Time of planting plays a critical role in nitrogen (N) uptake by rye cover crop (CC). Even a few days of delay in planting can severely decrease CC performance. Evaluating the amount of N accumulation related to time of planting is critical to the farmer who has to optimize the winter rye planting date based on completion of corn harvest, suitable weather conditions and time availability for fall manure application. Winter rye cover crop was planted at 6 planting dates in fall from mid August to early October at weekly intervals from 2004 to 2009. The results suggest that delay from critical planting date (CPD) will decrease rye N uptake dramatically. Suggested CPDs for northwest parts of Massachusetts are not applicable because they are too early (third to fourth week of August). CPDs for central parts of the State are from first to second week of September. Farmers in these zones can take advantage of cover crop by a better time management and planting no later than vii CPD. In Eastern areas of Massachusetts CPD is the third week of September. By evaluating the effect of planting date on rye growth and N accumulation throughout the State, this model provides a powerful decision making tool for increasing N recovery and reducing nutrient leaching. Sixteen units of cost effective and accurate automated lysimeters were designed and installed to measure post-harvest nitrate leaching from a rye cover crop field during the falls and winters of 2007 to 2009. The electronic system was designed to monitor soil tension and apply the equal amount of suction to the sampling media. Hourly data from soil tension and vacuum applied to the system were collected and stored by each unit. A safety system was designed for protecting vacuum pump against unexpected major vacuum leakage events. The controller can be easily reprogrammed for different performance strategies. Other major parts of lysimeter included the power supply systems, vacuum pump, vacuum tanks, sampling jars, suction cups and plates, and electronic valves. The electronic system showed a very reliable and accurate performance in the field condition.

No description available.

Doctor of Philosophy / Department of Agronomy / P.V. Vara Prasad / Agriculture is the largest (90%) consumer of all fresh water in the world. The consumptive use of water by vegetation represented by the process evapotranspiration (ET) has a vital role in the dynamics of water, carbon and energy fluxes of the biosphere. Consequently, mapping ET is essential for making water a sustainable resource and also for monitoring ecosystem response to water stress and changing climate. Over the past three decades, numerous thermal remote sensing based ET mapping algorithms were developed and these have brought a significant theoretical and technical advancement in the spatial modeling of ET. Though these algorithms provided a robust, economical, and efficient tool for ET estimations at field and regional scales, yet the uncertainties in flux estimations were large, making evaluation a difficult task. The main objective of this study was to evaluate and improve the performance of widely used remote sensing based energy balance models, namely: the Surface Energy Balance Algorithm for Land (SEBAL), Mapping Evapotranspiration at high Resolution and with Internalized Calibration (METRIC), and Surface Energy Balance System (SEBS). Data used in this study was collected as part of a multi-disciplinary and multi-institutional field campaign BEAREX (Bushland Evapotranspiration and Agricultural Remote Sensing Experiment) that was conducted during 2007 and 2008 summer cropping seasons at the USDA-ARS Conservation and Production Research Laboratory (CPRL) in Bushland, Texas. Seventeen high resolution remote sensing images taken from multispectral sensors onboard aircraft and field measurements of the agro-meteorological variables from the campaign were used for model evaluation and improvement. Overall relative error measured in terms of mean absolute percent difference (MAPD) for instantaneous ET (mm h[superscript]-[superscript]1) were 22.7%, 23.2%, and 12.6% for SEBAL, METRIC, and SEBS, respectively. SEBAL and METRIC performances for irrigated fields representing higher ET with limited or no water stress and complete ground cover surfaces were markedly better than that for dryland fields representing lesser ET and greater soil water deficits with sparser vegetation cover. SEBS algorithm performed equally well for both irrigated and dryland conditions but required accurate air temperature data. Overall, this study provides new insights into the performance of three widely used thermal remote sensing based algorithms for estimating ET and proposed modifications to improve the accuracy of estimated ET for efficient management of water resources.

