Articles | Volume 25, issue 9
https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-25-4807-2021
https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-25-4807-2021
Research article
 | 
03 Sep 2021
Research article |  | 03 Sep 2021

Spatio-temporal soil moisture retrieval at the catchment scale using a dense network of cosmic-ray neutron sensors

Maik Heistermann, Till Francke, Martin Schrön, and Sascha E. Oswald

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Cited articles

Andreasen, M., Jensen, K. H., Desilets, D., Franz, T. E., Zreda, M., Bogena, H. R., and Looms, M. C.: Status and Perspectives on the Cosmic-Ray Neutron Method for Soil Moisture Estimation and Other Environmental Science Applications, Vadose Zone J., 16, 1–11, https://doi.org/10.2136/vzj2017.04.0086, 2017. a
Baatz, R., Bogena, H. R., Hendricks-Franssen, H.-J., Huisman, J. A., Montzka, C., and Vereecken, H.: An empirical vegetation correction for soil water content quantification using cosmic ray probes, Water Resour. Res., 51, 2030–2046, https://doi.org/10.1002/2014WR016443, 2015. a
Baroni, G. and Oswald, S. E.: A scaling approach for the assessment of biomass changes and rainfall interception using cosmic-ray neutron sensing, J. Hydrol., 525, 264–276, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhydrol.2015.03.053, 2015. a
Baroni, G., Scheiffele, L. M., Schrön, M., Ingwersen, J., and Oswald, S. E.: Uncertainty, sensitivity and improvements in soil moisture estimation with cosmic-ray neutron sensing, J. Hydrol., 564, 873–887, doi10.1016/j.jhydrol.2018.07.053, 2018. a
Bayerisches Landesamt für Umwelt: Übersichtsbodenkarte TK25-Blatt 8132, available at: https://www.lfu.bayern.de/index.htm (last access: 26 July 2021), 2014. a, b
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Short summary
Cosmic-ray neutron sensing (CRNS) is a powerful technique for retrieving representative estimates of soil moisture in footprints extending over hectometres in the horizontal and decimetres in the vertical. This study, however, demonstrates the potential of CRNS to obtain spatio-temporal patterns of soil moisture beyond isolated footprints. To that end, we analyse data from a unique observational campaign that featured a dense network of more than 20 neutron detectors in an area of just 1 km2.
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