scholarly journals Profiles of relative permittivity and electrical conductivity from unsaturated soil water content models

2016 ◽  
Vol 59 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Roberta Porretta ◽  
Fabio Bianchi

<p>A mathematical model of water diffusion in the vadose zone has been implemented for different types of soil textures in order to determine the soil water content (SWC) profiles in dependence of depth and time. From these profiles, obtained for different soils, we derived the characteristic electrical parameters, such as relative permittivity (<span class="gt-card-ttl-txt">epsilon</span><span><sub>r</sub></span>) and electrical conductivity (<span>sigma</span>), and their variation in time, employing empirical relations available in the scientific literature. The simulation through mathematical models has been performed taking into account different types of soils characterized by the percentage composition of sand, clay and silt in the textural triangle, which provides some physical and chemical properties that affect the water retention in the soil. The resulting simulated profiles of SWC and consequently permittivity and conductivity profiles, span over a certain range of values suggesting the best techniques and the limits in geophysical investigation. Moreover this a-prior knowledge helps in the elaboration and interpretation of permittivity and conductivity data obtained by the measurements. Permittivity and conductivity profiles are particularly useful in some environmental applications when the soil textures are (or supposed to be) known as in the typical case of landfill leachate dispersion. Since the soil textures beneath or nearby a disposal waste are characterized by a SWC, the values of (<span class="gt-card-ttl-txt">epsilon</span><sub>r</sub>) and (sigma) at various depth can be directly inferred.</p>

2004 ◽  
Vol 28 (1) ◽  
pp. 49-58 ◽  
Author(s):  
L. C. Timm ◽  
K. Reichardt ◽  
J. C. M. Oliveira ◽  
F. A. M. Cassaro ◽  
T. T. Tominaga ◽  
...  

The state-space approach is used to evaluate the relation between soil physical and chemical properties in an area cultivated with sugarcane. The experiment was carried out on a Rhodic Kandiudalf in Piracicaba, State of São Paulo, Brazil. Sugarcane was planted on an area of 0.21 ha i.e., in 15 rows 100 m long, spaced 1.4 m. Soil water content, soil organic matter, clay content and aggregate stability were sampled along a transect of 84 points, meter by meter. The state-space approach is used to evaluate how the soil water content is affected by itself and by soil organic matter, clay content, and aggregate stability of neighboring locations, in different combinations, aiming to contribute to a better understanding of the relation among these variables in the soil. Results show that soil water contents were successfully estimated by this approach. Best performances were found when the estimate of soil water content at locations i was related to soil water content, clay content and aggregate stability at locations i-1. Results also indicate that this state-space model using all series describes the soil water content better than any equivalent multiple regression equation.


2016 ◽  
Vol 30 (3) ◽  
pp. 349-357 ◽  
Author(s):  
Aura Pedrera-Parrilla ◽  
Eric C. Brevik ◽  
Juan V. Giráldez ◽  
Karl Vanderlinden

Abstract Understanding of soil spatial variability is needed to delimit areas for precision agriculture. Electromagnetic induction sensors which measure the soil apparent electrical conductivity reflect soil spatial variability. The objectives of this work were to see if a temporally stable component could be found in electrical conductivity, and to see if temporal stability information acquired from several electrical conductivity surveys could be used to better interpret the results of concurrent surveys of electrical conductivity and soil water content. The experimental work was performed in a commercial rainfed olive grove of 6.7 ha in the ‘La Manga’ catchment in SW Spain. Several soil surveys provided gravimetric soil water content and electrical conductivity data. Soil electrical conductivity values were used to spatially delimit three areas in the grove, based on the first principal component, which represented the time-stable dominant spatial electrical conductivity pattern and explained 86% of the total electrical conductivity variance. Significant differences in clay, stone and soil water contents were detected between the three areas. Relationships between electrical conductivity and soil water content were modelled with an exponential model. Parameters from the model showed a strong effect of the first principal component on the relationship between soil water content and electrical conductivity. Overall temporal stability of electrical conductivity reflects soil properties and manifests itself in spatial patterns of soil water content.


