Articles | Volume 25, issue 12
https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-25-6547-2021
© Author(s) 2021. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-25-6547-2021
© Author(s) 2021. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Research article
| 
22 Dec 2021
Research article |
| 22 Dec 2021
| 22 Dec 2021
Towards disentangling heterogeneous soil moisture patterns in cosmic-ray neutron sensor footprints
Daniel Rasche
CORRESPONDING AUTHOR
Section Hydrology, GFZ German Research Centre for Geosciences, 14473 Potsdam, Germany
Markus Köhli
Physikalisches Institut, Heidelberg University, Im Neuenheimer Feld 226, 69120 Heidelberg, Germany
Physikalisches Institut, University of Bonn, Nussallee 12, 53115 Bonn, Germany
Martin Schrön
Department of Monitoring and Exploration Technologies, Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research GmbH – UFZ, Permoserstr. 15, 04318 Leipzig, Germany
Theresa Blume
Section Hydrology, GFZ German Research Centre for Geosciences, 14473 Potsdam, Germany
Andreas Güntner
Section Hydrology, GFZ German Research Centre for Geosciences, 14473 Potsdam, Germany
Institute of Environmental Sciences and Geography, University of Potsdam, 14476 Potsdam, Germany
Related authors
Daniel Rasche, Theresa Blume, and Andreas Güntner
SOIL, 10, 655–677, https://doi.org/10.5194/soil-10-655-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/soil-10-655-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
Soil moisture measurements at the field scale are highly beneficial for numerous (soil) hydrological applications. Cosmic-ray neutron sensing (CRNS) allows for the non-invasive monitoring of field-scale soil moisture across several hectares but only for the first few tens of centimetres of the soil. In this study, we modify and test a simple modeling approach to extrapolate CRNS-derived surface soil moisture information down to 450 cm depth and compare calibrated and uncalibrated model results.
Daniel Rasche, Jannis Weimar, Martin Schrön, Markus Köhli, Markus Morgner, Andreas Güntner, and Theresa Blume
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 27, 3059–3082, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-27-3059-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-27-3059-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
We introduce passive downhole cosmic-ray neutron sensing (d-CRNS) as an approach for the non-invasive estimation of soil moisture in deeper layers of the unsaturated zone which exceed the observational window of above-ground CRNS applications. Neutron transport simulations are used to derive mathematical descriptions and transfer functions, while experimental measurements in an existing groundwater observation well illustrate the feasibility and applicability of the approach.
Maik Heistermann, Till Francke, Lena Scheiffele, Katya Dimitrova Petrova, Christian Budach, Martin Schrön, Benjamin Trost, Daniel Rasche, Andreas Güntner, Veronika Döpper, Michael Förster, Markus Köhli, Lisa Angermann, Nikolaos Antonoglou, Manuela Zude-Sasse, and Sascha E. Oswald
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 15, 3243–3262, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-15-3243-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-15-3243-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
Cosmic-ray neutron sensing (CRNS) allows for the non-invasive estimation of root-zone soil water content (SWC). The signal observed by a single CRNS sensor is influenced by the SWC in a radius of around 150 m (the footprint). Here, we have put together a cluster of eight CRNS sensors with overlapping footprints at an agricultural research site in north-east Germany. That way, we hope to represent spatial SWC heterogeneity instead of retrieving just one average SWC estimate from a single sensor.
Maik Heistermann, Heye Bogena, Till Francke, Andreas Güntner, Jannis Jakobi, Daniel Rasche, Martin Schrön, Veronika Döpper, Benjamin Fersch, Jannis Groh, Amol Patil, Thomas Pütz, Marvin Reich, Steffen Zacharias, Carmen Zengerle, and Sascha Oswald
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 14, 2501–2519, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-14-2501-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-14-2501-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
This paper presents a dense network of cosmic-ray neutron sensing (CRNS) to measure spatio-temporal soil moisture patterns during a 2-month campaign in the Wüstebach headwater catchment in Germany. Stationary, mobile, and airborne CRNS technology monitored the root-zone water dynamics as well as spatial heterogeneity in the 0.4 km2 area. The 15 CRNS stations were supported by a hydrogravimeter, biomass sampling, and a wireless soil sensor network to facilitate holistic hydrological analysis.