Com a crescente utilização da irrigação em sistemas de produção animal, aumentam a demanda por estudos na área de consumo de água de plantas forrageiras para a obtenção de medidas mais precisas com o propósito de aprimorar o manejo de água em pastagens. Quando esse manejo é realizado a partir de elementos climáticos, uma das estratégias é a utilização de modelos para estimativa da evapotranspiração da cultura (ETc), e para isso é necessário conhecer os valores do coeficiente de cultura (Kc) ao longo do ciclo fenológico. Entretanto, ainda há poucos estudos de determinação de Kc para as forrageiras tropicais, de modo a preencher a lacuna da falta de informação aos usuários e técnicos que orientam a irrigação na forragicultura. O objetivo deste projeto foi determinar o consumo de água e coeficiente de cultura da Urochloa brizantha (Syn. Brachiaria brizantha) cv. Marandu em sistema de cultivo exclusivo e consorciado com forrageiras de inverno (Aveia-preta e Azevém). Como objetivos secundários, buscou-se: (i) determinar o consumo de água das forrageiras com sonda capacitiva; (ii) medir parâmetros biométricos e produtivos das forrageiras ao longo dos ciclos; (iii) relacionar a evolução do Kc ao longo do período de crescimento com o índice de área foliar (IAF), altura do dossel forrageiro (ADF) e graus-dias (GD). O experimento foi realizado na Escola Superior de Agricultura \"Luiz de Queiroz\" (ESALQ/USP), em duas parcelas com área individual de 144 m², nas quais foram instalados lisímetros ao centro, com sistemas automáticos de pesagem e drenagem. Esses lisímetros foram utilizados para medir a ETc e estimar o Kc a partir da comparação entre valores medidos e estimativas de evapotranspiração de referência (ETo) com dados provenientes do Posto Meteorológico localizado na ESALQ e a 100 m de distância da área experimental. Analisou-se o período de 10 de fevereiro a 11 de outubro de 2016 com ciclos de cortes de duração variada devido à fenologia da cultura. Os resultados obtidos revelaram que ambos os sistemas de cultivo (capim Marandu solteiro e consorciado) demando volumes considerais de água para máxima produção. Porém durante o período estacional, o capim Marandu não é eficiente na conversão em matéria seca produzida. O uso da sonda capacitiva como estimativa de evapotranspiração apresenta resultados diferentes a dos lisímetros, porém com correlações significativas. O uso de modelo de crescimento para estimativa de Kc explicam uma utilização prática. Demais resultados detalhados são encontrados no desenvolvimento de cada capítulo. / With the increasing use of irrigation in animal production systems, the demand for studies in the area of water consumption of forage plants increases to obtain more precise measures for the purpose of improving water management in pastures. When this management is carried out from climatic elements, one of the strategies is the use of models to estimate crop evapotranspiration (ETc), and for this it is necessary to know the values of the crop coefficient (Kc) throughout the phenological cycle. However, there are still few Kc determination studies for tropical forages, in order to fill the gap of the lack of information to the users and technicians that guide the irrigation in forage. The purpose this study, the was to determine the water consumption and culture coefficient of Urochloa brizantha (Syn. Brachiaria brizantha) cv. Marandu in a system of exclusive cultivation and intercropped with winter forages (Oat-black and Azevém). As secondary objectives, we sought to: (i) determine the water consumption of forages with capacitive probe; (Ii) to measure biometric and productive parameters of forages along the cycles; (Iii) to correlate the evolution of Kc throughout the growth period with the leaf area index (LAI), forage canopy height (ADF) and degree-days (GD). The experiment was carried out at the \"Luiz de Queiroz\" College of Agriculture (ESALQ/USP), in two plots with an individual area of 144 m², in which lysimeters were installed in the center, with automatic weighing and drainage systems. These lysimeters were used to measure the ETc and estimate the Kc from the comparison between measured values and estimates of reference evapotranspiration (ETo) with data from the Meteorological Station located at ESALQ, 100 m away from the experimental area. The period from February 10 to October 11, 2016 was analyzed with crop cycles of varied duration due to crop phenology. The results showed that both cultivation systems (single and intercropped Marandu grass) require considerable volumes of water for maximum production. However during the seasonal period, the Marandu grass is not efficient in the conversion to dry matter produced. The use of the capacitive probe as an estimate of evapotranspiration presents different results from lysimeters, but with significant correlations. The use of growth model to estimate Kc explains a practical use. Further detailed results are found in the development of each chapter.

