• Journal of The Korean Society of Agricultural Engineers
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• v.53 no.4
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• pp.1-9
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• 2011

Forest area covers 64 % of the national land of Korea and the forest plays a pivotal role in the hydrological process such as flood, drought, runoff, infiltration, evapotranspiration, etc. In this study, soil moisture monitoring for conifer forest in experimental forest of Seoul National University has been conducted using FDR (Frequency Domain Reflection) for 6 different soil layers, 10, 20, 30, 60, 90 and 120 cm during 2009~2010, and precipitation data was collected from nearby AWS (Automatic Weather Station). Soil moisture monitoring data were used to estimate soil moisture recession constant (SMRC) for analyzing soil moisture recession characteristics. From the results, empirical soil moisture recession equations were estimated and validated to determine the feasibility of the result, and soil moisture contents of measured and calculated showed a similar tendency from April to November. Thus, the results can be applied for soil moisture estimation and provided the basic knowledge in forest soil moisture consumption. Nevertheless, this approach demonstrated applicability limitations during winter and early spring season due to freezing and melting of snow and ice causing peculiar change of soil moisture contents.