Articles | Volume 13, issue 1
https://doi.org/10.5194/gi-13-9-2024
© Author(s) 2024. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
https://doi.org/10.5194/gi-13-9-2024
© Author(s) 2024. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Research article
| 
16 Jan 2024
Research article |
| 16 Jan 2024
| 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
Department of Agricultural and Food Science, University of Bologna, 40127 Bologna, Italy
now at: FINAPP s.r.l., Montegrotto Terme, 35036 Padova, Italy
Matteo Polo
FINAPP s.r.l., Montegrotto Terme, 35036 Padova, Italy
now at: Department of Industrial Engineering, University of Trento, Trento, Italy
Luca Stevanato
FINAPP s.r.l., Montegrotto Terme, 35036 Padova, Italy
Marcello Lunardon
FINAPP s.r.l., Montegrotto Terme, 35036 Padova, Italy
Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Padova, 35100 Padova, Italy
Till Francke
Institute of Environmental Science and Geography, University of Potsdam, Potsdam, Germany
Sascha E. Oswald
Institute of Environmental Science and Geography, University of Potsdam, Potsdam, Germany
Hami Said Ahmed
Soil and Water Management and Crop Nutrition Laboratory, Joint FAO/IAEA Centre of Nuclear Techniques in Food and Agriculture Vienna, Vienna, Austria
Arsenio Toloza
Soil and Water Management and Crop Nutrition Laboratory, Joint FAO/IAEA Centre of Nuclear Techniques in Food and Agriculture Vienna, Vienna, Austria
Georg Weltin
Soil and Water Management and Crop Nutrition Laboratory, Joint FAO/IAEA Centre of Nuclear Techniques in Food and Agriculture Vienna, Vienna, Austria
Gerd Dercon
Soil and Water Management and Crop Nutrition Laboratory, Joint FAO/IAEA Centre of Nuclear Techniques in Food and Agriculture Vienna, Vienna, Austria
Emil Fulajtar
Soil and Water Management and Crop Nutrition Section Joint FAO/IAEA Centre of Nuclear Techniques in Food and Agriculture Vienna, Vienna, Austria
Lee Heng
Soil and Water Management and Crop Nutrition Section Joint FAO/IAEA Centre of Nuclear Techniques in Food and Agriculture Vienna, Vienna, Austria
Department of Agricultural and Food Science, University of Bologna, 40127 Bologna, Italy
Related authors
No articles found.
Maik Heistermann, Daniel Altdorff, Till Francke, Martin Schrön, Peter M. Grosse, Arvid Markert, Albrecht Bauriegel, Peter Biró, Sabine Attinger, Frank Beyrich, Peter Dietrich, Rebekka Eichstädt, Jakob Terschlüsen, Ariane Walz, Steffen Zacharias, and Sascha E. Oswald
Nat. Hazards Earth Syst. Sci., 26, 465–486, https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-26-465-2026, https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-26-465-2026, 2026
Short summary
Short summary
The German federal state of Brandenburg is particularly prone to soil moisture droughts. To support the management of related risks, we introduce a novel soil moisture monitoring network based on cosmic-ray neutron sensing technology. The resulting observations can be particularly helpful to evaluate and improve soil moisture products from modelling or remote sensing.
Marie-Therese Schmehl, Yojana Adhikari, Cathrina Balthasar, Anja Binder, Danica Clerc, Sophia Dobkowitz, Werner Gerwin, Kristin Günther, Heinrich Hartong, Thilo Heinken, Carsten Hess, Pierre L. Ibisch, Florent Jouy, Loretta Leinen, Thomas Raab, Frank Repmann, Susanne Rönnefarth, Lilly Rohlfs, Marina Schirrmacher, Jens Schröder, Maren Schüle, Andrea Vieth-Hillebrand, and Till Francke
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 17, 6295–6313, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-17-6295-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-17-6295-2025, 2025
Short summary
Short summary
We present data recorded by eight institutions within the PYROPHOB project, running from 2020 to 2024 at two forest research sites in northeastern Germany. The aim of the project was to monitor abiotic and biotic parameters of forest regrowth under different management regimes on former wildfire sites. The multitude of collected data allows for detailed analyses of the observables separately, as well as their interaction for a more multidisciplinary view on forest recovery after a wildfire.
Elodie Marret, Peter M. Grosse, Lena Scheiffele, Katya Dimitrova Petrova, Till Francke, Daniel Altdorff, Maik Heistermann, Merlin Schiel, Carsten Neumann, Daniel Scheffler, Mehdi Saberioon, Matthias Kunz, Miroslav Zboril, Jonas Marach, Marcel Reginatto, Anna Balenzano, Daniel Rasche, Christine Stumpp, Benjamin Trost, and Sascha E. Oswald
Earth Syst. Sci. Data Discuss., https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-2025-546, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-2025-546, 2025
Preprint under review for ESSD
Short summary
Short summary
This data paper describes a comprehensive collection of soil moisture and related data from an extensive cosmic-ray neutron sensing (CRNS) network at an agricultural research site in north-east Germany. The data set comprises not only soil moisture observations at different spatio-temporal scales, but also a wealth of accompanying data that provide the context to interpret soil moisture dynamics within a broader hydrological and environmental framework.