O Brasil é o maior produtor mundial de citros, com destaque para o estado de São Paulo, maior produtor nacional. Recentes estudos mostram que a área irrigada de citros no estado tem aumentado significativamente nos últimos anos. Porém, a falta de informações sobre o manejo eficiente da irrigação na cultura do citros é uma das principais dificuldades enfrentadas pelos produtores. Com o intuito de atender essa necessidade, este trabalho teve como objetivos determinar a evapotranspiração de uma planta adulta de limeira ácida \'Tahiti\' (Citrus latifolia Tan.) e o coeficiente de cultivo no período seco (outono - inverno) utilizando a técnica de lisimetria de pesagem. O coeficiente de cultivo (Kc = ETc/ETo) foi calculado considerando-se a contribuição independente da evaporação do solo e transpiração da planta, sendo substituído por dois coeficientes: Ke, um coeficiente de evaporação de água do solo e Kcb, um coeficiente basal de transpiração da cultura. Avaliar os aspectos produtivos e de qualidade de fruto, frente a diferentes níveis de irrigação, com o fornecimento crescente de 50 a 125 % da evapotranspiração da cultura. O experimento foi realizado na ESALQ/ USP em Piracicaba - SP, em uma área irrigada por gotejamento, com plantas espaçadas de 7 x 4 m, sendo que cada planta foi atendida por 4 pontos de molhamento no solo distribuídos de forma eqüidistantes entre si. Foi realizado o monitoramento climático utilizando estação meteorológica automatizada e a obtenção da evapotranspiração da cultura por lisímetro de pesagem. Durante o período de estudo, Kc variou entre 0,82 a 1,18, e Kcb variou entre 0,86 a 1,05. Os resultados mostraram que a irrigação calculada pelo método do Kcb+Ke, tem um ajuste muito bom e representa com precisão o consumo de água pela planta. Os maiores consumos foram observados nos meses de maior temperatura média (abril e setembro). A reposição de 100 % da água evapotranspirada resultou em maior produtividade de frutos de limeira acida \'Tahiti\' em condições de campo. Quanto à qualidade de frutos, não houve diferença significativa entre os níveis de irrigação avaliados. / Brazil is the largest world producer of citrus crop, with São Paulo state leading as the largest national producer. Recent studies show that irrigated areas of citrus in the state have been increasing significantly in the last few years. However, lack of information on irrigation management related to this crop is one of the main problems encountered by the farmers. In order to address the above problem, the objective of this work was to determine the evapotranspiration of acid lime adult plant variety \'Tahiti\' (Citrus latifolia Tan.) and the crop coefficient during dry period (autumn - winter) using a weighing lysimeter technique. The crop coefficient (Kc = ETc/ETo) was calculated by considering the independent contribution of the evaporation of the soil and transpiration of the plant, being substituted by two coefficients: Ke, a soil water evaporation coefficient and Kcb, a basal crop coefficient. To evaluate the productive aspects as well as the fruit quality, different irrigation levels were applied in an increasing manner from 50 to 125 % of the crop evapotranspiration. The experiment was carried out at ESALQ / USP in Piracicaba - SP, in a drip irrigated area with plant spacing of 7 x 4 m. Each plant was supplied with four wetting equidistant emitters. The climatic data was obtained by the use of automated meteorological station and the crop evapotraspiration by the use of a weighing lysimeter. During the study period, Kc varied from 0.82 to 1.18, and Kcb varied from 0.86 to 1.05. The results showed that the irrigation amount calculated by the method of Kcb+Ke had a very good water consumption precision by the plant. The highest consumptions were observed in the months of high average temperature (April and September). The reposition of 100 % of the evapotranspirated water resulted in the highest fruit production of acid lime tree variety \'Tahiti\' in field conditions. Irrigation levels had no significant effect at 0.05 level on the quality of the fruits.

