Assessing the role of rainfall and antecedent soil moisture conditions on soil moisture increase

Vialette, Elisa (author), Zabret, Katarina (author)

Soil moisture plays an important role in regulating natural processes, including water movement in the hydrological cycle. One of the main factors affecting soil moisture wetting and drying patterns is precipitation, but the response of soil moisture depends not only on its characteristics but also on other indicators such as soil depth, soil water-retention properties, land cover, and land use. These indicators determine the dynamics of the increase in soil moisture, which does not usually follow the dynamics of measured precipitation. In order to evaluate the rate of soil moisture response to rainfall input, as well as the influence of rainfall indicators and previous soil moisture conditions on the increase, we applied a decision tree model and a random forest model. Data collected during two years of measurements at three different depths in a grassy area of a small park in Ljubljana were considered. The increase in soil moisture at depths of 16 cm and 51 cm is mainly determined by the maximum 20-minute intensity recorded in the period of 6 hours before the increase. In deeper layers (74 cm), however, the response is determined by the previous moisture conditions at least 24 hours earlier or by precipitation in the previous 7 days.

• Language: English
• Keywords: soil moisture, precipitation, antecedent conditions, decision trees, random forests
• Work type: Article
• Typology: 1.01 - Original Scientific Article
• Organization: FGG - Faculty of Civil and Geodetic Engineering
• Publication status: Published
• Publication version: Version of Record
• Year: 2026
• Number of pages: Str. 1-13
• Numbering: Vol. 39, no. 70
• PID: 20.500.12556/RUL-189524
• UDC: 004.85:556.12(497.451.1)
• ISSN on article: 0352-3551
• DOI: 10.15292/acta.hydro.2026.01
• COBISS.SI-ID: 294219011
• Publication date in RUL: 08.10.2026

Record is a part of a journal

• Title: Acta hydrotechnica
• Publisher: Fakulteta za gradbeništvo in geodezijo
• ISSN: 0352-3551
• COBISS.SI-ID: 3664386

Licences

• License: CC BY-SA 4.0, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International
• Link: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/
• Description: This Creative Commons license is very similar to the regular Attribution license, but requires the release of all derivative works under this same license.

Secondary language

• Language: Slovenian
• Title: Analiza vloge padavin in predhodne namočenosti zemljine na naraščanje vlažnosti tal

Abstract

Vlažnost tal ima pomembno vlogo pri uravnavanju naravnih procesov, vključno z gibanjem vode v hidrološkem krogu. Eden od glavnih dejavnikov, ki vplivajo na vsebnost vode v tleh, so padavine, odziv vlage v tleh pa je poleg lastnosti padavin odvisen še od drugih kazalnikov, kot so globina, vodozadrževalne lastnosti tal, tip dal, pokrovnost in raba tal. Ti kazalniki določajo, s kakšno dinamiko bo prišlo do dviga vsebnosti vode v tleh, ki običajno ne sledi dinamiki merjenih padavin. Z namenom ocene hitrosti odziva vlažnosti tal na padavine ter analizo vpliva kazalnikov padavin in predhodne namočenosti tal na povečanje vsebnosti vode v tleh smo uporabili model odločitvenih dreves in model naključnega gozda. Upoštevali smo podatke, zbrane v dveh letih meritev na treh različnih globinah na travnati površini majhnega parka v Ljubljani. Naraščanje vsebnosti vode v tleh na globinah 16 cm in 51 cm je pogojeno predvsem z maksimalno 20-minutno intenziteto, zabeleženo v obdobju 6 ur pred pričetkom naraščanja vrednosti. V globljih plasteh (74 cm) pa je odziv pogojen s stanjem predhodne vlažnosti vsaj 24 ur prej oziroma s padavinami v preteklih 7 dneh.

• Keywords: vsebnost vode v tleh, padavine, predhodne razmere, odločitvena drevesa, naključni gozd