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Pumped rainfall simulators: the impact of rain pulses on sediment concentration and size.

Research output: Contribution to Journal/MagazineJournal articlepeer-review

Published
<mark>Journal publication date</mark>07/2009
<mark>Journal</mark>Earth Surface Processes and Landforms
Issue number9
Volume34
Number of pages5
Pages (from-to)1310-1314
Publication StatusPublished
<mark>Original language</mark>English

Abstract

Many pumped rainfall simulators used in soil erosion studies use pulsed rain to control the rainfall intensity. We examined the effect of the rain pulsing on sediment concentration and size using three different pulse cycles with the same rainfall intensity. There was considerable variation in sediment concentration through the pulse cycle: the highest concentration was up to four times that of the lowest concentration. Furthermore, the particle size distribution also varied: the peak median particle size was double the lowest median particle size. The magnitude of differences in sediment concentration and particle size were greater the longer the rain was off for and these dynamics will vary with between rainfall simulators and studies. We suggest the impact of the pulsing on sediment is significant and should be investigated prior to experimentation so that sampling periods are designed to avoid bias introduced by fine temporal scale sediment dynamics.