Tendo em vista a distribuição irregular de chuvas no nordeste, a irrigação se torna de grande importância, uma vez que passa a ser a principal alternativa racional de exploração das culturas agrícolas. Num projeto de irrigação, a evapotranspiração da cultura (ETc) é a variável mais importante, pois determina qual a quantidade de água a ser reposta, de forma a manter a produtividade a níveis rentáveis. Sendo a ETc função da evapotranspiração de referência (ETo), a determinação desta passa a ser fundamental em projetos, no planejamento e no manejo de irrigação. Dentro deste contexto o presente estudo teve por objetivo avaliar a estimativa da ETo, utilizando, para tanto, medidas lisimétricas e métodos de estimativa que foram comparados com valores de ETo obtidos com a equação de Penman-Monteith (Allen et al., 1998). Os métodos de estimativa de ETo empregados foram: Thornthwaite (1948), Thornthwaite modificado por Camargo et al. (1999), Tanque de Evaporação Classe A (Allen et al., 1998), Hargreaves & Samani (1985) e Priestley & Taylor (1972). A análise foi realizada em relação ao período de março a junho dos anos de 1997 e 1998, com dados coletados em uma estação meteorológica automática instalada na Estação Experimental do Vale do Curu, no Centro Nacional de Pesquisa em Agroindústria Tropical, pertencente à EMBRAPA, Paraipaba, CE, onde também se encontrava instalado um lisímetro de pesagem (área = 2,205m2), com células de carga. A análise foi baseada em dados diários, qüinqüidiais e decendiais, utilizando-se a análise de regressão, os índices de concordância de Willmott (1985) e de desempenho de Camargo e Sentelhas (1997), além dos seguintes erros: erro médio absoluto (EMA), erro máximo (EM), erro sistemático (Es) e erro aleatório (Ea). Os resultados obtidos mostraram que os dados medidos em lisímetro, se ajustaram de forma regular aos valores de ETo estimados pelo método de Penman-Monteith, nas três escalas de tempo avaliadas, o que indica a possibilidade de problemas na operação e manutenção desse dispositivo. Com relação aos métodos de estimativa de ETo, os que melhor se ajustaram aos valores obtidos por Penman-Monteith foram: Priestley & Taylor (1972) nas escalas diária e decendial e Thornthwaite modificado por Camargo et al. (1999) na escala qüinqüidial, porém, com erros sisitemáticos. Devido a isso, foram propostos ajustes com base nesses métodos. O ajuste constou de modificações no coeficiente ( f ) do método de Thornthwaite modificado por Camargo et al. (1999) e no parâmetro α da equação de Priestley-Taylor (1972), que foram modificados respectivamente para 0,379 e 1,19. Observou-se um desempenho considerado bom para o método de Priestley-Taylor (α = 1,19) e muito bom para Thornthwaite modificado por Camargo et al. (1999) (f = 0,379), indicando a potencialidade de seus usos em condições climáticas semelhantes às desse estudo, quando há limitação de dados meteorológicos. / The irregular distribuition of rain in the Brazil’s northeast region become irrigation very important, being the main rational alternative to produce food. In an irrigation project the crop evapotranspiration (ETc) is the most important variable, which determine how much water is necessary to be applied to maintain the yield at high levels. Being ETc funcion of reference evapotranspiration (ETo), the determination of this variabel is fundamental in irrigation projects and schedule. In this context, this study aimed to evaluate ETo estimates from lysimetric measures and other methods, which were compaired with the ETo values obtained by Penman-Monteith equation (Allen et al., 1998). The methods used were: Thornthwaite (1948), Thornthwaite modified by Camargo et al. (1999), Class A pan (Allen et al., 1998), Hargreaves & Samani (1985) and Priestley-Taylor (1972). The data were analysed during the period from march to june, in 1997 and 1998. The meteorological data were collected in an automatic weather station located at Vale do Curu