Till Francke and Maik Heistermann
Nat. Hazards Earth Syst. Sci., 25, 2783–2802, https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-25-2783-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-25-2783-2025, 2025
Short summary
Short summary
Brandenburg is among the driest federal states in Germany. The low groundwater recharge (GWR) is fundamental to both water supply and the support of natural ecosystems. In this study, we show that the decline of observed discharge and groundwater tables since 1980 can be explained by climate change in combination with an increasing leaf area index. Still, simulated GWR rates remain highly uncertain due to the uncertainty in precipitation trends.
Nazaré Suziane Soares, Carlos Alexandre Gomes Costa, Till Francke, Christian Mohr, Wolfgang Schwanghart, and Pedro Henrique Augusto Medeiros
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-884, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-884, 2025
Short summary
Short summary
We use drone surveys to map river intermittency in reaches and classify them into "Wet", "Transition", "Dry" or "Not Determined". We train Random Forest models with 40 candidate predictors, and select altitude, drainage area, distance from dams and dynamic predictors. We separate different models based on dynamic predictors: satellite indices (a) and (b); or (c) accumulated precipitation (30 days). Model (a) is the most successful in simulating intermittency both temporally and spatially.
Till Francke, Cosimo Brogi, Alby Duarte Rocha, Michael Förster, Maik Heistermann, Markus Köhli, Daniel Rasche, Marvin Reich, Paul Schattan, Lena Scheiffele, and Martin Schrön
Geosci. Model Dev., 18, 819–842, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-18-819-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-18-819-2025, 2025
Short summary
Short summary
Multiple methods for measuring soil moisture beyond the point scale exist. Their validation is generally hindered by not knowing the truth. We propose a virtual framework in which this truth is fully known and the sensor observations for cosmic ray neutron sensing, remote sensing, and hydrogravimetry are simulated. This allows for the rigorous testing of these virtual sensors to understand their effectiveness and limitations.
Sascha E. Oswald
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-4141, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-4141, 2025
Preprint archived
Short summary
Short summary
The observation of soil moisture can be achieved non-invasively at landscape scale by cosmic ray neutron sensing. A different approach than usual is presented and exemplified providing options for a more straightforward understanding and broader use in applied research or practical applications. Starting point is a mathematical reformulation of the standard calibration equation as used so far, then implications and pragmatic options for its application are presented and discussed.
Eshrat Fatima, Rohini Kumar, Sabine Attinger, Maren Kaluza, Oldrich Rakovec, Corinna Rebmann, Rafael Rosolem, Sascha E. Oswald, Luis Samaniego, Steffen Zacharias, and Martin Schrön
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 28, 5419–5441, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-28-5419-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-28-5419-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
This study establishes a framework to incorporate cosmic-ray neutron measurements into the mesoscale Hydrological Model (mHM). We evaluate different approaches to estimate neutron counts within the mHM using the Desilets equation, with uniformly and non-uniformly weighted average soil moisture, and the physically based code COSMIC. The data improved not only soil moisture simulations but also the parameterisation of evapotranspiration in the model.
Maik Heistermann, Till Francke, Martin Schrön, and Sascha E. Oswald
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 28, 989–1000, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-28-989-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-28-989-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
Cosmic-ray neutron sensing (CRNS) is a non-invasive technique used to obtain estimates of soil water content (SWC) at a horizontal footprint of around 150 m and a vertical penetration depth of up to 30 cm. However, typical CRNS applications require the local calibration of a function which converts neutron counts to SWC. As an alternative, we propose a generalized function as a way to avoid the use of local reference measurements of SWC and hence a major source of uncertainty.
Lena Katharina Schmidt, Till Francke, Peter Martin Grosse, and Axel Bronstert
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 28, 139–161, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-28-139-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-28-139-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
How suspended sediment export from glacierized high-alpine areas responds to future climate change is hardly assessable as many interacting processes are involved, and appropriate physical models are lacking. We present the first study, to our knowledge, exploring machine learning to project sediment export until 2100 in two high-alpine catchments. We find that uncertainties due to methodological limitations are small until 2070. Negative trends imply that peak sediment may have already passed.
Maik Heistermann, Till Francke, Lena Scheiffele, Katya Dimitrova Petrova, Christian Budach, Martin Schrön, Benjamin Trost, Daniel Rasche, Andreas Güntner, Veronika Döpper, Michael Förster, Markus Köhli, Lisa Angermann, Nikolaos Antonoglou, Manuela Zude-Sasse, and Sascha E. Oswald
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 15, 3243–3262, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-15-3243-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-15-3243-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
Cosmic-ray neutron sensing (CRNS) allows for the non-invasive estimation of root-zone soil water content (SWC). The signal observed by a single CRNS sensor is influenced by the SWC in a radius of around 150 m (the footprint). Here, we have put together a cluster of eight CRNS sensors with overlapping footprints at an agricultural research site in north-east Germany. That way, we hope to represent spatial SWC heterogeneity instead of retrieving just one average SWC estimate from a single sensor.
Lena Katharina Schmidt, Till Francke, Peter Martin Grosse, Christoph Mayer, and Axel Bronstert
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 27, 1841–1863, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-27-1841-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-27-1841-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
We present a suitable method to reconstruct sediment export from decadal records of hydroclimatic predictors (discharge, precipitation, temperature) and shorter suspended sediment measurements. This lets us fill the knowledge gap on how sediment export from glacierized high-alpine areas has responded to climate change. We find positive trends in sediment export from the two investigated nested catchments with step-like increases around 1981 which are linked to crucial changes in glacier melt.
