring soil moisture content using multi-polarization, multi-frequencies and various incidence angles. In this paper, ground-based multi-frequency (L-, C-, and X-band) polarimetric scatterometer system capable of making observations every 10 min was used to monitor the soil moisture conditions in a corn field over an entire growth cycle. Measurements of volumetric soil moisture were obtained and their relationships to the backscatter observations were examined. Time series of soil moisture content was not corresponding with backscattering coefficient pattern over the whole growth stage, although it increased until early July (Day Of Year, DOY 160). We examined the relationship between the backscattering coefficients from each band and soil moisture content of the field. Backscattering coefficients for all bands were not correlated with soil moisture content when considered over the entire stage ($r{\leq}0.48$). However, L-band Horizontal transmit and Horizontal receive polarization (HH) had a good correlation with soil moisture ($r=0.85^{**}$) when LAI was lower than 2. Prediction equations for soil moisture were developed using the L-HH data. Relation between L-HH and soil moisture shows linear pattern and related with soil moisture content ($R^2=0.77$). Results from this study show that backscattering coefficients of microwave scatterometer appear to be effective to estimate soil moisture content in the field level.

• Journal of Environmental Science International
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• v.4 no.1
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• pp.1-12
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• 1995

The assessment for a degree of drought has been carried out based on the soil moisture index in Korea. The soil moisture index(Im) was calculated assuming of constant evapotranspiration until wilting point as Im = w2/wf $.$100. The soil moisture content(W2) at the final of a period is obtained from W2 : Pe + Wl - E, here the effective precipitation amount is Pe, evapotranspiration E, and the soil moisture content at the beginning of a period is Wl. The filed capacity(Wf), as a mean value of fine sandy loams, was reduced to 92 mm/ft when we accept the wilting point and the available soil moisture content of 42 mm/ft, respectively. The drought begins in Korea when the soil moisture index drops to less than 50%. The value coincides the isoline of 11 or more consecutive days without measureable precipitation. The soil moisture index frequently drops in the northern part of Youngnam area and Honam area so that both areas are well known as the areas of drought. Key word : Droughts, Soil Moisture Index.

• Magazine of the Korean Society of Agricultural Engineers
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• v.18 no.3
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• pp.4171-4183
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• 1976

This study is to investigate the effect of some physical properties of soil on the compaction. The compaction effect depends upon various factors such as soil type, moisture content, gradation and compaction energy. In this study, with steady compaction energy, the relationships between maximum dry density and moisture content, gradation and consistency were analyzed by soil types. Some results obtained in this study are summarized as follows 1. Generally, the coarser the grain size, the bigger is the maximum dry density and the smaller is the optimum moisture content and its moisture-dry denisty curve is relatively steep. The finner the grain size, the smaller is the max. dry density and the bigger is the opt. moisture content and its moisture-dry density curve is less steep. 2. The relationship between max. dry density (${\gamma}$dmax) and opt. moisture content, void ratio, clay content, percent passing of No. 200 sieve, liquid limit and plastic limit can be represented by the equation ${\gamma}$dmax =ao+a1X(a0>0, a1<0) 3. The relationship between opt. moisture content (Wopt) and clay content, percent passing of No. 200 sieve, liquid limit and plastic limit can be represented by the equation Wopt=a0+a1X(a0>0, al>0). 4. The fact that maximum dry density of the compacted soil is decreased with the increase of the optimum moisture content in any types of soil tested, and the fact that optimum moisture content can be positively correlated with clay content, percent passing of No. 200 sieve, liquid limit and plastic limit of the soil, lead to the conclusion that clay content, percent passing of No. 200 sieve, liquid limit and plastic limit of the soil are direct factors in reduction of the maximum dry density of engineering soil.

• Korean Journal of Medicinal Crop Science
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• v.3 no.2
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• pp.81-83
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• 1995

This study was conducted to know the effect of soil moisture content on growth of aerial parts and root of Valeriana fauriei var. dayscarpa HARA in pot condition. The soil moisture contents were 30, 45, 55, 70, 80 and 90% of maximum water requirement. The result obtained are as follows; 1. Width and length of leaves in valerian were slightly increased with increase the soil moisture content, however, length of petiole and root were increased with soil moisture content up to 80%. 2. It showed the positive correlations between moisture content and root weight and extract content in root. 3. Optimum soil moisture content was 80 to 90% of maximum water requirement.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Illuminating and Electrical Installation Engineers
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• v.28 no.6
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• pp.68-74
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• 2014

The electrical parameters of soils are highly dependent on the various factors such as types of soil, chemical compositions, moisture content, temperature, frequency, and so on. The analysis of soil parameters is of fundamental importance in design of grounding systems. In this paper, we present the experimental results of frequency-dependent impedance, resistivity, permittivity of soils as functions of types of soil and moisture content. The impedance and resistivity of soils are decreased as the moisture content and the frequency increase. In particular, the variation of the soil resistivity with the frequency is pronounced in the conditions of high resistivity and low moisture content. On the contrary, the permittivity of soils are sharply decreased with increasing the frequency below 10kHz and the frequency-dependent permittivity of soils are highly changed in the conditions of high moisture and low resistivity.

• Smart Structures and Systems
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• v.7 no.4
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• pp.319-328
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• 2011

In this study, the measurements of the dielectric constants of soil at 900 MHz and 1 GHz were made to relate those properties to the moisture content of the soil. This study's intention was to use the relationship between the dielectric constant and the moisture content to develop a landslide prediction system. By monitoring the change of the moisture content within the soil using ground penetrating radar (GPR) systems in the field, the possibility of a landslide is expected to be detected. To establish a database for the dielectric constants and the moisture content, the measurements of soil samples were made using both an open-ended dielectric coaxial probe and the GPR. Based on the measurement results, correlations between the GPR and reflector for each frequency at 900 MHz and 1 GHz were found for the dielectric constants and the moisture content. Finally, the mechanism of the measurement device to be implemented in the field is suggested.

• Korean Journal of Soil Science and Fertilizer
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• v.48 no.6
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• pp.571-581
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• 2015

Soil moisture content is generally accepted as an important factor to understand the process of crop growth and is the basis of earth system models for analysis and prediction of the crop condition. To continuously monitor soil moisture changes at kilometer scale, it is demanded to create high resolution data from the current, several tens of kilometers. In this paper we described a downscaling method for Advanced Microwave Scanning Radiometer 2 (AMSR2) Soil Moisture Content (SMC) from 10 km to 30 m resolution using a soil texture and field measurements that have a high correlation with the SMC. As a result, the soil moisture variations of both data (before and after downscaling) were identical, and the Root Mean Square Error (RMSE) of SMC exhibited the low values. Also, time series analyses showed that three kinds of SMC data (field measurement, original AMSR2, and downscaled AMSR2) had very similar temporal variations. Our method can be applied to downscaling of other soil variables and can contribute to monitoring small-scale changes of soil moisture by providing high resolution data.