Experimental Station, in the Tropical Agroindustry National Research Center, belonged to EMBRAPA, in Paraipaba, State of Ceará, Brazil, where a weighing lysimeter using strain gauge was installed (area = 2,205m2). The data analysis were based on daily, quinquidial and decendial time scale, and were done utilizing regression analysis, agreement (Willmott, 1981) and performance (Camargo & Sentelhas, 1997) indexes, and the following errors: absolute mean error (EMA), maximum error (EM), sistematic error (Es) and random error (Ea). The results obtained showed that ETo lysimeric measures did not fit well with ETo estimated by Penman-Monteith equation in all time scales evaluated, what problably is related to the problems in the operation and maintenance of this equipament. In relation to the other methods to estimate ETo, the best fits were obtained with Priestley-Taylor (1972), for daily and decendial data, and with Thornthwaite modified by Camargo et al. (1999), for quinquidial data. Howerer, these methods presented sistematic errors, being proposed adjusts in the parameters f for the Thornthwaite modified by Camargo et al. (1999) and α for the Priestley-Taylor methods, which were modified, recpectively, to 0.379 and 1.19. With these modifications these methods improved the ETo estimation, increasing the accuracy and decreasing the errors, being classified by the performance index as good and very good, indicating their potenciality for be used in similar climatic conditions of this study, where complete set of weather data are not available.

Considerando o sistema atual de produção de mudas cítricas, este trabalho teve como objetivo estudar os efeitos de diferentes níveis de irrigação e fertirrigação sobre o crescimento do porta-enxerto citrumelo 'Swingle' (Citrus paradisi x Poncirus trifoliata), propondo modelos matemáticos para se descrever estas interações, e desenvolver, construir e analisar a performance de dois lisímetros móveis de pesagem, utilizando-se célula de carga confeccionada com cilindro hidráulico em um e diafragma no outro. A primeira fase deste trabalho foi realizada utilizando-se porta-enxertos cultivados em container com substrato, sob condições de ambiente protegido, em um viveiro comercial situado no município paulista de Rio Claro. Utilizou-se o delineamento balanceado para vizinhança, composto por oito blocos, cada um com quatro linhas e quatro colunas, constituído-se 16 tratamentos, através da combinação de dois fatores, irrigação e fertirrigação. Foram avaliados os efeitos de níveis de irrigação e nutrientes sobre a taxa de crescimento relativo do porta-enxerto. Os resultados obtidos neste trabalho permitiram concluir que o volume total de água de 9,838L.planta-1, distribuídos ao longo dos 71 dias, e o fornecimento de (mg.planta-1) 468,6 de NO3, 20,9 de N-NH4, 49,5 de P, 358,7 de K, 361,6 de Ca, 64,2 de Mg, 2,59 de Cu, 3,93 de Zn, 3,93 de Mn, 16,49 de Fe e 0,05 de Mo, parcelado em 21 fertirrigações, promoveram a maior precocidade de formação do porta-enxerto, quando comparados aos demais níveis. Os modelos matemáticos TCRD = 0,004636316 + 0,00001313791L - 0,00001160437N e TCRA = 0,03357119 + 0,00002852342L - 0,0007466065N + 0,000007850791N2 - 0,00000002718364N3, foram validados, sento TCRD e TCRA a taxa de crescimento relativo, em função do diâmetro e altura do caule, respectivamente, L e N uma porcentagem da quantidade de água e nutrientes, a ser aplicada, respectivamente. A segunda fase deste trabalho foi realizada no Departamento de Engenharia Rural, pertencente à Escola Superior de Agricultura "Luiz de Queiroz" - ESALQ/USP, em Piracicaba, SP. A solução encontrada para se viabilizar a lisimetria em casa de vegetação, com grupos de plantas muito heterogêneos, foi o emprego de uma estrutura móvel capaz de pesar, isoladamente, vários Contentores de Mudas. O número de contentores seria diretamente proporcional ao número de variedades cultivadas e estádio de desenvolvimento, enquanto