contents monitored every 30 min with TDR sensors (CS615, Campbell Scientific) and data loggers (CR 10X, Campbell Scientific).Parameters were optimized based on the water retention curve (uh) and Eq. (3). In this process, the Mualem-Van Genuchten parameters were adjusted to meet water budgets in the soil during short-term rainfall events according to Klinge (2001). Daily water fluxes were estimated using the parameters of Mualem-Van Genuchten functions to describe the physical properties of the soils and volumetric soil water contents monitored (Fig. 2). A detailed description for the calculation of soil water fluxes was given in our previous report (Fujii et al., 2008).