Objectives
- To study the temporal evolution of the soil water repellency in soils affected by forest fires in a médium term (2-3 years from the fire event)
- To study the implications of soil watre repellency for soil system functioning (soil water and nutrients availability) and hydrological (infiltration, runoff and preferential flow) in burned soils and therefore the implicatiosn for the vegetal cover restoration
- To answer some key questions that remain unsolved about the development of this property as a consequence of the combustion (see introduction and section 3.2)
- To compare the existing methods for soil water repellency studies with the aim of proposing the most suitable, it being considered that the inclusion of this property in future soil and soil survey studies is of great importance.
- To study the role of ash in soil water repellency in fire-affected soils
- To check the effectiveness of some methodologies for the reduction of water repellency with the aim of modifying the soil wettability in some cases
- To improve the methodology and to advance the knowledge of the use of near infrared spectroscopy for the estimation of fire severity.