que o número de estruturas móveis de pesagem seria função do número de contentores a ser pesado em um dado período. Concluiu-se neste trabalho que o lisímetro com cilindro hidráulico apresentou um desempenho insatisfatório, devido à detecção de histerese e lentidão de resposta. Todavia, o emprego de um diafragma proporcionou um desempenho superior ao do cilindro hidráulico, resultando na equação matemática V=0,0178.LR, onde V é o volume de água (L.planta-1) e LR é a leitura piezométrica (mm). Esta equação apresentou um r2 de 0,9971, indicando a excelente precisão do equipamento. Com um r2 de 0,9975, originado da regressão entre o volume estimado e volume real, e um índice de Concordância (d) de 0,99926, o lisímetro apresentou excelente acurácia, com resolução de 0,45mm de lâmina de água. Sua mobilidade permitiu o livre deslocamento entre bancadas de mudas, exigindo um único operador. O custo total estimado de construção de cada lisímetro foi de US$1.108,54. / The objective of this experiment was to evaluate the effects of different levels of irrigation and fertirrigation on the growth of the citrumelo ‘Swingle’ (Citrus paradisi x Poncirus trifoliata) rootstock, establishing mathematical models to describe these interactions and develop, construct and evaluate the performance of two movable weighing lysimeter, applying a hydraulic load cell made of hydraulical cylinder and diaphragm. The first trial studied the vegetative growth of containerized citrus rootstock, in a commercial screenhouse situated in Rio Claro, São Paulo State, Brazil. The experiment used the neighbor balanced design, composition of eight blocks, each one with four lines and four columns, consisting of 16 treatments, through the combination of two factors: irrigation and fertirrigação. The effect of irrigation and nutrients levels on the relative growth rate of rootstock was evaluated. The results showed that the water total of 9.838L/plant, distributed in 71 days, and the supply of (mg/plant) 468.6NO3, 20.9NNH4, 49.5P, 358.7K, 361.6Ca, 64.2Mg, 2.59Cu, 3.93Zn, 3.93Mn, 16.49Fe e 0.05Mo, split application in 21 fertirrigation, promoted the precocity growth of rootstock, when compared with the other levels. The mathematical models was been validated, resulting in: TCRD = 0,004636316 + 0,00001313791L - 0,00001160437N and TCRA = 0,03357119 + 0,00002852342L - 0,0007466065N + 0,000007850791N2 - 0,00000002718364N3 with TCRD and TCRA being the relative growth rate as a function of diameter and height, respectively, L and N were the percentage of the amount of water and nutrients applied, respectively. The second trial was conducted at the Department of Agricultural Engineering, at the Escola Superior de Agricultura "Luiz de Queiroz" - ESALQ/USP, in Piracicaba, São Paulo State, Brazil. The solution was to make a feasible use of lysimeter in actual citrus nursery production system in screenhouse, with high heterogeneous group of plants, was to use a movable structure, able to weight several containers of seedlings, sequentially. The number of container was function of number of varieties and development stage. The number of weighing structure was a function of the number of containers. From results, it was concluded that lysimeter with hydraulical cylinder presented an unsatisfactory performance, due to hysteresis and slowness of reply. However, the lysimeter with diaphragm presented a good performance, providing the mathematic equation V=0.0178LR, where V is the volume of water (L/plant) and LR is the piezometric reading (mm). The determination coefficient (r2,) was 0.9971, indicating an excellent adjustment of equipment. A regression between estimated and real volume, provide a r2 of 0.9975 and Concordance Index (d) of 0.99926, indicated a excellent accuracy, with 0.45mm water depth resolution. The mobility of equipment allowed free movement between nursery benches, with just one operator. Total construction cost was US$1,108.54, for each lysimeter.