Heye Reemt Bogena, Martin Schrön, Jannis Jakobi, Patrizia Ney, Steffen Zacharias, Mie Andreasen, Roland Baatz, David Boorman, Mustafa Berk Duygu, Miguel Angel Eguibar-Galán, Benjamin Fersch, Till Franke, Josie Geris, María González Sanchis, Yann Kerr, Tobias Korf, Zalalem Mengistu, Arnaud Mialon, Paolo Nasta, Jerzy Nitychoruk, Vassilios Pisinaras, Daniel Rasche, Rafael Rosolem, Hami Said, Paul Schattan, Marek Zreda, Stefan Achleitner, Eduardo Albentosa-Hernández, Zuhal Akyürek, Theresa Blume, Antonio del Campo, Davide Canone, Katya Dimitrova-Petrova, John G. Evans, Stefano Ferraris, Félix Frances, Davide Gisolo, Andreas Güntner, Frank Herrmann, Joost Iwema, Karsten H. Jensen, Harald Kunstmann, Antonio Lidón, Majken Caroline Looms, Sascha Oswald, Andreas Panagopoulos, Amol Patil, Daniel Power, Corinna Rebmann, Nunzio Romano, Lena Scheiffele, Sonia Seneviratne, Georg Weltin, and Harry Vereecken
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 14, 1125–1151, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-14-1125-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-14-1125-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
Monitoring of increasingly frequent droughts is a prerequisite for climate adaptation strategies. This data paper presents long-term soil moisture measurements recorded by 66 cosmic-ray neutron sensors (CRNS) operated by 24 institutions and distributed across major climate zones in Europe. Data processing followed harmonized protocols and state-of-the-art methods to generate consistent and comparable soil moisture products and to facilitate continental-scale analysis of hydrological extremes.
Ehsan Sharifi, Julian Haas, Eva Börgens, Henryk Dobslaw, and Andreas Güntner
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-1514, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-1514, 2025
Short summary
Short summary
This study presents a method to make the spatial resolution of global Water Storage Compartments (WSCs) compatible with terrestrial water storage (TWS) data from GRACE missions. The method compares the spatial structure of the WSCs and TWS by considering the correlation between neighboring grid cells. An isotropic Gaussian filter with an optimal filter width of 250 km is found to be the most suitable, ensuring compatibility for consistent comparison with GRACE data in hydrological applications.
Till Francke, Cosimo Brogi, Alby Duarte Rocha, Michael Förster, Maik Heistermann, Markus Köhli, Daniel Rasche, Marvin Reich, Paul Schattan, Lena Scheiffele, and Martin Schrön
Geosci. Model Dev., 18, 819–842, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-18-819-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-18-819-2025, 2025
Short summary
Short summary
Multiple methods for measuring soil moisture beyond the point scale exist. Their validation is generally hindered by not knowing the truth. We propose a virtual framework in which this truth is fully known and the sensor observations for cosmic ray neutron sensing, remote sensing, and hydrogravimetry are simulated. This allows for the rigorous testing of these virtual sensors to understand their effectiveness and limitations.
Howlader Mohammad Mehedi Hasan, Petra Döll, Seyed-Mohammad Hosseini-Moghari, Fabrice Papa, and Andreas Güntner
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 29, 567–596, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-29-567-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-29-567-2025, 2025
Short summary
Short summary
We calibrate a global hydrological model using multiple observations to analyse the benefits and trade-offs of multi-variable calibration. We found such an approach to be very important for understanding the real-world system. However, some observations are very essential to the system, in particular, streamflow. We also showed uncertainties in the calibration results, which are often useful for making informed decisions. We emphasize considering observation uncertainty in model calibration.
Eshrat Fatima, Rohini Kumar, Sabine Attinger, Maren Kaluza, Oldrich Rakovec, Corinna Rebmann, Rafael Rosolem, Sascha E. Oswald, Luis Samaniego, Steffen Zacharias, and Martin Schrön
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 28, 5419–5441, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-28-5419-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-28-5419-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
This study establishes a framework to incorporate cosmic-ray neutron measurements into the mesoscale Hydrological Model (mHM). We evaluate different approaches to estimate neutron counts within the mHM using the Desilets equation, with uniformly and non-uniformly weighted average soil moisture, and the physically based code COSMIC. The data improved not only soil moisture simulations but also the parameterisation of evapotranspiration in the model.
Daniel Altdorff, Maik Heistermann, Till Francke, Martin Schrön, Sabine Attinger, Albrecht Bauriegel, Frank Beyrich, Peter Biró, Peter Dietrich, Rebekka Eichstädt, Peter Martin Grosse, Arvid Markert, Jakob Terschlüsen, Ariane Walz, Steffen Zacharias, and Sascha E. Oswald
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-3848, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-3848, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
The German federal state of Brandenburg is particularly prone to soil moisture droughts. To support the management of related risks, we introduce a novel soil moisture and drought monitoring network based on cosmic-ray neutron sensing technology. This initiative is driven by a collaboration of research institutions and federal state agencies, and it is the first of its kind in Germany to have started operation. In this brief communication, we outline the network design and share first results.
Eva Boergens, Andreas Güntner, Mike Sips, Christian Schwatke, and Henryk Dobslaw
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 28, 4733–4754, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-28-4733-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-28-4733-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
The satellites GRACE and GRACE-FO observe continental terrestrial water storage (TWS) changes. With over 20 years of data, we can look into long-term variations in the East Africa Rift region. We focus on analysing the interannual TWS variations compared to meteorological data and observations of the water storage compartments. We found strong influences of natural precipitation variability and human actions over Lake Victoria's water level.
