PRISM-21 

Soil Moisture

Experiment Overview 

Intensive spatial ground soil moisture sampling focused on two 3 km × 3 km focus farms to cover the representative land cover conditions within the study area. Soil moisture was monitored concurrently with each SM flight and MA flight using the Hydraprobe Data Acquisition System (HDAS). Spatial soil moisture data will be recorded in local (UTC+10) time. 

Supplementary soil moisture sampling was conducted using a Scout sensor. This handheld sensor is a FieldScout TDR 100 soil moisture meter allowing the user to easily and rapidly take many measurements to a depth of 20 cm. Based on the proven time-domain measurement technology, the portable TDR 100 accurately measures soil moisture across the full range of soil moisture conditions. The sensor can be fitted with different sized pins (rods) to measure soil moisture from different depths: 3.8 cm, 7.6 cm, 12 cm and 20 cm. 

Soil moisture measurements by the Scout is compared with HDAS measurements at each point. Parts of each 3km × 3km focus area was monitored using a north-south oriented regular grid of sampling locations at 50 m spacing. 

Locations of the intensive spatial soil moisture sampling sites

At focus areas YA4 (left), YA7 (center) and YE (right). Black points indicate the primarily significant locations, and yellow points for secondarily significant locations. 

HDAS Equipment     

PLEASE NOTE: The following data sets should be acknowledged According to the following:

PRISM-21:

X. Wu, N. Ye, J. Walker, I.-Y. Yeo, T. Jackson, Y. Kerr, E. Kim and A. McGrath. (2021). The P-band Radiometer Inferred Soil Moisture Experiment 2021 WORKPLAN. Monash University, 136.