Study of groundwater level and its correlation to soil moisture on peatlands in South Sumatra

Abstract

Hydrological and climatological parameters in several locations on peatlands in South Sumatra have been measured directly by a system called Sensory data transmission Service Assisted by Midori Engineering laboratory (SESAME). The parameters are rainfall, temperature, soil moisture, and groundwater level. This research has studied the groundwater level fluctuations and looks for the correlation between groundwater level and soil moisture in four locations, namely Saleh River 1 (SR1), Saleh River 2 (SR2), Lumpur River 1 (LR1), and Lumpur River 2 (LR2). The results are expected to be useful for fire disaster mitigation on peatlands, especially in South Sumatra. Based on time series data of groundwater level, the results show that there has been a sharp decrease in groundwater level at locations SR1, SR2, and LR1. The statistic calculation results show that groundwater level has a significant correlation with soil moisture in four study sites. The correlation coefficients obtained for SR1, SR2, LR1, and LR2 are r = 0.88, 0.97, 0.87 and 0.92, respectively.