Lena Katharina Schmidt, Till Francke, Erwin Rottler, Theresa Blume, Johannes Schöber, and Axel Bronstert
Earth Surf. Dynam., 10, 653–669, https://doi.org/10.5194/esurf-10-653-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/esurf-10-653-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
Climate change fundamentally alters glaciated high-alpine areas, but it is unclear how this affects riverine sediment transport. As a first step, we aimed to identify the most important processes and source areas in three nested catchments in the Ötztal, Austria, in the past 15 years. We found that areas above 2500 m were crucial and that summer rainstorms were less influential than glacier melt. These findings provide a baseline for studies on future changes in high-alpine sediment dynamics.
Maik Heistermann, Heye Bogena, Till Francke, Andreas Güntner, Jannis Jakobi, Daniel Rasche, Martin Schrön, Veronika Döpper, Benjamin Fersch, Jannis Groh, Amol Patil, Thomas Pütz, Marvin Reich, Steffen Zacharias, Carmen Zengerle, and Sascha Oswald
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 14, 2501–2519, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-14-2501-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-14-2501-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
This paper presents a dense network of cosmic-ray neutron sensing (CRNS) to measure spatio-temporal soil moisture patterns during a 2-month campaign in the Wüstebach headwater catchment in Germany. Stationary, mobile, and airborne CRNS technology monitored the root-zone water dynamics as well as spatial heterogeneity in the 0.4 km2 area. The 15 CRNS stations were supported by a hydrogravimeter, biomass sampling, and a wireless soil sensor network to facilitate holistic hydrological analysis.
Heye Reemt Bogena, Martin Schrön, Jannis Jakobi, Patrizia Ney, Steffen Zacharias, Mie Andreasen, Roland Baatz, David Boorman, Mustafa Berk Duygu, Miguel Angel Eguibar-Galán, Benjamin Fersch, Till Franke, Josie Geris, María González Sanchis, Yann Kerr, Tobias Korf, Zalalem Mengistu, Arnaud Mialon, Paolo Nasta, Jerzy Nitychoruk, Vassilios Pisinaras, Daniel Rasche, Rafael Rosolem, Hami Said, Paul Schattan, Marek Zreda, Stefan Achleitner, Eduardo Albentosa-Hernández, Zuhal Akyürek, Theresa Blume, Antonio del Campo, Davide Canone, Katya Dimitrova-Petrova, John G. Evans, Stefano Ferraris, Félix Frances, Davide Gisolo, Andreas Güntner, Frank Herrmann, Joost Iwema, Karsten H. Jensen, Harald Kunstmann, Antonio Lidón, Majken Caroline Looms, Sascha Oswald, Andreas Panagopoulos, Amol Patil, Daniel Power, Corinna Rebmann, Nunzio Romano, Lena Scheiffele, Sonia Seneviratne, Georg Weltin, and Harry Vereecken
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 14, 1125–1151, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-14-1125-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-14-1125-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
Monitoring of increasingly frequent droughts is a prerequisite for climate adaptation strategies. This data paper presents long-term soil moisture measurements recorded by 66 cosmic-ray neutron sensors (CRNS) operated by 24 institutions and distributed across major climate zones in Europe. Data processing followed harmonized protocols and state-of-the-art methods to generate consistent and comparable soil moisture products and to facilitate continental-scale analysis of hydrological extremes.
Till Francke, Maik Heistermann, Markus Köhli, Christian Budach, Martin Schrön, and Sascha E. Oswald
Geosci. Instrum. Method. Data Syst., 11, 75–92, https://doi.org/10.5194/gi-11-75-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/gi-11-75-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
Cosmic-ray neutron sensing (CRNS) is a non-invasive tool for measuring hydrogen pools like soil moisture, snow, or vegetation. This study presents a directional shielding approach, aiming to measure in specific directions only. The results show that non-directional neutron transport blurs the signal of the targeted direction. For typical instruments, this does not allow acceptable precision at a daily time resolution. However, the mere statistical distinction of two rates is feasible.
Bernd Schalge, Gabriele Baroni, Barbara Haese, Daniel Erdal, Gernot Geppert, Pablo Saavedra, Vincent Haefliger, Harry Vereecken, Sabine Attinger, Harald Kunstmann, Olaf A. Cirpka, Felix Ament, Stefan Kollet, Insa Neuweiler, Harrie-Jan Hendricks Franssen, and Clemens Simmer
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 13, 4437–4464, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-13-4437-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-13-4437-2021, 2021
Short summary
Short summary
In this study, a 9-year simulation of complete model output of a coupled atmosphere–land-surface–subsurface model on the catchment scale is discussed. We used the Neckar catchment in SW Germany as the basis of this simulation. Since the dataset includes the full model output, it is not only possible to investigate model behavior and interactions between the component models but also use it as a virtual truth for comparison of, for example, data assimilation experiments.
Maik Heistermann, Till Francke, Martin Schrön, and Sascha E. Oswald
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 25, 4807–4824, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-25-4807-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-25-4807-2021, 2021
Short summary
Short summary
Cosmic-ray neutron sensing (CRNS) is a powerful technique for retrieving representative estimates of soil moisture in footprints extending over hectometres in the horizontal and decimetres in the vertical. This study, however, demonstrates the potential of CRNS to obtain spatio-temporal patterns of soil moisture beyond isolated footprints. To that end, we analyse data from a unique observational campaign that featured a dense network of more than 20 neutron detectors in an area of just 1 km2.
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.