Daniel Rasche, Theresa Blume, and Andreas Güntner
SOIL, 10, 655–677, https://doi.org/10.5194/soil-10-655-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/soil-10-655-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
Soil moisture measurements at the field scale are highly beneficial for numerous (soil) hydrological applications. Cosmic-ray neutron sensing (CRNS) allows for the non-invasive monitoring of field-scale soil moisture across several hectares but only for the first few tens of centimetres of the soil. In this study, we modify and test a simple modeling approach to extrapolate CRNS-derived surface soil moisture information down to 450 cm depth and compare calibrated and uncalibrated model results.
Petra Döll, Howlader Mohammad Mehedi Hasan, Kerstin Schulze, Helena Gerdener, Lara Börger, Somayeh Shadkam, Sebastian Ackermann, Seyed-Mohammad Hosseini-Moghari, Hannes Müller Schmied, Andreas Güntner, and Jürgen Kusche
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 28, 2259–2295, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-28-2259-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-28-2259-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
Currently, global hydrological models do not benefit from observations of model output variables to reduce and quantify model output uncertainty. For the Mississippi River basin, we explored three approaches for using both streamflow and total water storage anomaly observations to adjust the parameter sets in a global hydrological model. We developed a method for considering the observation uncertainties to quantify the uncertainty of model output and provide recommendations.
Maik Heistermann, Till Francke, Martin Schrön, and Sascha E. Oswald
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 28, 989–1000, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-28-989-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-28-989-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
Cosmic-ray neutron sensing (CRNS) is a non-invasive technique used to obtain estimates of soil water content (SWC) at a horizontal footprint of around 150 m and a vertical penetration depth of up to 30 cm. However, typical CRNS applications require the local calibration of a function which converts neutron counts to SWC. As an alternative, we propose a generalized function as a way to avoid the use of local reference measurements of SWC and hence a major source of uncertainty.
Daniel Rasche, Jannis Weimar, Martin Schrön, Markus Köhli, Markus Morgner, Andreas Güntner, and Theresa Blume
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 27, 3059–3082, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-27-3059-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-27-3059-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
We introduce passive downhole cosmic-ray neutron sensing (d-CRNS) as an approach for the non-invasive estimation of soil moisture in deeper layers of the unsaturated zone which exceed the observational window of above-ground CRNS applications. Neutron transport simulations are used to derive mathematical descriptions and transfer functions, while experimental measurements in an existing groundwater observation well illustrate the feasibility and applicability of the approach.
Maik Heistermann, Till Francke, Lena Scheiffele, Katya Dimitrova Petrova, Christian Budach, Martin Schrön, Benjamin Trost, Daniel Rasche, Andreas Güntner, Veronika Döpper, Michael Förster, Markus Köhli, Lisa Angermann, Nikolaos Antonoglou, Manuela Zude-Sasse, and Sascha E. Oswald
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 15, 3243–3262, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-15-3243-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-15-3243-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
Cosmic-ray neutron sensing (CRNS) allows for the non-invasive estimation of root-zone soil water content (SWC). The signal observed by a single CRNS sensor is influenced by the SWC in a radius of around 150 m (the footprint). Here, we have put together a cluster of eight CRNS sensors with overlapping footprints at an agricultural research site in north-east Germany. That way, we hope to represent spatial SWC heterogeneity instead of retrieving just one average SWC estimate from a single sensor.
Daniel Blank, Annette Eicker, Laura Jensen, and Andreas Güntner
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 27, 2413–2435, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-27-2413-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-27-2413-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
Soil moisture (SM), a key variable of the global water cycle, is analyzed using two types of satellite observations; microwave sensors measure the top few centimeters and satellite gravimetry (GRACE) the full vertical water column. As SM can change very fast, non-standard daily GRACE data are applied for the first time for this analysis. Jointly analyzing these data gives insight into the SM dynamics at different soil depths, and time shifts indicate the infiltration time into deeper layers.
Martin Schrön, Markus Köhli, and Steffen Zacharias
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 27, 723–738, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-27-723-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-27-723-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
This paper presents a new analytical concept to answer long-lasting questions of the cosmic-ray neutron sensing community, such as
what is the influence of a distant area or patches of different land use on the measurement signal?or
is the detector sensitive enough to detect a change of soil moisture (e.g. due to irrigation) in a remote field at a certain distance?The concept may support signal interpretation and sensor calibration, particularly in heterogeneous terrain.
Markus Köhli, Martin Schrön, Steffen Zacharias, and Ulrich Schmidt
Geosci. Model Dev., 16, 449–477, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-16-449-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-16-449-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
In the last decades, Monte Carlo codes were often consulted to study neutrons near the surface. As an alternative for the growing community of CRNS, we developed URANOS. The main model features are tracking of particle histories from creation to detection, detector representations as layers or geometric shapes, a voxel-based geometry model, and material setup based on color codes in ASCII matrices or bitmap images. The entire software is developed in C++ and features a graphical user interface.
