Simulation of soil water balance on the north China plain: a case study at Luanchang

Abstract

Water shortage is a serious constraint on crop production on the North China Plain (NCP), where cropland is mainly irrigated by pumping groundwater from alluvial aquifers. To develop a sustainable ground water and irrigation management strategy, we developed a three-layer soil water balance model which is easy to use, robust, but physically based simulation tool. The model successfully simulated soil moisture contents, crop evapotranspiration, and deep percolation in comparison with experimental results obtained from Luancheng Agricultural Ecoecosystem Station on the plain.