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Definition of water holding Capacity



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Phillip,

There are various activities presently underway on terminology.  You can see
a draft of terminology at the Irrigation Association site
<http://www.irrigation.org> where you need to follow the step to Forum/Chat
to get to the Terminology area.  There is another activity currently being
pursued by the American Society of Agricultural Engineers to update the soil
and water standard SW526.1 - Soil and Water Engineering Terminology.  You
can probably request a current draft from the session chair of SW 07 as well
as see draft work at <http://www3.bae.ncsu.edu/SW07/Discussion/index.htm>.
You may also want to contact Tony Thomson in Australia,
<Thomson.Tony@SAUGOV.SA.GOV.AU> as a recent inquiry he posted on
Irrigation-L  indicates that he is also working on terminology.   I recently
heard that ICID may be working on a glossary but I don't have a name or lead
for this one.

Tom

Thomas L. Spofford, Irrigation Engineer
USDA - Natural Resources Conservation Service 
National Water & Climate Center, Water Science & Technology Staff 
101 SW Main St., Suite 1600
Portland, OR 97204
PH (503) 414-3075 / FAX (503) 414-3101
e-mail: <tspofford@wcc.nrcs.usda.gov>
<http://www.wcc.nrcs.usda.gov/nrcsirrig>

*********************************************************
"When the well's dry, we know the worth of water."  
(Benjamin Franklin, (1706-1790), Poor Richard's Almanac, 1746)
*********************************************************


>>> <owner-sowacs@aqua.ccwr.ac.za> 03/02/00 01:08AM >>>
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Rick I am doing some calibration of moisture sensors, and I need a book or
books detailing definitions of moisture terms (eg field capacity and
moisture content) as well as the experimental procedure of carrying out
such tests.  I would appreciate if you would recommend to me any literature
in this area.  You may reply directly to my email address.  If there is
anyone else who can help in directing me to literature articles or books
that cover this subject please email me the information.


Thanking you in advance,

Phillip

Email address : pat12945@pegasus.cc.ucf.edu 

At 06:22 PM 02/21/2000 GMT, you wrote:
>NOTE:  To get off this list, send email to majordomo@aqua.ccwr.ac.za 
>with the body of the message containing the line:
>unsubscribe sowacs
>
>I know that this is "old ground", but I need help in clarifying 
>definitions.  The Irrigation Association is currently refining a glossary 
>of irrigation terminology.  The glossary includes soil water terms.
>
>My question concerns the best definition to use with the term "water 
>holding capacity."  In my mind, water holding capacity is defined as 
>the amount of water that the soil can "hold" above oven-dry.  It is 
>expressed in terms of mm/m (in the US as in/ft).
>
>WHC contrasts with the term "available soil water" in that available 
>soil water is defined as the difference between field capacity and 
>wilting point.
>
>I realize and appreciate that water holding capacity is an old and 
>perhaps outdated term, as well as are field capacity and wilting point. 
> These latter two have been redefined as dynamic rather than static 
>values and have sometimes been given the names drained upper limit 
>and crop extractable limit, etc.  
>
>My main question is whether the above definition for WHC is valid 
>and widely held, or if it should be modified.
>
>WHC is contrasted with AM as indicated by their calculation:
>
>In the classical approach:
>AM = FC - WP
>WHC = FC
>
>I believe that it is useful to have a term as WHC that describes the 
>total amount of measurable water that we can expect to see retained 
>in a soil profile.  This is useful for comparing against methods that 
>measure total water such as neutron meter, TDR, etc.  In addition, 
>many old soil surveys contain soil water holding information that is 
>often equivalent to the above definition of WHC.  Therefore, it is useful 
>to keep a term around that is compatible with the old data.
>
>Thanks.
>
>Rick Allen
>Univ. Idaho
>
>
>
>
>
Phillip A. Thomas
Graduate Research Assistant
University of Central Florida