Soil moisture sensor

Soil moisture sensors measure the volumetric water content in soil.[1] Since the direct gravimetric measurement of free soil moisture requires removing, drying, and weighing of a sample, soil moisture sensors measure the volumetric water content indirectly by using some other property of the soil, such as electrical resistance, dielectric constant, or interaction with neutrons, as a proxy for the moisture content.

A simple soil moisture sensor for gardeners.

The relation between the measured property and soil moisture must be calibrated and may vary depending on environmental factors such as soil type, temperature, or electric conductivity. Reflected microwave radiation is affected by the soil moisture and is used for remote sensing in hydrology and agriculture. Portable probe instruments can be used by farmers or gardeners.

Soil moisture sensors typically refer to sensors that estimate volumetric water content. Another class of sensors measure another property of moisture in soils called water potential; these sensors are usually referred to as soil water potential sensors and include tensiometers and gypsum blocks.

Technology

Technologies commonly used to indirectly measure volumetric water content (soil moisture) include:

Application

Agriculture

Measuring soil moisture is important for agricultural applications to help farmers manage their irrigation systems more efficiently. Knowing the exact soil moisture conditions on their fields, not only are farmers able to generally use less water to grow a crop, they are also able to increase yields and the quality of the crop by improved management of soil moisture during critical plant growth stages.

Landscape irrigation

In urban and suburban areas, landscapes and residential lawns are using soil moisture sensors to interface with an irrigation controller. Connecting a soil moisture sensor to a simple irrigation clock will convert it into a "smart" irrigation controller that prevents irrigation cycles when the soil is already wet, e.g. following a recent rainfall event. [4]

Golf courses are using soil moisture sensors to increase the efficiency of their irrigation systems to prevent over-watering and leaching of fertilizers and other chemicals into the ground.

Research

Soil moisture sensors are used in numerous research applications, e.g. in agricultural science and horticulture including irrigation planning, climate research, or environmental science including solute transport studies and as auxiliary sensors for soil respiration measurements.[5]

Simple sensors for gardeners

Relatively cheap and simple devices that do not require a power source are available for checking whether plants have sufficient moisture to thrive. After inserting a probe into the soil for approximately 60 seconds, a meter indicates if the soil is too dry, moist or wet for plants.

See also

References
  1. Arnold, James E. "Soil Moisture". NASA. Retrieved 15 June 2015. Soil moisture is difficult to define it means different things in different disciplines. For example, a farmer's concept of soil moisture is different from that of a water resource manager or a weather forecaster. Generally, however, soil moisture is the water that is held in the spaces between soil particles. Surface soil moisture is the water that is in the upper 10 cm of soil, whereas root zone soil moisture is the water that is available to plants, which is generally considered to be in the upper 200 cm of soil.
  2. Blonquist, J. M. (April 2005). "A time domain transmission sensor with TDR performance characteristics" (PDF). Journal of Hydrology. 314 (1–4): 235–245. Bibcode:2005JHyd..314..235B. doi:10.1016/j.jhydrol.2005.04.005. Retrieved 31 Jan 2016.
  3. Gaikwad, Pramod (2015). "Galvanic Cell Type Sensor for Soil Moisture Analysis". Analytical Chemistry. 87 (14): 7439–7445. doi:10.1021/acs.analchem.5b01653. PMID 26098202.
  4. Kevin Handreck. Good Gardens with Less Water, Csiro Publishing, 2008 ISBN 0643094709 pages 79-81
  5. Decagon Devices "List of peer-reviewed publications using Decagon soil moisture sensors". Retrieved: 20 July 2015.
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