Stochastic analysis of a field-scale unsaturated transport experiment

The chloride concentrations are used to test two field-scale models of unsaturated transport: (i) the Advection-Dispersion Equation (ADE), which models transport far from the zone of solute entry, and (ii) the Stochastic-Convective Log-normal (CLT) transfer function model, which instead accounts for transport near the release zone. Both the models provided an excellent representation of the solute spreading at z > 0.45 m (being z = 0.45 m the calibration depth). As a consequence, by the depth z ≈ 50 cm one can regard transport as Fickian. The ADE model dramatically underestimates solute spreading at shallow depths. This is due to the boundary effects which are not captured by the ADE. The CLT model appears to be a more robust tool to mimic transport at every depth.