Cosimo Brogi, Heye Reemt Bogena, Markus Köhli, Johan Alexander Huisman, Harrie-Jan Hendricks Franssen, and Olga Dombrowski
Geosci. Instrum. Method. Data Syst., 11, 451–469, https://doi.org/10.5194/gi-11-451-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/gi-11-451-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
Accurate monitoring of water in soil can improve irrigation efficiency, which is important considering climate change and the growing world population. Cosmic-ray neutrons sensors (CRNSs) are a promising tool in irrigation monitoring due to a larger sensed area and to lower maintenance than other ground-based sensors. Here, we analyse the feasibility of irrigation monitoring with CRNSs and the impact of the irrigated field dimensions, of the variations of water in soil, and of instrument design.
Friedrich Boeing, Oldrich Rakovec, Rohini Kumar, Luis Samaniego, Martin Schrön, Anke Hildebrandt, Corinna Rebmann, Stephan Thober, Sebastian Müller, Steffen Zacharias, Heye Bogena, Katrin Schneider, Ralf Kiese, Sabine Attinger, and Andreas Marx
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 26, 5137–5161, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-26-5137-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-26-5137-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
In this paper, we deliver an evaluation of the second generation operational German drought monitor (https://www.ufz.de/duerremonitor) with a state-of-the-art compilation of observed soil moisture data from 40 locations and four different measurement methods in Germany. We show that the expressed stakeholder needs for higher resolution drought information at the one-kilometer scale can be met and that the agreement of simulated and observed soil moisture dynamics can be moderately improved.
Anne Hartmann, Markus Weiler, Konrad Greinwald, and Theresa Blume
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 26, 4953–4974, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-26-4953-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-26-4953-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
Analyzing the impact of soil age and rainfall intensity on vertical subsurface flow paths in calcareous soils, with a special focus on preferential flow occurrence, shows how water flow paths are linked to the organization of evolving landscapes. The observed increase in preferential flow occurrence with increasing moraine age provides important but rare data for a proper representation of hydrological processes within the feedback cycle of the hydro-pedo-geomorphological system.
Achim Brauer, Ingo Heinrich, Markus J. Schwab, Birgit Plessen, Brian Brademann, Matthias Köppl, Sylvia Pinkerneil, Daniel Balanzategui, Gerhard Helle, and Theresa Blume
DEUQUA Spec. Pub., 4, 41–58, https://doi.org/10.5194/deuquasp-4-41-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/deuquasp-4-41-2022, 2022
Lena Katharina Schmidt, Till Francke, Erwin Rottler, Theresa Blume, Johannes Schöber, and Axel Bronstert
Earth Surf. Dynam., 10, 653–669, https://doi.org/10.5194/esurf-10-653-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/esurf-10-653-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
Climate change fundamentally alters glaciated high-alpine areas, but it is unclear how this affects riverine sediment transport. As a first step, we aimed to identify the most important processes and source areas in three nested catchments in the Ötztal, Austria, in the past 15 years. We found that areas above 2500 m were crucial and that summer rainstorms were less influential than glacier melt. These findings provide a baseline for studies on future changes in high-alpine sediment dynamics.
Maik Heistermann, Heye Bogena, Till Francke, Andreas Güntner, Jannis Jakobi, Daniel Rasche, Martin Schrön, Veronika Döpper, Benjamin Fersch, Jannis Groh, Amol Patil, Thomas Pütz, Marvin Reich, Steffen Zacharias, Carmen Zengerle, and Sascha Oswald
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 14, 2501–2519, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-14-2501-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-14-2501-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
This paper presents a dense network of cosmic-ray neutron sensing (CRNS) to measure spatio-temporal soil moisture patterns during a 2-month campaign in the Wüstebach headwater catchment in Germany. Stationary, mobile, and airborne CRNS technology monitored the root-zone water dynamics as well as spatial heterogeneity in the 0.4 km2 area. The 15 CRNS stations were supported by a hydrogravimeter, biomass sampling, and a wireless soil sensor network to facilitate holistic hydrological analysis.
Nils Hinrich Kaplan, Theresa Blume, and Markus Weiler
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 26, 2671–2696, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-26-2671-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-26-2671-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
This study is analyses how characteristics of precipitation events and soil moisture and temperature dynamics during these events can be used to model the associated streamflow responses in intermittent streams. The models are used to identify differences between the dominant controls of streamflow intermittency in three distinct geologies of the Attert catchment, Luxembourg. Overall, soil moisture was found to be the most important control of intermittent streamflow in all geologies.
Andreas Wieser, Andreas Güntner, Peter Dietrich, Jan Handwerker, Dina Khordakova, Uta Ködel, Martin Kohler, Hannes Mollenhauer, Bernhard Mühr, Erik Nixdorf, Marvin Reich, Christian Rolf, Martin Schrön, Claudia Schütze, and Ute Weber
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci. Discuss., https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-2022-131, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-2022-131, 2022
Preprint withdrawn
Short summary
Short summary
We present an event-triggered observation concept which covers the entire process chain from heavy precipitation to flooding at the catchment scale. It combines flexible and mobile observing systems out of the fields of meteorology, hydrology and geophysics with stationary networks to capture atmospheric transport processes, heterogeneous precipitation patterns, land surface and subsurface storage processes, and runoff dynamics.