2014 ◽  
Vol 2014 ◽  
pp. 1-11 ◽  
Author(s):  
Glécio Machado Siqueira ◽  
Jorge Dafonte Dafonte ◽  
Montserrat Valcárcel Armesto ◽  
Ênio Farias França e Silva

The apparent soil electrical conductivity (ECa) was continuously recorded in three successive dates using electromagnetic induction in horizontal (ECa-H) and vertical (ECa-V) dipole modes at a 6 ha plot located in Northwestern Spain. One of the ECadata sets was used to devise an optimized sampling scheme consisting of 40 points. Soil was sampled at the 0.0–0.3 m depth, in these 40 points, and analyzed for sand, silt, and clay content; gravimetric water content; and electrical conductivity of saturated soil paste. Coefficients of correlation between ECaand gravimetric soil water content (0.685 for ECa-V and 0.649 for ECa-H) were higher than those between ECaand clay content (ranging from 0.197 to 0.495, when different ECarecording dates were taken into account). Ordinary and universal kriging have been used to assess the patterns of spatial variability of the ECadata sets recorded at successive dates and the analyzed soil properties. Ordinary and universal cokriging methods have improved the estimation of gravimetric soil water content using the data of ECaas secondary variable with respect to the use of ordinary kriging.


1998 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 111-120 ◽  
Author(s):  
D. A. Robinson ◽  
C. M. K. Gardner ◽  
J. Evans ◽  
J. D. Cooper ◽  
M. G. Hodnett ◽  
...  

Abstract. Capacitance probes are a fast, safe and relatively inexpensive means of measuring the relative permittivity of soils, which can then be used to estimate soil water content. Initial experiments with capacitance probes used empirical calibrations between the frequency response of the instrument and soil water content. This has the disadvantage that the calibrations are instrument-dependent. A twofold calibration strategy is described in this paper; the instrument frequency is turned into relative permittivity (dielectric constant) which can then be calibrated against soil water content. This approach offers the advantages of making the second calibration, from soil permittivity to soil water content. instrument-independent and allows comparison with other dielectric methods, such as time domain reflectometry. A physically based model, used to calibrate capacitance probes in terms of relative permittivity (εr) is presented. The model, which was developed from circuit analysis, predicts, successfully, the frequency response of the instrument in liquids with different relative permittivities, using only measurements in air and water. lt was used successfully to calibrate 10 prototype surface capacitance insertion probes (SCIPS) and a depth capacitance probe. The findings demonstrate that the geometric properties of the instrument electrodes were an important parameter in the model, the value of which could be fixed through measurement. The relationship between apparent soil permittivity and volumetric water content has been the subject of much research in the last 30 years. Two lines of investigation have developed, time domain reflectometry (TDR) and capacitance. Both methods claim to measure relative permittivity and should therefore be comparable. This paper demonstrates that the IH capacitance probe overestimates relative permittivity as the ionic conductivity of the medium increases. Electrically conducting ionic solutions were used to test the magnitude of this effect on the determination of relative permittivity. The response was modelled so that the relative permittivity, independent of ionic conductivity, could be determined in solutions with an electrical conductivity of up to 0.25 S m-1. It was found that a solution EC of less than 0.05 S m-1 had little impact on the permittivity measurement.


Soil Research ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 58 (4) ◽  
pp. 379
Author(s):  
Priscilla Johnston ◽  
Michael Braunack ◽  
Philip S. Casey ◽  
Keith L. Bristow ◽  
Raju Adhikari

This glasshouse pot experiment demonstrated that a new sprayable and degradable polymer reduced soil water evaporation and promoted cotton seedling emergence and establishment. The polymer was tested on two contrasting soils (sandy loam and clay), representative of those used to grow cotton in Australia. Changes in soil water content in non-treated and polymer-treated pots were monitored over 80 days, after surface or subsurface watering. Plant biomass, soil water content and soil chemical properties were determined at harvest. The polymer reduced soil water evaporation by up to 35% in sandy loam and up to 20% in clay, did not compromise seedling emergence and improved plant growth per unit water applied by up to 26.2%. The polymer underwent extensive degradation after 80 days to produce low molecular-weight polymers or oligomers and water-extractable silicon species that may have implications for plant nutrition.


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