Name: Prediction of Soil Saturated Hydraulic Conductivity using CoGTF Framework for Kentucky
Start: 2026-10-01T12:15:00-0400
End: 2026-10-01T12:45:00-0400

Prediction of Soil Saturated Hydraulic Conductivity using CoGTF Framework for Kentucky

Thursday October 1, 2026 12:15pm - 12:45pm EDT

The Barrel Room

Saturated hydraulic conductivity (Ksat) is a critical soil hydraulic parameter governing water flow and solute transport, yet its direct measurement is time consuming and spatially sparse. This study develops and evaluates a geotransfer function using a Random Forest (RF) model trained on a global compilation of Ksat measurements to predict Ksat across Kentucky, with external validation against field- sample soils from three land cover types; agriculture, grassland, and deciduous forest. The RF model was trained on 19 environmental covariates derived from remote sensing and global soil maps (SoilGrids, MERIT DEM, WorldClim, MODIS, PROBA-V, JRC Global Surface Water). Then the Ksat value was log transformed so that a standardized comparison can be made. Internal validation was performed on a 20% test set with Ksat of all depths and through spatial block cross validation (blockCV). The model was then applied to Ksat at 19 field across Kentucky, where laboratory measured Ksat from the different depths of horizons are available for independent validation. The internal validation showed that global model performed well on internal test set (R² = 0.816, RMSE = 0.409 log₁₀ units). Variable importance indicated that sand content (15.5% IncMSE), mean annual temperature (14.8%), clay (13.8%) and temperature seasonality (13.2%) were the dominant predictors. However, external validation for Kentucky sites will help to confirm the strong systemic performance of the model. Further depth‑stratified modelling from multiple depths within the profile will be conducted to capture depth‑related variability.

Speakers

Monika Bhusal

Graduate Student, Murray State University

Monika Bhusal is a current graduate student in the Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences with a concentration in Geoinformatics at Murray State University. She received her Bachelor of Science in Agriculture from Tribhuvan University, Nepal. After her undergraduate studies... Read More →

Thursday October 1, 2026 12:15pm - 12:45pm EDT
The Barrel Room 1375 South Broadway, Lexington, KY, USA

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Kentucky GIS Conference 2026

Monika Bhusal

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Kentucky GIS Conference 2026

Monika Bhusal

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