Soil Moisture - Cosmic-Ray Soil Moisture Probe Hydroinnova

Parameter to be measured:

Soil moisture

Method:

He3 neutron detectors for cosmic-ray neutron measurements

Advantages:

Measurement of avarage soil moisture for a spatial-scale of 300 m radius around the measurement device, averaged over depth of several decimetres.

Disadvantages:

Under wet conditions the measurement depth decreases, from 80 cm in dry soils to 10 cm in wet soils. Water bodies (lakes, storage ponds) influence the signal. Biomass growth influences the signal.

What to watch out for:

1) Variability of penetration depth due changes of mean areal soil moisture in the cosmic-ray footprint. 2) Possible site-specific fitting parameters of equation for soil moisture estimation. This is due changes of conditions involved on neutron transport. 3) Watch out for significant fluctuations of incomming high-energy cosmic rays.

Price:

11500 US$ 2010

Links

Projects that used the above equipment:

• TERENO

Other related web sites:

• Hydroinnova

References

Baatz, R., Bogena, H.R., Hendricks Franssen, H.-J., Huisman, J.A., Qu, W., Montzka, C., Vereecken, H.: Calibration of a catchment scale cosmic-ray probe network: A comparison of three parameterization methods, Journal of Hydrology, http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jhydrol.2014.02.026, 2014.

Baatz, R., Bogena, H.R., Hendricks Franssen, H.-J., Huisman, J.A., Qu, W., Montzka, C., Vereecken, H.: An empirical vegetation correction for soil water content quantification using cosmic ray probes, Water Resour. Res., DOI: 10.1002/2014WR016443, 2015.

Baroni, G., Oswald, S.E.: A scaling approach for the assessment of biomass changes and rainfall interception using Cosmic-Ray neutron sensing, Journal of Hydrology, DOI: 10.1016/j.jhydrol.2015.03.053, 2015.

Bogena, H.R., Huisman, J.A., Baatz, R., Hendriks-Franssen, H.-J., Vereecken, H.: Accuracy of the cosmic-ray soil water content probe in humid forest ecosystems: The worst case scenario, Water Resour. Res., DOI: 10.1002/wrcr.20463, 2013.

Chrisman, B., Zreda, M.: Quantifying mesoscale soil moisture with the cosmic-ray rover, Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 17, 5097-5108, DOI: 10.5194/hess-17-5097-2013, 2013.

Desilets, D., Zreda, M., Ferre, TPA.: Nature’s neutron probe: Land surface hydrology at an elusive scale with cosmic rays, Water Resour. Res., 46, W11505, doi:10.1029/2009WR008726, 2010.

Desilets, D. Zreda, M.: Footprint diameter for a cosmic-ray soil moisture probe: Theory and Monte Carlo simulations, Water Resour. Res., 49, 3566–3575, DOI: 10.1002/wrcr.20187, 2013.

Franz, T.E., Zreda, M., Ferre, T.P.A., Rosolem, R., Zweck, C., Stillman, S., Zeng,X., Shuttleworth W.J.: Measurement depth of the cosmic ray soil moisture probe affected by hydrogen from various sources, Water Resour. Res., 48, W08515, DOI: 0.1029/2012WR011871, 2012.

Franz, TE., Trenton E., Zreda, M., Rosolem, R., Ferre, TPA.: Field Validation of a Cosmic-Ray Neutron Sensor Using a Distributed Sensor Network, VADOSE ZONE JOURNAL, 11(4), DOI: 10.2136/vzj2012.0046, 2012.

Franz, T.E., Zreda, M., Rosolem, R., Hornbuckle, B.K., Irvin, S.L., Adams, H., Kolb, T.E., Zweck, C., Shuttleworth, W.J.: Ecosystem-scale measurements of biomass water using cosmic ray neutrons, Geophys. Res. Lett. 40(15), 3929-3933, DOI: 10.1002/grl.50791, 2013.

Franz, T.E., Zreda, M., Rosolem, R., Ferre, T.P.A.: A universal calibration function for determination of soil moisture with cosmic-ray neutrons, Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 17(2), 453-460, DOI: 10.5194/hess-17-453-2013, 2013.

Hawdon, A., McJannet, D., Wallace, W.:Calibration and correction procedures for cosmic-ray neutron soil moisture probes located across Australia, Water Resour. Res. 50(6), 5029–5043, DOI: 10.1002/2013WR015138, 2014.

Han, X.J., Jin, R., Li, X., Wang, S.G.: Soil Moisture Estimation Using Cosmic-Ray Soil Moisture Sensing at Heterogeneous Farmland, IEEE GEOSCIENCE AND REMOTE SENSING LETTERS 11(9), 1659-1663, DOI: 10.1109/LGRS.2014.2314535, 2014.

Lv, L. Franz, T.E., Robinson, D.A., Jones, S.B.: Measured and Modeled Soil Moisture Compared with Cosmic-Ray Neutron Probe Estimates in a Mixed Forest, VADOSE ZONE JOURNAL 13(12), DOI: 10.2136/vzj2014.06.0077, 2014.

McJannet, D., Franz, T., Hawdon, A., Boadle, D., Baker, B., Almeida, A., Silberstein, R., Lambert, T., Desilets, D.: Field testing of the universal calibration function for determination of soil moisture with cosmic-ray neutrons, Water Resour. Res. 50(6), 5235–5248, DOI: 10.1002/2014WR015513.

Rivera Villarreyes, CA., Baroni, G., Oswald, SE.: Integral quantification of seasonal soil moisture changes in farmland by cosmic-ray neutrons, Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 15(12), 3843-3859, DOI: 10.5194/hess-15-3843-2011, 2011.

Rosolem, R., Shuttleworth, W.J., Zreda, M., Franz, T.E., Zeng, X., The Effect of Atmospheric Water Vapor on the Cosmic-ray Soil Moisture Signal, JOURNAL OF HYDROMETEOROLOGY 14(5), 1659-1671, DOI: DOI: 10.1175/JHM-D-12-0120.1, 2013.

Zreda, M., Desilets, D., Ferre, TPA., Scott, RL.: Measuring soil moisture content non-invasively at intermediate spatial scale using cosmic-ray neutrons, Geophys. Res. Lett., 23(9), 949-952, 2008.

Zreda, M., Shuttleworth, WJ., Zeng, X., Zweck, C., Desilets, D., Franz, T., R. Rosolem, R., Ferre, TPA.: COSMOS: The Cosmic-ray Soil Moisture Observing System, Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci. , 16, 4079-4099, DOI: 10.5194/hess-16-4079-2012, 2012.