Research Home                                                                           NSF-P2P | EPSCoR | IPTM | HYDROL-INF

                                              

Introduction

The P2P experimental study focuses on examining threshold overland flow under the influence of surface microtopography. Specific research topics include overland flow generation, puddle filling-merging-spilling dynamics, connectivity of ponding areas, discontinuous runoff processes, and spatio-temporal variability in infiltration and unsaturated flow. An overland flow laboratory (OFL) has been set up and a series of lab-scale overland flow experiments have been conducted for different microtopographic conditions, rainfall patterns (steady, unsteady, and multiple rain events), soil types and layers, and initial soil moisture conditions. An instantaneous-profile laser scanner is used to acquire high-resolution DEM data and a four-head Norton style rainfall simulator is utilized to generate rainfall. Particularly, a new method has been developed for replicating complex microtopographic surfaces for the laboratory experiments. In addition, larger-scale overland flow experiments also have been conducted for different field plots at the North Dakota Agricultural Experiment Station (NDAES) in Fargo and in Buxton, ND.