Mandy Kasner, Steffen Zacharias, and Martin Schrön
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci. Discuss., https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-2022-123, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-2022-123, 2022
Publication in HESS not foreseen
Short summary
Short summary
Cosmic-ray neutron sensing (CRNS) is a non-invasive technique that is used to quantify field-scale root-zone soil moisture. We hypothesize that unaccounted spatiotemporal changes of soil density may have impact on the quality of CRNS soil moisture products. Our results indicate a significant dependency of neutrons on soil density, which also depends on the soil moisture state. A correction approach is provided that can be recommended for practical use.
Heye Reemt Bogena, Martin Schrön, Jannis Jakobi, Patrizia Ney, Steffen Zacharias, Mie Andreasen, Roland Baatz, David Boorman, Mustafa Berk Duygu, Miguel Angel Eguibar-Galán, Benjamin Fersch, Till Franke, Josie Geris, María González Sanchis, Yann Kerr, Tobias Korf, Zalalem Mengistu, Arnaud Mialon, Paolo Nasta, Jerzy Nitychoruk, Vassilios Pisinaras, Daniel Rasche, Rafael Rosolem, Hami Said, Paul Schattan, Marek Zreda, Stefan Achleitner, Eduardo Albentosa-Hernández, Zuhal Akyürek, Theresa Blume, Antonio del Campo, Davide Canone, Katya Dimitrova-Petrova, John G. Evans, Stefano Ferraris, Félix Frances, Davide Gisolo, Andreas Güntner, Frank Herrmann, Joost Iwema, Karsten H. Jensen, Harald Kunstmann, Antonio Lidón, Majken Caroline Looms, Sascha Oswald, Andreas Panagopoulos, Amol Patil, Daniel Power, Corinna Rebmann, Nunzio Romano, Lena Scheiffele, Sonia Seneviratne, Georg Weltin, and Harry Vereecken
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 14, 1125–1151, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-14-1125-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-14-1125-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
Monitoring of increasingly frequent droughts is a prerequisite for climate adaptation strategies. This data paper presents long-term soil moisture measurements recorded by 66 cosmic-ray neutron sensors (CRNS) operated by 24 institutions and distributed across major climate zones in Europe. Data processing followed harmonized protocols and state-of-the-art methods to generate consistent and comparable soil moisture products and to facilitate continental-scale analysis of hydrological extremes.
Tina Trautmann, Sujan Koirala, Nuno Carvalhais, Andreas Güntner, and Martin Jung
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 26, 1089–1109, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-26-1089-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-26-1089-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
We assess the effect of how vegetation is defined in a global hydrological model on the composition of total water storage (TWS). We compare two experiments, one with globally uniform and one with vegetation parameters that vary in space and time. While both experiments are constrained against observational data, we found a drastic change in the partitioning of TWS, highlighting the important role of the interaction between groundwater–soil moisture–vegetation in understanding TWS variations.
Till Francke, Maik Heistermann, Markus Köhli, Christian Budach, Martin Schrön, and Sascha E. Oswald
Geosci. Instrum. Method. Data Syst., 11, 75–92, https://doi.org/10.5194/gi-11-75-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/gi-11-75-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
Cosmic-ray neutron sensing (CRNS) is a non-invasive tool for measuring hydrogen pools like soil moisture, snow, or vegetation. This study presents a directional shielding approach, aiming to measure in specific directions only. The results show that non-directional neutron transport blurs the signal of the targeted direction. For typical instruments, this does not allow acceptable precision at a daily time resolution. However, the mere statistical distinction of two rates is feasible.
Conrad Jackisch, Sibylle K. Hassler, Tobias L. Hohenbrink, Theresa Blume, Hjalmar Laudon, Hilary McMillan, Patricia Saco, and Loes van Schaik
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 25, 5277–5285, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-25-5277-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-25-5277-2021, 2021
Maik Heistermann, Till Francke, Martin Schrön, and Sascha E. Oswald
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 25, 4807–4824, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-25-4807-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-25-4807-2021, 2021
Short summary
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.
Anne Hartmann, Markus Weiler, Konrad Greinwald, and Theresa Blume
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci. Discuss., https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-2021-242, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-2021-242, 2021
Manuscript not accepted for further review
Short summary
Short summary
Our field observation-based examination of flow path evolution, soil formation and vegetation succession across ten millennia on calcareous parent material shows how water flow paths and subsurface water storage are linked to the organization of evolving landscapes. We provide important but rare data and observations for a proper handling of hydrologic processes and their role within the feedback cycle of the hydro-pedo-geomorphological system.
Anne Hartmann, Markus Weiler, and Theresa Blume
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 12, 3189–3204, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-12-3189-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-12-3189-2020, 2020
Short summary
Short summary
Our analysis of soil physical and hydraulic properties across two soil chronosequences of 10 millennia in the Swiss Alps provides important observation of the evolution of soil hydraulic behavior. A strong co-evolution of soil physical and hydraulic properties was revealed by the observed change of fast-draining coarse-textured soils to slow-draining soils with a high water-holding capacity in correlation with a distinct change in structural properties and organic matter content.
