Integral energy is the amount of energy required to remove water from soil with an initial
water content to water content of
(where
). It is calculated by integrating the
water retention curve, soil
water potential
Water potential is the potential energy of water per unit volume relative to pure water in reference conditions. Water potential quantifies the tendency of water to move from one area to another due to osmosis, gravity, mechanical pressure and ...
with respect to
:
It is proposed by Minasny and McBratney (2003) as alternative to
available water capacity Available water capacity is the amount of water that can be stored in a soil profile and be available for growing crops. It is also known as available water content (AWC), profile available water (PAW) or total available water (TAW).
The concept, p ...
. (AWC)
The AWC concept assumes equal availability of water between two potentials and does not consider the path along the water retention curve. Integral energy takes into the account the path or energy (characterised by water retention curve) required to dry a
soil at particular
soil moisture
Soil moisture is the water content of the soil. It can be expressed in terms of volume or weight. Soil moisture measurement can be based on ''in situ'' probes (e.g., capacitance probes, neutron probes) or remote sensing methods.
Water that enters ...
content
See also
*
Available water capacity Available water capacity is the amount of water that can be stored in a soil profile and be available for growing crops. It is also known as available water content (AWC), profile available water (PAW) or total available water (TAW).
The concept, p ...
*
Nonlimiting water range
References
*Minasny, B., McBratney, A.B., 2003. Integral energy as a measure of soil-water availability. Plant and Soil 249(2), 253-262.
Soil physics