Understanding saturated hydraulic conductivity under seasonal changes in climate and land use

Statistical analysis of the Clear Creek data showed that intrinsic soil properties incorporated in Kb do not reflect the degree of soil surface disturbance due to tillage and raindrop impact. Additionally, vegetation cover affected the infiltration rate. It was found that the use of Kb instead of Ke in water balance studies can lead to an overestimation of the amount of water infiltrated in agricultural watersheds by a factor of two. Therefore, we suggest herein that Ke is both the most dynamic and representative saturated hydraulic conductivity for intensively managed landscapes because it accounts for the contributions of land cover and management, local hydropedology and climate condition, which all affect the soil porosity and structure and hence, Ksat.