Evaluation of Three Soil Moisture Profile Sensors Using Laboratory and Field Experiments.

Soil moisture profile sensors (SMPSs) have a high potential for climate-smart agriculture due to their easy handling and ability to perform simultaneous measurements at different depths. To date, an accurate and easy-to-use method for the evaluation of long SMPSs is not available. In this study, we developed laboratory and field experiments to evaluate three different SMPSs (SoilVUE10, Drill&Drop, and SMT500) in terms of measurement accuracy, sensor-to-sensor variability, and temperature stability.

Recent Developments in Wireless Soil Moisture Sensing to Support Scientific Research and Agricultural Management.

In recent years, wireless sensor network (WSN) technology has emerged as an important technique for wireless sensing of soil moisture from the field to the catchment scale. This review paper presents the current status of wireless sensor network (WSN) technology for distributed, near real-time sensing of soil moisture to investigate seasonal and event dynamics of soil moisture patterns. It is also discussed how WSN measurements of soil measurements contribute to the validation and downscaling of satellite data and non-invasive geophysical instruments as well as the validation of distributed hydrological models.

Effective Calibration of Low-Cost Soil Water Content Sensors.

Soil water content is a key variable for understanding and modelling ecohydrological processes. Low-cost electromagnetic sensors are increasingly being used to characterize the spatio-temporal dynamics of soil water content, despite the reduced accuracy of such sensors as compared to reference electromagnetic soil water content sensing methods such as time domain reflectometry. Here, we present an effective calibration method to improve the measurement accuracy of low-cost soil water content sensors taking the recently developed SMT100 sensor (Truebner GmbH, Neustadt, Germany) as an example.