Daniel Beiter, Markus Weiler, and Theresa Blume
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 24, 5713–5744, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-24-5713-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-24-5713-2020, 2020
Short summary
Short summary
We investigated the interactions between streams and their adjacent hillslopes in terms of water flow. It could be revealed that soil structure has a strong influence on how hillslopes connect to the streams, while the groundwater table tells us a lot about when the two connect. This observation could be used to improve models that try to predict whether or not hillslopes are in a state where a rain event will be likely to produce a flood in the stream.
Conrad Jackisch, Samuel Knoblauch, Theresa Blume, Erwin Zehe, and Sibylle K. Hassler
Biogeosciences, 17, 5787–5808, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-17-5787-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-17-5787-2020, 2020
Short summary
Short summary
We developed software to calculate the root water uptake (RWU) of beech tree roots from soil moisture dynamics. We present our approach and compare RWU to measured sap flow in the tree stem. The study relates to two sites that are similar in topography and weather but with contrasting soils. While sap flow is very similar between the two sites, the RWU is different. This suggests that soil characteristics have substantial influence. Our easy-to-implement RWU estimate may help further studies.
Nils Hinrich Kaplan, Theresa Blume, and Markus Weiler
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 24, 5453–5472, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-24-5453-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-24-5453-2020, 2020
Short summary
Short summary
In recent decades the demand for detailed information of spatial and temporal dynamics of the stream network has grown in the fields of eco-hydrology and extreme flow prediction. We use temporal streamflow intermittency data obtained at various sites using innovative sensing technology as well as spatial predictors to predict and map probabilities of streamflow intermittency. This approach has the potential to provide intermittency maps for hydrological modelling and management practices.
Benjamin Fersch, Till Francke, Maik Heistermann, Martin Schrön, Veronika Döpper, Jannis Jakobi, Gabriele Baroni, Theresa Blume, Heye Bogena, Christian Budach, Tobias Gränzig, Michael Förster, Andreas Güntner, Harrie-Jan Hendricks Franssen, Mandy Kasner, Markus Köhli, Birgit Kleinschmit, Harald Kunstmann, Amol Patil, Daniel Rasche, Lena Scheiffele, Ulrich Schmidt, Sandra Szulc-Seyfried, Jannis Weimar, Steffen Zacharias, Marek Zreda, Bernd Heber, Ralf Kiese, Vladimir Mares, Hannes Mollenhauer, Ingo Völksch, and Sascha Oswald
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 12, 2289–2309, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-12-2289-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-12-2289-2020, 2020
Cited articles
Andreasen, M., Jensen, K. H., Zreda, M., Desilets, D., Bogena, H., and Looms,
M. C.: Modeling cosmic ray neutron field measurements, Water Resour.
Res., 52, 6451–6471, https://doi.org/10.1002/2015wr018236, 2016. a, b, c
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, vzj2017.04.0086,
https://doi.org/10.2136/vzj2017.04.0086, 2017a. a
Andreasen, M., Jensen, K. H., Desilets, D., Zreda, M., Bogena, H. R., and Looms, M. C.: Cosmic-ray neutron transport at a forest field site: the sensitivity to various environmental conditions with focus on biomass and canopy interception, Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 21, 1875–1894, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-21-1875-2017, 2017b. a, b
Andreasen, M., Jensen, K. H., Bogena, H., Desilets, D., Zreda, M., and Looms,
M. C.: Cosmic Ray Neutron Soil Moisture Estimation Using Physically Based
Site-Specific Conversion Functions, Water Resour. Res., 56, e2019WR026588,
https://doi.org/10.1029/2019wr026588, 2020. a
Babaeian, E., Sadeghi, M., Jones, S. B., Montzka, C., Vereecken, H., and
Tuller, M.: Ground, Proximal, and Satellite Remote Sensing of Soil Moisture,
Rev. Geophys., 57, 530–616, https://doi.org/10.1029/2018rg000618, 2019. a
Badiee, A., Wallbank, J. R., Fentanes, J. P., Trill, E., Scarlet, P., Zhu, Y.,
Cielniak, G., Cooper, H., Blake, J. R., Evans, J. G., Zreda, M., Köhli, M.,
and Pearson, S.: Using Additional Moderator to Control the Footprint of a
COSMOS Rover for Soil Moisture Measurement, Water Resour. Res., 57, e2020WR028478,
https://doi.org/10.1029/2020wr028478, 2021. a
Baroni, G., Scheiffele, L., Schrön, M., Ingwersen, J., and Oswald, S.:
Uncertainty, sensitivity and improvements in soil moisture estimation with
cosmic-ray neutron sensing, J. Hydrol., 564, 873–887,
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhydrol.2018.07.053, 2018. a
BKG – German Federal Agency for Cartography and Geodesy: Digital landcover
model: ATKIS-Basis-DLM (© GeoBasis-DE/BKG 2018),
available at: https://www.bkg.bund.de/SharedDocs/Produktinformationen/BKG/DE/P-2019/191011_ATKISDLM.html (last access: 21 December 2021),
2018a. a
BKG – German Federal Agency for Cartography and Geodesy: German
administrative units ATKIS-VG2500, scale 1:2 500 000 (©