Soil and groundwater pollution has become a global issue since the advent of industrialization and mechanized agriculture. Some contaminants such as PAHs may persist in the subsurface for decades and centuries. In a bid to address these issues, protection of groundwater must be based on the quantification of potential threats to pollution at the subsurface which is often inaccessible. Risk assessment of groundwater pollution may however be strongly supported by applying process-based simulation models, which turn out to be particularly helpful with regard to long-term predictions, which cannot be undertaken by experiments. Such reliable predictions, however, can only be achieved if the used modeling tool is known to be applicable. The aim of this work was threefold. First, a source strength function was developed to describe the leaching behavior of point source organic contaminants and thereby acting as a time-dependent upper boundary condition for transport models. For general application of these functions dimensionless numbers known as Damköhler numbers were used to characterize the reaction of the pollutants with the solid matrix. Two functions were derived and have been incorporated into an Excel worksheet to act as a practical aid in the quantification of leaching behavior of organic contaminant in seepage water prognoses. Second, the process based model tool SMART, which is well validated for laboratory scale data, was applied to lysimeter scale data from two research centres, FZJ (Jülich) and GSF (München) for long term predictions. Results from pure forward model runs show a fairly good correlation with the measured data. Finally, the derived source term functions in combination with the SMART model were used to assess groundwater vulnerability beneath a typical landfill at Kwabenya in Ghana. The predicted breakthrough time after leaking from the landfill was more than 200 years considering the operational time of the facility (30 years). Considering contaminant degradation, the landfill would therefore not cause groundwater pollution under the simulated scenarios and the SMART model can be used to establish waste acceptance criteria for organic contaminants in the landfill at Kwabenya / Seit dem Beginn der Industrialisierung und der mechanisierten Landwirtschaft wurde die Boden- und Grundwasserverschmutzung zu einem weltweiten Problem. Einige Schadstoffe wie z. B. PAK können für Jahrzehnte oder Jahrhunderte im Untergrund bestehen. Um diese Probleme behandeln zu können, muss der Schutz des Grundwassers basierend auf der Quantifizierung potentieller Gefährdungen des zumeist unzugänglichen Untergrundes erfolgen. Risikoabschätzungen von Grundwasserverschmutzungen können jedoch durch die Anwendung prozess-basierter Simulationsmodelle erheblich unterstützt werden, die sich besonders im Hinblick auf Langzeitvorhersagen als hilfreich erweisen und nicht experimentell ermittelbar sind. Derart zuverlässige Vorhersagen können jedoch nur erhalten werden, wenn das verwendete Modellierwerkzeug als anwendbar bekannt ist. Das Ziel dieser Arbeit bestand aus drei Teilen. Erstens wurde eine Quellstärke-funktion entwickelt, die das Ausbreitungsverhalten organischer Schadstoffe aus einer Punktquelle beschreibt und dadurch als zeitabhängige obere Randbedingung bei Transportmodellen dienen kann. Im Hinblick auf die allgemeine Anwendbarkeit dieser Funktion werden als Damköhler-Zahlen bekannte, dimensionslose Zahlen verwendet, um die Reaktion von Schadstoffen mit Feststoffen zu charakterisieren. Zwei Funktionen wurden abgeleitet und in ein Excel-Arbeitsblatt eingefügt, das ein praktisches Hilfsmittel bei der Quantifizierung des Freisetzungsverhaltens organischer Schadstoffe im Rahmen der Sickerwasserprognose darstellt. Der zweite Teil