Application of GPR surface reflection method for estimating soil water content of bare soil

Abstract

Ground penetrating radar (GPR) is a useful technology for non-destructive measurement of land surface soil water content. The surface reflection method of GPR can be used to monitoring soil water content at the scale between point scale of traditional methods and the large scale of remote sensing methods. In this study the controlling condition experiment and field experiment were carried out for the surface reflection method of GPR. In order to better retrieve soil water content of the surface 5cm soil layer, we used a empirical equationθ - R, and the empirical equation here used was regressed by the data of controlling condition experiment. In the preliminary field experiment, the empirical equation performed well. Much work was still required to support the need of application.