Li et al. (2026) Evaporation, surface energy balance, and water-heat-salt transport under saline shallow groundwater: Lysimeter and modeling insights across soil textures

Identification

• Journal: Agricultural and Forest Meteorology
• Year: 2026
• Date: 2026-03-09
• Authors: Xinhu Li, Hongchao Wang, Yubo Guo, Mengmeng Cui
• DOI: 10.1016/j.agrformet.2026.111112

Research Groups

• Key Laboratory of Ecological Safety and Sustainable Development in Arid Lands, Xinjiang Institute of Ecology and Geography, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Urumqi, China
• Akesu National Station of Observation and Research for Oasis Agro-ecosystem, Akesu, Xinjiang, China
• University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China

Short Summary

This study investigated the coupled water, heat, and salt transport in two soil textures (silt loam and sand) under shallow saline groundwater and natural conditions using field lysimeters and numerical modeling, revealing texture-dependent salt precipitation patterns that influence evaporation resistance and soil temperature.

Objective

• To quantitatively understand the impact of evaporation demand on salt precipitation dynamics, coupled water, heat, and salt transfer across different soil textures under field-like conditions with continuous saline groundwater supply and natural meteorological forcing.

Study Configuration

• Spatial Scale: Field lysimeter experiments using soil columns of two contrasting textures (silt loam and sand).
• Temporal Scale: Continuous observation under natural atmospheric conditions, encompassing day and night cycles, for a duration sufficient to observe salt precipitation dynamics.

Methodology and Data

• Models used: A process-based numerical model.
• Data sources: Field lysimeter measurements (evaporation, temperature, final salt mass) and natural meteorological forcing.

Main Results

• Saline soil exhibited lower evaporation rates and higher soil temperatures compared to salt-free soil, both during the day and at night.
• Field lysimeter experiments revealed distinct, texture-controlled salt precipitation patterns: saline silt loam formed a dense crust with less mass but higher evaporation resistance, while saline sandy soil developed a thicker, more massive crust with lower resistance.
• The numerical model, validated against measured data, derived texture-specific functions relating evaporation resistance to precipitated salt mass (logarithmic for silt loam, sigmoid for sandy soil).
• The higher temperature in saline silt loam was attributed by the model to its lower albedo and greater net radiation compared to sandy soil, a consequence of its specific salt precipitation pattern.

Contributions

• Provides quantitative understanding of coupled water, heat, and salt transfer under field-like conditions with continuous saline groundwater and natural meteorological forcing, addressing a gap in existing literature primarily focused on laboratory drying experiments.
• Elucidates texture-dependent salt precipitation patterns and their differential impact on evaporation resistance and soil temperature.
• Develops and validates texture-specific functions for evaporation resistance based on precipitated salt mass.
• Explains the mechanism behind temperature differences in saline soils based on albedo and net radiation influenced by salt crust characteristics.

Funding

• Not specified in the provided text.

Citation

@article{Li2026Evaporation,
  author = {Li, Xinhu and Wang, Hongchao and Guo, Yubo and Cui, Mengmeng},
  title = {Evaporation, surface energy balance, and water-heat-salt transport under saline shallow groundwater: Lysimeter and modeling insights across soil textures},
  journal = {Agricultural and Forest Meteorology},
  year = {2026},
  doi = {10.1016/j.agrformet.2026.111112},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.1016/j.agrformet.2026.111112}
}