Open AccessAdvances in Soil Water Content Sensing: The Continuing Maturation of Technology and Theory
Author(s) -
Evett S. R.,
Parkin G. W.
Publication year - 2005
Publication title -
vadose zone journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.036
H-Index - 81
ISSN - 1539-1663
DOI - 10.2136/vzj2005.0099
Subject(s) - vadose zone , ground penetrating radar , reflectometry , environmental science , remote sensing , water content , soil science , computer science , geology , hydrology (agriculture) , radar , soil water , time domain , geotechnical engineering , telecommunications , computer vision
In what has become almost a tradition for Vadose Zone Journal , this special section, Soil Water Sensing, follows two related special sections: Advances in Measurement and Monitoring Methods (Vol. 2, Issue 4, 2003) and Hydrogeophysics, which also focused on measurement methods (Vol. 3, Issue 4, 2004). The tremendous interest in vadose zone monitoring reflects the intense societal interest in understanding our environment, the increasing comprehension of scale‐dependence of vadose zone properties and processes, and the rapid changes occurring in sensing methods. In this article, we present an overview of the papers, many of which detail methods that rely on soil electromagnetic (EM) responses, including time domain reflectometry (TDR), ground penetrating radar (GPR), and capacitance methods. The papers also indicate key aspects of sensor performance requiring improvement through further sensor development.