Babaeian, E., Sadeghi, M., Jones, S. B., Montzka, C., Vereecken, H., and Tuller, M.: Ground, Proximal, and Satellite Remote Sensing of Soil Moisture, Rev. Geophys., 57, 530–616, https://doi.org/10.1029/2018RG000618, 2019.
Baldoncini, M., Albéri, M., Bottardi, C., Chiarelli, E., Raptis, K. G. C., Strati, V., and Mantovani, F.: Investigating the potentialities of Monte Carlo simulation for assessing soil water content via proximal gamma-ray spectroscopy, J. Environ. Radioactiv., 192, 105–116, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvrad.2018.06.001, 2018.
Barbosa, L. R., Coelho, V. H. R., Scheiffele, L. M., Baroni, G., Filho, G. M. R., Montenegro, S. M. G. L., das N. Almeida, C., and Oswald, S. E.: Dynamic groundwater recharge simulations based on cosmic-ray neutron sensing in a tropical wet experimental basin, Vadose Zone J., 20, e20145, https://doi.org/10.1002/vzj2.20145, 2021.
Baroni, G.: Data in support to the manuscript: Testing a novel sensor design to jointly measure cosmic-ray neutrons, muons and gamma rays for non-invasive soil moisture estimation by Gianessi et al., Zenodo [data set], https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.7261534, 2022a.
Baroni, G.: Spreadsheets for soil samples and CRNS data processing, Zenodo [code], https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.7156607, 2022b.
Baroni, G. and Oswald, S. E.: A scaling approach for the assessment of biomass changes and rainfall interception using cosmic-ray neutron sensing, J. Hydrol., 525, 264–276, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhydrol.2015.03.053, 2015.
Bogena, H. R., Huisman, J. A., Güntner, A., Hübner, C., Kusche, J., Jonard, F., Vey, S., and Vereecken, H.: Emerging methods for noninvasive sensing of soil moisture dynamics from field to catchment scale: a review, Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews Water, 2, 635–647, https://doi.org/10.1002/wat2.1097, 2015.
Bogena, H. R., Schrön, M., Jakobi, J., Ney, P., Zacharias, S., Andreasen, M., Baatz, R., Boorman, D., Duygu, M. B., Eguibar-Galán, M. A., Fersch, B., Franke, T., Geris, J., González Sanchis, M., Kerr, Y., Korf, T., Mengistu, Z., Mialon, A., Nasta, P., Nitychoruk, J., Pisinaras, V., Rasche, D., Rosolem, R., Said, H., Schattan, P., Zreda, M., Achleitner, S., Albentosa-Hernández, E., Akyürek, Z., Blume, T., del Campo, A., Canone, D., Dimitrova-Petrova, K., Evans, J. G., Ferraris, S., Frances, F., Gisolo, D., Güntner, A., Herrmann, F., Iwema, J., Jensen, K. H., Kunstmann, H., Lidón, A., Looms, M. C., Oswald, S., Panagopoulos, A., Patil, A., Power, D., Rebmann, C., Romano, N., Scheiffele, L., Seneviratne, S., Weltin, G., and Vereecken, H.: COSMOS-Europe: a European network of cosmic-ray neutron soil moisture sensors, Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 14, 1125–1151, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-14-1125-2022, 2022.
Boo, J., Hammig, M. D., and Jeong, M.: Compact lightweight imager of both gamma rays and neutrons based on a pixelated stilbene scintillator coupled to a silicon photomultiplier array, Sci. Rep., 11, 3826, https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-021-83530-4, 2021.
Bronstert, A., Creutzfeldt, B., Graeff, T., Hajnsek, I., Heistermann, M., Itzerott, S., Jagdhuber, T., Kneis, D., Lück, E., Reusser, D., and Zehe, E.: Potentials and constraints of different types of soil moisture observations for flood simulations in headwater catchments, Nat. Hazards, https://doi.org/10.1007/s11069-011-9874-9, 2011.
Cester, D., Lunardon, M., Moretto, S., Nebbia, G., Pino, F., Sajo-Bohus, L., Stevanato, L., Bonesso, I., and Turato, F.: A novel detector assembly for detecting thermal neutrons, fast neutrons and gamma rays, Nucl. Instrum. Methods, 830, 191–196, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nima.2016.05.079, 2016.
Cirillo, A., Meucci, R., Caresana, M., and Caresana, M.: An innovative neutron spectrometer for soil moisture measurements, Eur. Phys. J. Plus, 136, 985, https://doi.org/10.1140/epjp/s13360-021-01976-x, 2021.
Cooper, H. M., Bennett, E., Blake, J., Blyth, E., Boorman, D., Cooper, E., Evans, J., Fry, M., Jenkins, A., Morrison, R., Rylett, D., Stanley, S., Szczykulska, M., Trill, E., Antoniou, V., Askquith-Ellis, A., Ball, L., Brooks, M., Clarke, M. A., Cowan, N., Cumming, A., Farrand, P., Hitt, O., Lord, W., Scarlett, P., Swain, O., Thornton, J., Warwick, A., and Winterbourn, B.: COSMOS-UK: national soil moisture and hydrometeorology data for environmental science research, Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 13, 1737–1757, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-13-1737-2021, 2021.
Coopersmith, E. J., Cosh, M. H., and Daughtry, C. S. T.: Field-scale moisture estimates using COSMOS sensors: A validation study with temporary networks and Leaf-Area-Indices, J. Hydrol., 519, 637–643, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhydrol.2014.07.060, 2014.
