Editor’s Note

This issue of the Journal of Irrigation and Drainage Engineering includes 10 papers on a variety of water resources topics. The first two papers—by Consoli, O’Connell, and Snyder—are about evapotranspiration (ET) of navel-orange orchards. The first paper, “Estimation of Evapotranspiration of Different-Sized Navel-Orange Tree Orchard Canopies Using Energy Balance,” discusses ET estimations by the energy balance method; and the second paper, “Measurement of Light Interception by Navel Orange Orchard Canopies: Case Study of Lindsay, California,” concerns the measurement of light interception by navel-orange canopies to determine its relationship with crop coefficients and ET.

The third paper, “Evaluating Regional Solutions to Salinization and Waterlogging in an Irrigated River Valley,” by Burkhalter and Gates, discusses the results of modeling potential solutions to high soil salinity levels and waterlogging in the Lower Arkansas River Valley in Colorado. A total of 38 alternative solutions were modeled.

The fourth and fifth papers apply to sprinkler irrigation. The fourth paper, “Total Friction Loss along Multiple Outlets Pipes with Open End,” by Chinea and Dominguez, presents equations for calculating friction head loss along multiple outlet pipes. The paper “Investigation of the Influence of Sprinkler Fins and Dissolved Air on Jet Flow,” by Pashcal and Tchifthibachian is a study in which some of the physical parameters within the irrigation jet of large gun sprinklers are measured by using a particle image velocimetry technique.

The sixth paper, “Combination Subsurface Irrigation and Drainage Systems in North-Central South Dakota,” by DeBoer and Beck, is a study in the Lake Plain area of South Dakota where the model DRAINMOD was used to access the feasibility of installing subsurface irrigation and drainage systems to increase corn yields. The seventh paper, “Grass Swale–Perforated Pipe Systems for Stormwater Management,” by Abida and Sabourin, also involves drainage. The paper discusses a field study of the performance of a grass swale–perforated pipe system for stormwater management.

The eighth paper, “Fuzzy Analysis of Slope-Area Discharge Estimates,” by McCuen and Knight, discusses the use of fuzzy set analyses to compute the distribution of slope-area discharge estimations. The distribution was very similar to the distribution that used statistical methods.

The ninth paper, “Flow Patterns and Energy Dissipation over Various Stepped Chutes,” by Chinnarasri and Wongwises, discusses experiments to measure flow patterns and energy dissipation over horizontal steps, inclined steps, and steps with end-sills chutes. The tenth paper, “Simplified Kernel Method for Flow to Large-Diameter Wells,” by Singh, discusses a simple kernel computational method for obtaining drawdowns because of unsteady pumping of large-diameter wells.