GeoBasis-DE/BKG 2018),
available at: https://gdz.bkg.bund.de/index.php/default/digitale-geodaten/verwaltungsgebiete/verwaltungsgebiete-1-2-500-000-stand-01-01-vg2500.html (last access: 21 December 2021),
2018b. a
Bogena, H. R., Huisman, J. A., Baatz, R., Franssen, H.-J. H., and Vereecken,
H.: Accuracy of the cosmic-ray soil water content probe in humid forest
ecosystems: The worst case scenario, Water Resour. Res., 49,
5778–5791, https://doi.org/10.1002/wrcr.20463, 2013. a
Bogena, H. R., Herrmann, F., Jakobi, J., Brogi, C., Ilias, A., Huisman, J. A.,
Panagopoulos, A., and Pisinaras, V.: Monitoring of Snowpack Dynamics With
Cosmic-Ray Neutron Probes: A Comparison of Four Conversion Methods, Front. Water, 2, 19, https://doi.org/10.3389/frwa.2020.00019, 2020. a, b, c, d, e, f
Börner, A.: Neue Beiträge zum Naturraum und zur Landschaftsgeschichte im
Teilgebiet Serrahn des Müritz-Nationalparks – Forschung und Monitoring,
vol. 4, chap. Geologische Entwicklung des Gebietes um den Großen
Fürstenseer See, Geozon Science Media, Berlin, 21–29,
https://doi.org/10.3285/g.00012, 2015. a, b
Daly, E. and Porporato, A.: A Review of Soil Moisture Dynamics: From Rainfall
Infiltration to Ecosystem Response, Environ. Eng. Sci., 22,
9–24, https://doi.org/10.1089/ees.2005.22.9, 2005. a
Dettmann, U., Bechtold, M., Frahm, E., and Tiemeyer, B.: On the applicability
of unimodal and bimodal van Genuchten–Mualem based models to peat
and other organic soils under evaporation conditions, J. Hydrol.,
515, 103–115, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhydrol.2014.04.047, 2014. a
Dimitrova-Petrova, K., Geris, J., Wilkinson, E. M., Rosolem, R., Verrot, L.,
Lilly, A., and Soulsby, C.: Opportunities and challenges in using
catchment-scale storage estimates from cosmic ray neutron sensors for
rainfall-runoff modelling, J. Hydrol., 586, 124878,
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhydrol.2020.124878, 2020. a
Duygu, M. B. and Akyürek, Z.: Using Cosmic-Ray Neutron Probes in Validating
Satellite Soil Moisture Products and Land Surface Models, Water, 11, 1362,
https://doi.org/10.3390/w11071362, 2019. a
DWD – German Weather Service: Multi-annual temperature observations
1981–2010,
available at: ftp://opendata.dwd.de/climate_environment/CDC/observations_germany/climate/multi_annual/mean_81-10/Temperatur_1981-2010_aktStandort.txt (last access: 1 December 2020),
2020a. a
DWD – German Weather Service: Multi-annual precipitation observations
1981–2010,
available at: ftp://opendata.dwd.de/climate_environment/CDC/observations_germany/climate/multi_annual/mean_81-10/Niederschlag_1981-2010_aktStandort.txt (last access: 1 December 2020),
2020b. a
Famiglietti, J. S., Ryu, D., Berg, A. A., Rodell, M., and Jackson, T. J.: Field
observations of soil moisture variability across scales, Water Resour. Res., 44, W01423, https://doi.org/10.1029/2006wr005804, 2008. a
Fersch, B., Jagdhuber, T., Schrön, M., Völksch, I., and Jäger, M.: Synergies
for Soil Moisture Retrieval Across Scales From Airborne Polarimetric SAR,
Cosmic Ray Neutron Roving, and an In Situ Sensor Network, Water Resour. Res., 54, 9364–9383, https://doi.org/10.1029/2018wr023337, 2018. a
Fersch, B., Francke, T., Heistermann, M., Schrön, M., Döpper, V., Jakobi, J., Baroni, G., Blume, T., Bogena, H., Budach, C., Gränzig, T., Förster, M., Güntner, A., Hendricks Franssen, H.-J., Kasner, M., Köhli, M., Kleinschmit, B., Kunstmann, H., Patil, A., Rasche, D., Scheiffele, L., Schmidt, U., Szulc-Seyfried, S., Weimar, J., Zacharias, S., Zreda, M., Heber, B., Kiese, R., Mares, V., Mollenhauer, H., Völksch, I., and Oswald, S.: A dense network of cosmic-ray neutron sensors for soil moisture observation in a highly instrumented pre-Alpine headwater catchment in Germany, Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 12, 2289–2309, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-12-2289-2020, 2020. a
Francke, T., Heistermann, M., Köhli, M., Budach, C., Schrön, M., and Oswald, S. E.: Assessing the feasibility of a directional CRNS-sensor for estimating soil moisture, Geosci. Instrum. Method. Data Syst. Discuss. [preprint], https://doi.org/10.5194/gi-2021-18, in review, 2021. a
Franz, T. E., Zreda, M., Ferre, T. P. A., Rosolem, R., Zweck, C., Stillman, S.,
Zeng, X., and Shuttleworth, W. J.: Measurement depth of the cosmic ray soil
moisture probe affected by hydrogen from various sources, Water Resour. Res., 48, W08515, https://doi.org/10.1029/2012wr011871, 2012. a
Franz, T. E., Zreda, M., Ferre, T. P. A., and Rosolem, R.: An assessment of the
effect of horizontal soil moisture heterogeneity on the area-average
measurement of cosmic-ray neutrons, Water Resour. Res., 49, 6450–6458,
https://doi.org/10.1002/wrcr.20530, 2013a. a
Franz, T. E., Zreda, M., Rosolem, R., and Ferre, T. P. A.: A universal calibration function for determination of soil moisture with cosmic-ray neutrons, Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 17, 453–460, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-17-453-2013, 2013b. a, b
Franz, T. E., Wang, T., Avery, W., Finkenbiner, C., and Brocca, L.: Combined
analysis of soil moisture measurements from roving and fixed cosmic ray
neutron probes for multiscale real-time monitoring, Geophys. Res.
