Effect of temperature on soil moisture parameters

In order to understand the effect of temperature on soil moisture movement and dynamic parameters, a combined study of laboratory experiments and theoretical analysis is conducted to examine the variation of soil moisture movement parameters due to temperature changes.The study involves the soil moisture retention curve, the hydraulic conductivity, the soil moisture diffusivity and the specific moisture capacity.Results show that soil temperature has a significant effect on soil moisture characteristics and soil structures.The effect of temperature variation can be quantified and described by examining the changes in soil moisture dynamic parameters.The effect of temperature changes on soil moisture characteristics is mainly through altering the kinetic energy and potential energy of the moisture, while on soil structure is mainly reflected in the potential energy of the moisture.Additionally, there has been a noticeable variation of the effect for different soils.The temperature effect on soil moisture movement can be neglectable for sandy soils,for clay soils;however,the opposite is true.