dieser Arbeit beinhaltet die Anwendung des prozessbasierten und mittels Laborexperimenten validierten Modellwerkzeugs SMART für Langzeitprognosen auf der Lysimeterskala anhand von Daten zweier Forschungszentren, FZJ (Jülich) und GSF (München). Ergebnisse reiner Vorwärtsmodellierungsläufe zeigten gute Übereinstimmungen mit den gemessenen Daten. Im dritten Teil wurden die erhaltenen Quellstärkefunktionen in Kombination mit dem SMART-Modell eingesetzt, um das Grundwassergefährdungspotential unter einer typischen Deponie in Kwabenya, Ghana, einzuschätzen. Die vorhergesagten Durchbruchszeiten nach einer Leckage in der Deponie betragen über 200 Jahre bei einer Betriebszeit von 30 Jahren. Unter Berücksichtigung des Schadstoffabbaus verursacht die Deponie somit keine Grundwasserverunreinigung im Rahmen der simulierten Szenarien und das SMART-Modell kann verwendet werden, um Schadstoffgrenzwerte für organische Schadstoffe in der Deponie in Kwabenya festzulegen.

Es wurden Versuche für die ungesättigte Zone duchgeführt, um das Verhalten kleinerer Einträge an Benzen, Toluen und Xylen im Oberboden anschätzen zu können. In einem Vorversuch wurde der Verteilungskoeffizient Gas-Wasser für verschiedene Wässer bestimmt. Der Einfluss der Temperatur hatte einen größeren Einfluss als der Chemismus des Wassers. Die Sorption wurde ermittelt und zeigte sich als ein über sechs Größenordnungen linearer Prozess. Sie ist abhängig vom Humusgehalt. Versuche zur Desorption zeigen Unterschiede zwischen den Aromaten. Xylen desorbiert am langsamsten. Fünf, z.T. mehrmonatige Versuche mit einem großen Laborlysimeter (60 cm Durchmesser, 2 m Länge) zeigten, dass die Korngröße die Diffusion und dichtebedingte Konvektion der gasförmigen Aromaten beeinflusst. Diese Vorgänge sind für den schnellen Transport verantwortlich. Das Sickerwasser bewegt sich deutlich langsamer, transportiert aber die größeren BTX-Mengen. Humushaltige Böden können den Transport in tiefere Bereiche aufgrund von Sorption deutlich reduzieren. Mikrobieller Abbau lässt sich über den Sauerstoffverbrauch nachweisen.

Landfill leachate is generated as a result of reactions between water percolating through the landfill and wastes. Under normal conditions leachate is found at the bottom of landfills and from there, its movement can be controlled with collection systems to be treated, discharged, or recirculated. Landfill leachate collection systems are positioned above the liner and are designed to collect liquid under gravitational flow for the entire active, closure, and post-closure periods. Clogging of any portion of the system can lead to higher hydraulic heads and increase the potential for leakage through the liner. To reduce the quantity of municipal solid wastes (MSW) requiring landfilling, many municipalities have adopted waste-to-energy (WTE) facilities that yield energy in the form of combustible gases and noncombustible residues. Disposal practices for WTE residuals include landfilling in monofills or co-disposal with MSW and other materials such as residues from water and wastewater treatment facilities. There has been concern about co-disposal practices, because the impacts on leachate quality and waste interactions are not well known yet. This research was conducted to evaluate clogging of leachate collection systems due to co-disposal of MSW and combustion residues from WTE facilities. The use of laboratory lysimeters in conjunction with batch tests to predict short-term and long-term leaching characteristics of noncombustible residues from WTE facilities was also evaluated. Laboratory lysimeters were used to simulate monofills (WTE residues and MSW) and co-disposal practices. Relationships between waste composition and leachate quality were evaluated over a seven month period.