Corradini, C.: Soil moisture in the development of hydrological processes and its determination at different spatial scales, J. Hydrol., 516, 1–5, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhydrol.2014.02.051, 2014.
de Mendonça, R. R. S., Braga, C. R., Echer, E., Dal Lago, A., Munakata, K., Kuwabara, T., Kozai, M., Kato, C., Rockenbach, M., Schuch, N. J., Al Jassar, H. K., Sharma, M. M., Tokumaru, M., Duldig, M. L., Humble, J. E., Evenson, P., and Sabbah, I.: The temperature effect in secondary cosmic rays (muons) observed at the ground: analysis of the global muon detector network data, Astrophys. J., 830, 88, https://doi.org/10.3847/0004-637X/830/2/88, 2016.
Desilets, D., Zreda, M., and Ferré, T. P. A.: Nature's neutron probe: Land surface hydrology at an elusive scale with cosmic rays, Water Resour. Res., 46, https://doi.org/10.1029/2009WR008726, 2010.
Domínguez-Niño, J. M., Oliver-Manera, J., Arbat, G., Girona, J., and Casadesús, J.: Analysis of the Variability in Soil Moisture Measurements by Capacitance Sensors in a Drip-Irrigated Orchard, Sensors, 20, 5100, https://doi.org/10.3390/s20185100, 2020.
Dorman, L. I.: Cosmic Rays in the Earth's Atmosphere and Underground, Springer Netherlands, Dordrecht, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4020-2113-8, 2004.
Evans, J. G., Ward, H. C., Blake, J. R., Hewitt, E. J., Morrison, R., Fry, M., Ball, L. A., Doughty, L. C., Libre, J. W., Hitt, O. E., Rylett, D., Ellis, R. J., Warwick, A. C., Brooks, M., Parkes, M. A., Wright, G. M. H., Singer, A. C., Boorman, D. B., and Jenkins, A.: Soil water content in southern England derived from a cosmic-ray soil moisture observing system – COSMOS-UK, Hydrol. Proc., 30, 4987–4999, https://doi.org/10.1002/hyp.10929, 2016.
Fersch, B., Francke, T., Heistermann, M., Schrön, M., Döpper, V., Jakobi, J., Baroni, G., Blume, T., Bogena, H., Budach, C., Gränzig, T., Förster, M., Güntner, A., Hendricks Franssen, H.-J., Kasner, M., Köhli, M., Kleinschmit, B., Kunstmann, H., Patil, A., Rasche, D., Scheiffele, L., Schmidt, U., Szulc-Seyfried, S., Weimar, J., Zacharias, S., Zreda, M., Heber, B., Kiese, R., Mares, V., Mollenhauer, H., Völksch, I., and Oswald, S.: A dense network of cosmic-ray neutron sensors for soil moisture observation in a highly instrumented pre-Alpine headwater catchment in Germany, Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 12, 2289–2309, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-12-2289-2020, 2020.
Flynn, K. D., Wyatt, B. M., and McInnes, K. J.: Novel Cosmic Ray Neutron Sensor Accurately Captures Field-Scale Soil Moisture Trends under Heterogeneous Soil Textures, Water, 13, 3038, https://doi.org/10.3390/w13213038, 2021.
Ford, K., Harris, J. R., Shives, R., Carson, J., and Buckle, J.: Remote Predictive Mapping 2. Gamma-Ray Spectrometry: A Tool for Mapping Canada's North, Geoscience Canada, https://journals.lib.unb.ca/index.php/GC/article/view/11270 (last access: 14 January 2024), 2008.
Foster, T., Mieno, T., and Brozović, N.: Satellite-Based Monitoring of Irrigation Water Use: Assessing Measurement Errors and Their Implications for Agricultural Water Management Policy, Water Resour. Res., 56, e2020WR028378, https://doi.org/10.1029/2020WR028378, 2020.
Franz, T. E., Zreda, M., Rosolem, R., and Ferre, T. P. A.: Field Validation of a Cosmic-Ray Neutron Sensor Using a Distributed Sensor Network, Vadose Zone J., 11, vzj2012.0046, https://doi.org/10.2136/vzj2012.0046, 2012.
Franz, T. E., Wang, T., Avery, W., Finkenbiner, C., and Brocca, L.: Combined analysis of soil moisture measurements from roving and fixed cosmic ray neutron probes for multiscale real-time monitoring, Geophys. Res. Lett., 42, 3389–3396, https://doi.org/10.1002/2015GL063963, 2015.
Franz, T. E., Wahbi, A., Zhang, J., Vreugdenhil, M., Heng, L., Dercon, G., Strauss, P., Brocca, L., and Wagner, W.: Practical Data Products From Cosmic-Ray Neutron Sensing for Hydrological Applications, Front. Water, 2, https://doi.org/10.3389/frwa.2020.00009, 2020.
Gianessi, S., Polo, M., Stevanato, L., Lunardon, M., Ahmed, H. S., Weltin, G., Toloza, A., Budach, C., Bíró, P., Francke, T., Heistermann, M., Oswald, S. E., Fulajtar, E., Dercon, G., Heng, L. K., and Baroni, G.: Assessment of a new non-invasive soil moisture sensor based on cosmic-ray neutrons, in: 2021 IEEE International Workshop on Metrology for Agriculture and Forestry (MetroAgriFor), 2021 IEEE International Workshop on Metrology for Agriculture and Forestry (MetroAgriFor), 290–294, https://doi.org/10.1109/MetroAgriFor52389.2021.9628451, 2021.
