Cosmic Ray Neutron Sensing: Use, Calibration and Validation for Soil Moisture Estimation

INTERNATIONAL ATOMIC ENERGY AGENCY

IAEA-TECDOC-1809

English IAEA-TECDOC-1809 | 978-92-0-101017-9

48 pages | 13 figures | € 18.00 | Date published: 2017

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Description

Nuclear and related techniques can help develop climate smart agricultural practices by optimizing water use efficiency. The measurement of soil water content is essential to improve the use of this resource in agriculture. However, most sensors monitor small areas (less than 1m in radius), hence a large number of sensors are needed to obtain soil water content across a large area. This can be both costly and labour intensive and so larger scale measuring devices are needed as an alternative to traditional point-based soil moisture sensing techniques. The cosmic ray neutron sensor (CRNS) is such a device that monitors soil water content in a non-invasive and continuous way. This publication provides background information about this novel technique, and explains in detail the calibration and validation process.

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Keywords

Soil Fertility and Irrigation, Soil Moisture, Measurement, Cosmic Ray Neutrons, Agricultural Innovations, Calibration, Validation, Cosmic Ray Neutron Sensor, CRNS, Water, Technology, Cropping, Organic Carbon, Soil Water Content, Remote Sensing, Atmospheric Science, Large Food Print, Sampling