Soil Aquametry and Electromagnetic Metrology

Abstract

Water as the precious ecohydrological natural resource necessary to sustain life on the Earth should be used in a sustainable way. This is especially important to that part of water that directly affects living organisms, that is soil water. Its volume is not more than 0.05% of total water on the Earth but its importance in the habitat of all living creatures is priceless especially for food production. Water balance between agricultural production and natural ecosystems is not stable because irrigation water is lost to natural ecosystems and can lead to their decline. Therefore, soil water amount and quality should be monitored in automatic and non-invasive way. The paper presents electromagnetic methods and sensors for monitoring soil water content. Special attention is put of the respective microwave tools, their advantages and prospects for the future of soil moisture metrology.