Gosse, J. C. and Phillips, F. M.: Terrestrial in situ cosmogenic nuclides: theory and application, Quaternary Sci. Rev., 20, 1475–1560, https://doi.org/10.1016/S0277-3791(00)00171-2, 2001.
Haghighi, E., Short Gianotti, D. J., Akbar, R., Salvucci, G. D., and Entekhabi, D.: Soil and Atmospheric Controls on the Land Surface Energy Balance: A Generalized Framework for Distinguishing Moisture-Limited and Energy-Limited Evaporation Regimes, Water Resour. Res., 54, 1831–1851, https://doi.org/10.1002/2017WR021729, 2018.
Hands, A. D. P., Baird, F., Ryden, K. A., Dyer, C. S., Lei, F., Evans, J. G., Wallbank, J. R., Szczykulska, M., Rylett, D., Rosolem, R., Fowler, S., Power, D., and Henley, E. M.: Detecting Ground Level Enhancements Using Soil Moisture Sensor Networks, Space Weather, 19, e2021SW002800, https://doi.org/10.1029/2021SW002800, 2021.
Hawdon, A., McJannet, D., and Wallace, J.: Calibration and correction procedures for cosmic-ray neutron soil moisture probes located across Australia, Water Resour. Res., 50, 5029–5043, https://doi.org/10.1002/2013WR015138, 2014.
Heidbüchel, I., Güntner, A., and Blume, T.: Use of cosmic-ray neutron sensors for soil moisture monitoring in forests, Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 20, 1269–1288, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-20-1269-2016, 2016.
Heistermann, M., Francke, T., Scheiffele, L., Dimitrova Petrova, K., Budach, C., Schrön, M., Trost, B., Rasche, D., Güntner, A., Döpper, V., Förster, M., Köhli, M., Angermann, L., Antonoglou, N., Zude-Sasse, M., and Oswald, S. E.: Three years of soil moisture observations by a dense cosmic-ray neutron sensing cluster at an agricultural research site in north-east Germany, Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 15, 3243–3262, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-15-3243-2023, 2023.
Hendrick, L. D. and Edge, R. D.: Cosmic-Ray Neutrons near the Earth, Phys. Rev., 145, 1023–1025, https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRev.145.1023, 1966.
Iwema, J., Rosolem, R., Baatz, R., Wagener, T., and Bogena, H. R.: Investigating temporal field sampling strategies for site-specific calibration of three soil moisture–neutron intensity parameterisation methods, Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 19, 3203–3216, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-19-3203-2015, 2015.
Jakobi, J., Huisman, J. A., Vereecken, H., Diekkrüger, B., and Bogena, H. R.: Cosmic Ray Neutron Sensing for Simultaneous Soil Water Content and Biomass Quantification in Drought Conditions, Water Resour. Res., 54, 7383–7402, https://doi.org/10.1029/2018WR022692, 2018.
Jakobi, J. C., Huisman, J. A., Schrön, M., Fiedler, J. E., Brogi, C., Vereecken, H., and Bogena, H. R.: Error estimation for soil moisture measurements with cosmic ray neutron sensing and implications for rover surveys, Front. Water, 2, 10, https://doi.org/10.3389/frwa.2020.00010, 2020.
Jeong, J., Lee, S., and Choi, M.: Correction efficiency and error characteristics for cosmic-ray soil moisture on mountainous terrain, J. Hydrol., 601, 126657, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhydrol.2021.126657, 2021.
Kodama, M., Nakai, K., Kawasaki, S., and Wada, M.: An application of cosmic-ray neutron measurements to the determination of the snow-water equivalent, J. Hydrol., 41, 85–92, https://doi.org/10.1016/0022-1694(79)90107-0, 1979.
Köhli, M., Schrön, M., Zreda, M., Schmidt, U., Dietrich, P., and Zacharias, S.: Footprint characteristics revised for field-scale soil moisture monitoring with cosmic-ray neutrons, Water Resour. Res., 51, 5772–5790, https://doi.org/10.1002/2015WR017169, 2015.
Köhli, M., Weimar, J., Schrön, M., Baatz, R., and Schmidt, U.: Soil Moisture and Air Humidity Dependence of the Above-Ground Cosmic-Ray Neutron Intensity, Front. Water, 2, 544847, https://doi.org/10.3389/frwa.2020.544847, 2021.
Lichtenberg, E., Majsztrik, J., and Saavoss, M.: Grower demand for sensor-controlled irrigation, Water Resour. Res., 51, 341–358, https://doi.org/10.1002/2014WR015807, 2015.
Maghrabi, A. and Aldosary, A. F.: The Effect of Some Meteorological Parameters on the Cosmic Ray Muons detected by KACST detector, in: Proceedings of 35th International Cosmic Ray Conference – PoS (ICRC2017), 35th International Cosmic Ray Conference, 10–20 July, 2017, Bexco, Busan, Korea, 062, https://doi.org/10.22323/1.301.0062, 2018.
McJannet, D. L. and Desilets, D.: Incoming Neutron Flux Corrections for Cosmic-ray Soil and Snow Sensors Using the Global Neutron Monitor Network, Water Resour. Res., 59, e2022WR033889, https://doi.org/10.1029/2022WR033889, 2023.
Morin, S., Lejeune, Y., Lesaffre, B., Panel, J.-M., Poncet, D., David, P., and Sudul, M.: An 18-yr long (1993–2011) snow and meteorological dataset from a mid-altitude mountain site (Col de Porte, France, 1325 m alt.) for driving and evaluating snowpack models, Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 4, 13–21, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-4-13-2012, 2012.