Lett., 42, 3389–3396, https://doi.org/10.1002/2015gl063963, 2015. a
Franz, T. E., Wahbi, A., Vreugdenhil, M., Weltin, G., Heng, L., Oismueller, M.,
Strauss, P., Dercon, G., and Desilets, D.: Using Cosmic-Ray Neutron Probes to
Monitor Landscape Scale Soil Water Content in Mixed Land Use Agricultural
Systems, Appl. Environ. Soil Sci., 2016, 1–11,
https://doi.org/10.1155/2016/4323742, 2016. a
Gugerli, R., Salzmann, N., Huss, M., and Desilets, D.: Continuous and autonomous snow water equivalent measurements by a cosmic ray sensor on an alpine glacier, The Cryosphere, 13, 3413–3434, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-13-3413-2019, 2019. a
Gupta, H. V., Kling, H., Yilmaz, K. K., and Martinez, G. F.: Decomposition of
the mean squared error and NSE performance criteria: Implications for
improving hydrological modelling, J. Hydrol., 377, 80–91,
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhydrol.2009.08.003, 2009. a
Heinrich, I., Balanzategui, D., Bens, O., Blasch, G., Blume, T., Böttcher, F.,
Borg, E., Brademann, B., Brauer, A., Conrad, C., Dietze, E., Dräger, N.,
Fiener, P., Gerke, H. H., Güntner, A., Heine, I., Helle, G., Herbrich, M.,
Harfenmeister, K., Heußner, K.-U., Hohmann, C., Itzerott, S., Jurasinski,
G., Kaiser, K., Kappler, C., Koebsch, F., Liebner, S., Lischeid, G., Merz,
B., Missling, K. D., Morgner, M., Pinkerneil, S., Plessen, B., Raab, T.,
Ruhtz, T., Sachs, T., Sommer, M., Spengler, D., Stender, V., Stüve, P., and
Wilken, F.: Interdisciplinary Geo-ecological Research across Time Scales in
the Northeast German Lowland Observatory (TERENO-NE), Vadose Zone J., 17, 180116, https://doi.org/10.2136/vzj2018.06.0116, 2018. a
Heistermann, M., Francke, T., Schrön, M., and Oswald, S. E.: Spatio-temporal soil moisture retrieval at the catchment scale using a dense network of cosmic-ray neutron sensors, Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 25, 4807–4824, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-25-4807-2021, 2021. a
Holgate, C., Jeu, R. D., van Dijk, A., Liu, Y., Renzullo, L., Vinodkumar,
Dharssi, I., Parinussa, R., Schalie, R. V. D., Gevaert, A., Walker, J.,
McJannet, D., Cleverly, J., Haverd, V., Trudinger, C., and Briggs, P.:
Comparison of remotely sensed and modelled soil moisture data sets
across Australia, Remote Sens. Environ., 186, 479–500,
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rse.2016.09.015, 2016. a
Hubert, G., Pazianotto, M. T., and Federico, C. A.: Modeling of ground albedo
neutrons to investigate seasonal cosmic ray-induced neutron variations
measured at high-altitude stations, J. Geophys. Res.-Space
Phys., 121, 12186–12201, https://doi.org/10.1002/2016ja023055, 2016. a, b, c, d
Iwema, J., Rosolem, R., Rahman, M., Blyth, E., and Wagener, T.: Land surface model performance using cosmic-ray and point-scale soil moisture measurements for calibration, Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 21, 2843–2861, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-21-2843-2017, 2017. a
Jakobi, J., Huisman, J. A., Vereecken, H., Diekkrüger, B., and Bogena, H. R.:
Cosmic Ray Neutron Sensing for Simultaneous Soil Water Content and Biomass
Quantification in Drought Conditions, