Hydrology and Earth System Sciences www.hydrol-earth-syst-sci.net 1027-5606 1607-7938 13 6 2009 10.5194/hess-13-703-2009 http://www.hydrol-earth-syst-sci.net/13/703/2009/ http://www.hydrol-earth-syst-sci.net/13/703/2009/hess-13-703-2009.html http://www.hydrol-earth-syst-sci.net/13/703/2009/hess-13-703-2009.pdf 703 714 2009-06-03 Diurnal pattern of the drying front in desert and its application for determining the effective infiltration Y. Zeng Z. Su L. Wan Z. Yang T. Zhang H. Tian X. Shi X. Wang W. Cao School of Water Resources and Environment, China University of Geosciences, Beijing, China International Institute for Geo-information Science and Earth Observation, Enschede, Netherlands Cold and Arid Regions Environmental and Engineering Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Sciences,<br>Lanzhou, China now at: International Institute for Geo-information Science and Earth Observation, Enschede, Netherlands Located in western Inner Mongolia, the Badain Jaran Desert is the second largest desert in China and consists of a regular series of stable megadunes, among which over 70 permanent lakes exist. The unexpected lakes in desert attracted research interests on exploring the hydrological process under this particular landscape; however, a very few literatures exist on the diurnal and spatial variation of the drying front in this area, which is the main issue in the desert hydrological process to characterize the movement of water in soil. 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