Ochsner, T. E., Cosh, M. H., Cuenca, R. H., Dorigo, W. A., Draper, C. S., Hagimoto, Y., Kerr, Y. H., Njoku, E. G., Small, E. E., and Zreda, M.: State of the Art in Large-Scale Soil Moisture Monitoring, Soil Sci. Soc. Am. J., 77, 1888, https://doi.org/10.2136/sssaj2013.03.0093, 2013.
Patrignani, A., Ochsner, T. E., Montag, B., and Bellinger, S.: A Novel Lithium Foil Cosmic-Ray Neutron Detector for Measuring Field-Scale Soil Moisture, Front. Water, 3, 673185, https://doi.org/10.3389/frwa.2021.673185, 2021.
Peerani, P., Tomanin, A., Pozzi, S., Dolan, J., Miller, E., Flaska, M., Battaglieri, M., De Vita, R., Ficini, L., Ottonello, G., Ricco, G., Dermody, G., and Giles, C.: Testing on novel neutron detectors as alternative to 3He for security applications, Nucl. Instrum. Methods, 696, 110–120, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nima.2012.07.025, 2012.
Power, D., Rico-Ramirez, M. A., Desilets, S., Desilets, D., and Rosolem, R.: Cosmic-Ray neutron Sensor PYthon tool (crspy 1.2.1): an open-source tool for the processing of cosmic-ray neutron and soil moisture data, Geosci. Model Dev., 14, 7287–7307, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-14-7287-2021, 2021.
Rivera Villarreyes, C. A., Baroni, G., and Oswald, S. E.: Integral quantification of seasonal soil moisture changes in farmland by cosmic-ray neutrons, Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 15, 3843–3859, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-15-3843-2011, 2011.
Rizzo, A., Antonacci, G., Borra, E., Cardellini, F., Ciciani, L., Sperandio, L., and Vilardi, I.: Environmental Gamma Dose Rate Monitoring and Radon Correlations: Evidence and Potential Applications, Environments, 9, 66, https://doi.org/10.3390/environments9060066, 2022.
Saadi, M., Oudin, L., and Ribstein, P.: Beyond imperviousness: the role of antecedent wetness in runoff generation in urbanized catchments, Water Resour. Res., 56, e2020WR028060, https://doi.org/10.1029/2020WR028060, 2020.
Schattan, P., Baroni, G., Oswald, S. E., Schöber, J., Fey, C., Kormann, C., Huttenlau, M., and Achleitner, S.: Continuous monitoring of snowpack dynamics in alpine terrain by aboveground neutron sensing, Water Resour. Res., 53, 3615–3634, https://doi.org/10.1002/2016WR020234, 2017.
Schattan, P., Köhli, M., Schrön, M., Baroni, G., and Oswald, S. E.: Sensing Area-Average Snow Water Equivalent with Cosmic-Ray Neutrons: The Influence of Fractional Snow Cover, Water Resour. Res., 55, 10796–10812, https://doi.org/10.1029/2019WR025647, 2019.
Schrön, M., Köhli, M., Scheiffele, L., Iwema, J., Bogena, H. R., Lv, L., Martini, E., Baroni, G., Rosolem, R., Weimar, J., Mai, J., Cuntz, M., Rebmann, C., Oswald, S. E., Dietrich, P., Schmidt, U., and Zacharias, S.: Improving calibration and validation of cosmic-ray neutron sensors in the light of spatial sensitivity, Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 21, 5009–5030, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-21-5009-2017, 2017.
Schrön, M., Zacharias, S., Womack, G., Köhli, M., Desilets, D., Oswald, S. E., Bumberger, J., Mollenhauer, H., Kögler, S., Remmler, P., Kasner, M., Denk, A., and Dietrich, P.: Intercomparison of cosmic-ray neutron sensors and water balance monitoring in an urban environment, Geosci. Instrum. Method. Data Syst., 7, 83–99, https://doi.org/10.5194/gi-7-83-2018, 2018.
Schrön, M., Köhli, M., and Zacharias, S.: Signal contribution of distant areas to cosmic-ray neutron sensors – implications for footprint and sensitivity, Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 27, 723–738, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-27-723-2023, 2023.
Seneviratne, S. I., Corti, T., Davin, E. L., Hirschi, M., Jaeger, E. B., Lehner, I., Orlowsky, B., and Teuling, A. J.: Investigating soil moisture–climate interactions in a changing climate: A review, Earth-Sci. Rev., 99, 125–161, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.earscirev.2010.02.004, 2010.
Serafini, A., Albéri, M., Amoretti, M., Anconelli, S., Bucchi, E., Caselli, S., Chiarelli, E., Cicala, L., Colonna, T., De Cesare, M., Gentile, S., Guastaldi, E., Letterio, T., Maino, A., Mantovani, F., Montuschi, M., Penzotti, G., Raptis, K. G. C., Semenza, F., Solimando, D., and Strati, V.: Proximal Gamma-Ray Spectroscopy: An Effective Tool to Discern Rain from Irrigation, Remote Sens., 13, 4103, https://doi.org/10.3390/rs13204103, 2021.
Simpson, J. A.: The Cosmic Ray Nucleonic Component: The Invention and Scientific Uses of the Neutron Monitor – (Keynote Lecture), Space Sci. Rev., 93, 11–32, https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1026567706183, 2000.
