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First-Order Catchment Mass Balance During The Wet Season In The Panama Canal Watershed, Fred Ogden

Fred L. Ogden

Tropical hydrology is poorly understood for a number of reasons. Intense biological activity in the tropics introduces complexities to the hydrologic process. Bioturbation, rapid rates of decay, and intensive insect activity all tend to promote rapid flow paths in the upper soil. Aggressive weathering leads to clays depleted of light cations and deep soil profiles. Processes in the seasonal tropics are further complicated by seasonal transitions, and very large changes in catchment storage between seasons. Beginning in 2005, we installed a suite of hydrologic sensors in a 16.7 ha first-order catchment in the Panama Canal Watershed to observe hydrologic variables …