Estimating changes in effective values of surface detention, depression storage and friction factor at the interrill scale, using a cheap and fast method to mold the soil surface micro-topography
Surface detention and depression storage constitute the 2 conceptual storages of water at the soil surface and depend on the spatial configuration of the micro-topography. To be able to measure directly those storages and investigate how they evolve
with time and precipitation, it is necessary to isolate the impact of the micro-topography from the infiltration. Therefore the AA. developed a fast and cheap in-situ molding method that combines alginate, plaster and lacquer. Both the surface of a specific
soil and its artificial reproduction were measured with a laser scanner in order to assess the quality of the molding method. This novel molding method was applied to get 10 footprints of the micro-topography of a loamy bare soil, at different levels
and obstacle Reynolds number, especially when morphometric variables were combined. Further validation, calibration and extension of this approach will help to adequately asses the influence of obstacles in the fluvial environment on micro- and meso-scale