Temporal stability of soil moisture patterns measured by proximal ground-penetrating radar

Minet, Julien;Verhoest, Nico;Lambot, Sébastien;Vanclooster, Marnik
(2013) Hydrology and Earth System Sciences Discussions — Vol. 10, p. 4063-4097 (2013)

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  • Minet, JulienUniversité de Liège, Arlon Campus Environnement
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  • Verhoest, NicoLaboratory of Hydrology and Water Management, Ghent University
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  • Lambot, SébastienUCLouvain
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  • Vanclooster, Marnikorcid-logoUCLouvain
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Abstract
We analyzed the temporal stability of soil moisture patterns acquired using a proximal ground-penetrating radar (GPR) in a 2.5 ha agricultural field at five different dates over three weeks. The GPR system was mounted on a mobile platform, allowing for real-time mapping of soil moisture with a high spatial resolution (2–5 m). The spatio-temporal soil moisture patterns were in accordance with the meteorological data and with soil moisture measurements from soil core sampling. Time-stable areas showing the field-average moisture could be revealed by two methods: (1) by the computation of temporal stability indicators based on relative differences of soil moisture to the field-average and (2) by the spatial intersection of the areas showing the field-average. Locations where the mean relative difference was below 0.02 m3 m−3 extended up to 10% of the field area whereas the intersection of areas showing the field-average within a tolerance of 0.02 m3 m−3 covered 5% of the field area. Compared to most of the previous studies about temporal stability of soil moisture, time-stable areas and their spatial patterns could be revealed instead of single point locations, owing to the advanced GPR method for real-time mapping. It is believed that determining spatially coherent time-stable areas is more informative rather than determining time-stable points. Other acquisitions over larger time periods would be necessary to assert the robustness of the time-stable areas.
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Minet, J., Verhoest, N., Lambot, S., & Vanclooster, M. (2013). Temporal stability of soil moisture patterns measured by proximal ground-penetrating radar. Hydrology and Earth System Sciences Discussions, 10, 4063-4097. https://doi.org/10.5194/hessd-10-4063-2013 (Original work published 2013)