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Temperature Fluctuations at a Wetting Front: II. The Effect of Initial Water Content of the Medium on the Magnitude of the Temperature Fluctuations¹

ABSTRACT

Magnitudes of temperature fluctuations accompanying the wetting front during infiltration of Arizona bentonite and sandy loam material from a Palo Verde soil were determined as a function of initial water content. For initial water contents near zero (oven-dry), temperature fluctuations approaching 30° and 12°C. were observed for Arizona bentonite and the sandy loam soil, respectively. The magnitudes of the fluctuations decreased rapidly with increasing initial water contents, becoming nearly zero for an initial water content of about 0.4 g. water per g. clay for Arizona bentonite and about 0.035 g. water per g. soil for the sandy loam soil. A comparison of these figures with the 15-bar water content for these media indicates that significant temperature fluctuations at the wetting front may be expected to accompany infiltration in soils at initial water contents up to about 60% of the 15-bar moisture content; above the 15-bar moisture content (throughout the range of soil moisture necessary for plant growth) it appears that for all practical purposes the temperature fluctuations accompanying infiltration are negligible.

¹ Technical Paper 748, Arizona Agr. Exp. Sta., Tucson. Contribution from the Department of Agricultural Chemistry and Soils. This research was supported by the Signal Corps, Department of Meteorology, USAEPG, Ft. Huachuca, Ariz.

² Soil Physicist, Graduate Assistant, and Research Associate, respectively.

Received for publication July 24, 1962. Accepted for publication September 21, 1962.