Application of cosmic‐ray neutron probes for measuring soil moisture in rocky areas of the Taihang Mountains, North China

IF 2.5 3区地球科学 Q3 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES

Vadose Zone Journal Pub Date : 2023-11-14 DOI:10.1002/vzj2.20291

Zhihua Zhang, Huidi Ou, Yuefeng Shi, Youliang Ye, Yuqiang Sang, Siyi Zhang, Jinsong Zhang

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引用次数: 0

Abstract

Abstract The cosmic‐ray neutron probe (CRNP) is a mesoscale and noninvasive method for measuring soil moisture and has been widely studied and applied. However, studies of its applicability in rocky mountainous areas are still challenging in complex topography and high gravel content. In this study, a field experiment was carried out to assess the applicability of the CRNP for measuring soil moisture in rocky areas of Taihang Mountains of North China. The results showed that the Pearson correlation coefficient and the root mean square error between the soil moisture from CRNP and the drying method are 0.911 and 0.025 m 3 m −3 , respectively, indicating that the CRNP can estimate the average soil moisture well in the study area. Compared with the capacitive sensor, the CRNP overestimated soil moisture when small rainfall events occurred, which was caused by the interception of canopy and litter. The nonlinear weighting method performed better than the linear weighting method in representing average soil moisture within the CRNP footprint. The high gravel content that contained high lattice water content reduced the penetration depth of CRNP. Biomass reduces the accuracy of the CRNP by affecting the neutron intensity. In summary, CRNP can measure soil moisture accurately in rocky areas of the Taihang Mountains, especially in dry environments with low biomass.

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宇宙射线中子探测器在太行山岩石区土壤水分测量中的应用

宇宙射线中子探针(CRNP)是一种中尺度、无创的土壤湿度测量方法，已经得到了广泛的研究和应用。然而，在地形复杂、含砾量高的岩石山区，其适用性研究仍具有挑战性。本研究通过田间试验，对CRNP在太行山岩石区土壤水分测量中的适用性进行了评价。结果表明，CRNP与干燥法土壤湿度的Pearson相关系数和均方根误差分别为0.911和0.025 m 3 m−3，表明CRNP能较好地估算研究区土壤平均湿度。与电容式传感器相比，CRNP在小降雨时高估了土壤水分，这是由于冠层和凋落物的截留造成的。非线性加权法比线性加权法更能表征CRNP足迹内的平均土壤水分。砾石含量高，晶格含水量高，降低了CRNP的渗透深度。生物量通过影响中子强度降低了CRNP的准确性。综上所述，CRNP可以准确测量太行山岩石区土壤水分，特别是在低生物量的干燥环境中。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

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来源期刊

Vadose Zone Journal 环境科学-环境科学

CiteScore

5.60

自引率

7.10%

发文量

审稿时长

3.8 months

期刊介绍： Vadose Zone Journal is a unique publication outlet for interdisciplinary research and assessment of the vadose zone, the portion of the Critical Zone that comprises the Earth’s critical living surface down to groundwater. It is a peer-reviewed, international journal publishing reviews, original research, and special sections across a wide range of disciplines. Vadose Zone Journal reports fundamental and applied research from disciplinary and multidisciplinary investigations, including assessment and policy analyses, of the mostly unsaturated zone between the soil surface and the groundwater table. The goal is to disseminate information to facilitate science-based decision-making and sustainable management of the vadose zone. Examples of topic areas suitable for VZJ are variably saturated fluid flow, heat and solute transport in granular and fractured media, flow processes in the capillary fringe at or near the water table, water table management, regional and global climate change impacts on the vadose zone, carbon sequestration, design and performance of waste disposal facilities, long-term stewardship of contaminated sites in the vadose zone, biogeochemical transformation processes, microbial processes in shallow and deep formations, bioremediation, and the fate and transport of radionuclides, inorganic and organic chemicals, colloids, viruses, and microorganisms. Articles in VZJ also address yet-to-be-resolved issues, such as how to quantify heterogeneity of subsurface processes and properties, and how to couple physical, chemical, and biological processes across a range of spatial scales from the molecular to the global.