Applied Soil Hydrology

Soil as part of the Soil-Plant-Atmosphere System (SPAS).- Basic physical properties of soils.- Physical properties of water.- Phenomena on the interface water - solid phase of soil.- Soil water content, methods of measurement.- Soil - water potential and its measurement.- The soil water retention curve.- Flow of water in unsaturated, rigid, capillary - porous media (soil).- Flow of water in variably saturated soil.- Infiltration.- Redistribution of water in homogeneous soil.- Groundwater - soil water interactions.- Evapotranspiration of water.- Solute transport in porous media and in soils.- Water and energy balance in the field and soil water regime.- Swelling and shrinking soils.- Stony soils.- Water repellent soils (hydrofobic soils).- Soil air and its dynamics.- Soil temperature and heat transport in the soils.- Modeling the transport of water and solute in soils.

Viliam Novák is a soil hydrologist at the Institute of Hydrology, Department of Subsurface Water Hydrology of the Slovak Academy of Sciences (IH SAS), Bratislava, Slovakia. He received his MSc degree from the Slovak Technical University, Faculty of Civil Engineering in Bratislava (1964) and his PhD at the Slovak Academy of Sciences in the field of water transport in porous media (1972). He also received a scientific degree DrSc (Doctor of Sciences) in 1992 defending a thesis entitled "Transport of Water and Energy in the Soil-Plant-Atmosphere System".Rising from technical assistant to principal scientific officer, Dr Novák was engaged in the study of water and energy transport in the soil-plant-atmosphere system (SPAS), with a focus on evapotranspiration process measurement and calculation methods. His other fields of interest include extraction of soil water by roots as part of the chain soil-plant-atmosphere system and mathematical modeling of water transport in the root zone of the soil to the atmosphere. The mathematical models he developed have been used for the diagnosis and prognosis of the soil water regime of different localities, especially for heavy-soil management in East Slovakia. Another important application of these models was the diagnosis and prognosis of the soil water regime management of the inundation area of the Danube river lowland. The simulation model HYDRUS-ET was developed jointly by US Salinity Laboratory (Riverside, CA, USA) and the Institute of Hydrology SAS (Bratislava, Slovakia). Dr Novák's other field of interest is the role of different canopies in the water regime of mountainous landscape, particularly the transport of water and energy in the SPAS. About 41 percent of Slovak territory is covered by forest and the majority of forest soils are stony soils, making the role of stoniness on soil water regimen of mountainous forest soils his next field of interest.Author and coauthor of more than 70 journal publications, 4