Water table dynamics in tile-drained fields
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abstract
We present a method for simulating water table dynamics in tile-drained fields that are subject to intermittent precipitation or irrigation. A stochastic state equation for the water table height midway between drain laterals is obtained by adding a random noise term to van Schilfgaarde's deterministic drainage model. The random term accounts for dynamics not modeled by van Schilfgaarde's equation, which is based on numerous simplifying assumptions. The continuous-discrete Kalman filter is used to obtain an estimate of the time variation of the water table height, as well as the variance of the estimate. The method is demonstrated using experimental data from the literature and is shown to have advantages over alternative approaches. Additional testing is necessary to fully assess the validity of the stochastic state equation and the utility of the filtering procedure.