Stevanato, L., Baroni, G., Cohen, Y., Cristiano Lino, F., Gatto, S., Lunardon, M., Marinello, F., Moretto, S., and Morselli, L.: A Novel Cosmic-Ray Neutron Sensor for Soil Moisture Estimation over Large Areas, Agriculture, 9, 202, https://doi.org/10.3390/agriculture9090202, 2019.
Stevanato, L., Polo, M., Lunardon, M., Marinello, F., Moretto, S., and Baroni, G.: Towards the optimization of a scintillator-based neutron detector for large non-invasive soil moisture estimation, in: 2020 IEEE International Workshop on Metrology for Agriculture and Forestry (MetroAgriFor), 2020 IEEE International Workshop on Metrology for Agriculture and Forestry (MetroAgriFor), 196–200, https://doi.org/10.1109/MetroAgriFor50201.2020.9277582, 2020.
Stevanato, L., Baroni, G., Oswald, S. E., Lunardon, M., Mares, V., Marinello, F., Moretto, S., Polo, M., Sartori, P., Schattan, P., and Ruehm, W.: An Alternative Incoming Correction for Cosmic-Ray Neutron Sensing Observations Using Local Muon Measurement, Geophys. Res. Lett., 49, e2021GL095383, https://doi.org/10.1029/2021GL095383, 2022.
Stowell, P., Fargher, S., Steer, C., and Thompson, L. F.: Scintillating thermal neutron detectors for cosmic ray soil moisture monitoring, J. Inst., 16, P11039, https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-0221/16/11/P11039, 2021.
Strati, V., Albéri, M., Anconelli, S., Baldoncini, M., Bittelli, M., Bottardi, C., Chiarelli, E., Fabbri, B., Guidi, V., Raptis, K. G. C., Solimando, D., Tomei, F., Villani, G., and Mantovani, F.: Modelling Soil Water Content in a Tomato Field: Proximal Gamma Ray Spectroscopy and Soil–Crop System Models, Agriculture, 8, 60, https://doi.org/10.3390/agriculture8040060, 2018.
Tian, Z., Li, Z., Liu, G., Li, B., and Ren, T.: Soil Water Content Determination with Cosmic-ray Neutron Sensor: Correcting Aboveground Hydrogen Effects with Thermal/Fast Neutron Ratio, J. Hydrol., 540, 923–933, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhydrol.2016.07.004, 2016.
Upadhyaya, D. B., Evans, J., Muddu, S., Tomer, S. K., Al Bitar, A., Yeggina, S., S, T., Morrison, R., Fry, M., Tripathi, S. N., Mujumdar, M., Goswami, M., Ganeshi, N., Nema, M. K., Jain, S. K., Angadi, S. S., and Yenagi, B. S.: The Indian COSMOS Network (ICON): Validating L-Band Remote Sensing and Modelled Soil Moisture Data Products, Remote Sens., 13, 537, https://doi.org/10.3390/rs13030537, 2021.
van Amelrooij, E., van de Giesen, N., Plomp, J., Thijs, M., and Fico, T.: BLOSM: Boron-based large-scale observation of soil moisture: First laboratory results of a cost-efficient neutron detector, HardwareX, 12, e00342, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ohx.2022.e00342, 2022.
van der Veeke, S., Limburg, J., Koomans, R. L., Söderström, M., de Waal, S. N., and van der Graaf, E. R.: Footprint and height corrections for UAV-borne gamma-ray spectrometry studies, J. Environ. Radioactiv., 231, 106545, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvrad.2021.106545, 2021.
Vereecken, H., Huisman, J. A., Bogena, H., Vanderborght, J., Vrugt, J. A., and Hopmans, J. W.: On the value of soil moisture measurements in vadose zone hydrology: A review, Water Resour. Res., 44, https://doi.org/10.1029/2008WR006829, 2008.
Weimar, J., Köhli, M., Budach, C., and Schmidt, U.: Large-Scale Boron-Lined Neutron Detection Systems as a 3He Alternative for Cosmic Ray Neutron Sensing, Front. Water, 2, 16, https://doi.org/10.3389/frwa.2020.00016, 2020.
Zhu, X., Shao, M., Zeng, C., Jia, X., Huang, L., Zhang, Y., and Zhu, J.: Application of cosmic-ray neutron sensing to monitor soil water content in an alpine meadow ecosystem on the northern Tibetan Plateau, J. Hydrol., 536, 247–254, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhydrol.2016.02.038, 2016.
Zhuo, L., Dai, Q., Han, D., Chen, N., Zhao, B., and Berti, M.: Evaluation of Remotely Sensed Soil Moisture for Landslide Hazard Assessment, IEEE J. Sel. Top. Appl., 12, 162–173, https://doi.org/10.1109/JSTARS.2018.2883361, 2019.
Zreda, M., Desilets, D., Ferré, T. P. A., and Scott, R. L.: Measuring soil moisture content non-invasively at intermediate spatial scale using cosmic-ray neutrons, Geophys. Res. Lett., 35, https://doi.org/10.1029/2008GL035655, 2008.
Zreda, M., Shuttleworth, W. J., Zeng, X., Zweck, C., Desilets, D., Franz, T., and Rosolem, R.: COSMOS: the COsmic-ray Soil Moisture Observing System, Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 16, 4079–4099, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-16-4079-2012, 2012.
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.
Soil moisture monitoring is important for many applications, from improving weather prediction...
