| Title | Soil water content determination using a digital ground-penetrating radar |
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| Author | Chanzy, A; Tarussov, A; Judge, A; Bonn, F |
| Source | Soil Science Society of America Journal vol. 60, no. 5, 1996 p. 1318-1326, https://doi.org/10.2136/sssaj1996.03615995006000050005x |
| Year | 1996 |
| Alt Series | Geological Survey of Canada, Contribution Series 54594 |
| Publisher | Soil Science Society of America |
| Document | serial |
| Lang. | English |
| Media | paper; on-line; digital |
| File format | pdf |
| Subjects | soils science; geophysics; analytical methods; ground probing radar; geophysical surveys; soil moisture; soil surveys; Quaternary |
| Illustrations | analyses |
| Released | 1996 09 01 |
| Abstract | We evaluated the potential of a digital ground-penetrating radar (GPR) for soil moisture determination. Ground-penetrating radar offers a fast and nondestructive way for estimating the soil dielectric
constant and may be an interesting tool for low-cost mapping of soil moisture. Two modes of operation were considered: (i) the ground mode where signal propagation between the antennas placed on the surface was studied; (ii) the airborne mode where
the antennas are raised 5-15 m above the soil surface. Variables describing the GPR response were defined and related to the soil moisture. It is shown from field experiments that the GPR measurements performed at 200 MHz in both modes are mainly
affected by the moisture in the 10- to 20-cm topsoil layer. In the ground mode, the obtained soil moisture error after calibration was lower than 0.03 m3/m3. In the airborne mode, soil moisture estimations were less accurate (0.046 m3/m3). The wave
spreading loss characterization has to be improved to get an altitude-independent GPR measurement. |
| GEOSCAN ID | 204629 |
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