Articles | Volume 13, issue 1
https://doi.org/10.5194/gi-13-9-2024
https://doi.org/10.5194/gi-13-9-2024
Research article
 | 
16 Jan 2024
Research article |  | 16 Jan 2024

Testing a novel sensor design to jointly measure cosmic-ray neutrons, muons and gamma rays for non-invasive soil moisture estimation

Stefano Gianessi, Matteo Polo, Luca Stevanato, Marcello Lunardon, Till Francke, Sascha E. Oswald, Hami Said Ahmed, Arsenio Toloza, Georg Weltin, Gerd Dercon, Emil Fulajtar, Lee Heng, and Gabriele Baroni

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Cited articles

Abraham, M. T., Satyam, N., Rosi, A., Pradhan, B., and Segoni, S.: Usage of antecedent soil moisture for improving the performance of rainfall thresholds for landslide early warning, CATENA, 200, 105147, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.catena.2021.105147, 2021. 
Andreasen, M., Jensen, K. H., Zreda, M., Desilets, D., Bogena, H., and Looms, M. C.: Modeling cosmic ray neutron field measurements, Water Resour. Res., 52, 6451–6471, https://doi.org/10.1002/2015WR018236, 2016. 
Andreasen, M., Jensen, K. H., Desilets, D., Zreda, M., Bogena, H. R., and Looms, M. C.: Cosmic-ray neutron transport at a forest field site: the sensitivity to various environmental conditions with focus on biomass and canopy interception, Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 21, 1875–1894, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-21-1875-2017, 2017a. 
Andreasen, M., Jensen, K. H., Desilets, D., Franz, T. E., Zreda, M., Bogena, H. R., and Looms, M. C.: Status and Perspectives on the Cosmic-Ray Neutron Method for Soil Moisture Estimation and Other Environmental Science Applications, Vadose Zone J., 16, https://doi.org/10.2136/vzj2017.04.0086, 2017b. 
Baatz, R., Bogena, H. R., Hendricks Franssen, H.-J., Huisman, J. A., Montzka, C., and Vereecken, H.: An empirical vegetation correction for soil water content quantification using cosmic ray probes, Water Resour. Res., 51, 2030–2046, https://doi.org/10.1002/2014WR016443, 2015. 
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Short summary
Soil moisture monitoring is important for many applications, from improving weather prediction to supporting agriculture practices. Our capability to measure this variable is still, however, limited. In this study, we show the tests conducted on a new soil moisture sensor at several locations. The results show that the new sensor is a valid and compact alternative to more conventional, non-invasive soil moisture sensors that can pave the way for a wide range of applications.