This field study was designed to evaluate how nitrate leaching rates change with depth and how seasonal and annual variation in management (e.g., fertilizer input amount and summer irrigation) impact the transport of water and nutrients through the vadose zone. The field experiment was established in June 2016 with the uniform planting of a sweet corn crop across the whole ~0.8 ha site. In September 2016, monitoring networks were installed in two subfields, North and South, consisting of groundwater wells and vadose zone instrumentation installed near the center of each. Water was sampled every two weeks beginning in October 2016 and analyzed for nitrate. We present three years of nitrate data, modeled water flux, and post-harvest soil nutrient data starting in July 2017 and reported on a “fertilizer year” basis, defined as beginning in the summer, coinciding with the peak of the growing season when crop growth, irrigation rates, and fertilizer application are greatest (July-June; straddles two calendar years).

This dataset is associated with the following publication: Weitzman, J., J.R. Brooks, J. Compton, B. Faulkner, P. Mayer, R.E. Peachey, W. Rugh, R. Coulombe, B. Hatteberg, and S. Hutchins. Deep soil nitrogen storage slows nitrate leaching through the vadose zone. AGRICULTURE, ECOSYSTEMS & ENVIRONMENT. Elsevier Science Ltd, New York, NY, USA, 332: 107949, (2022).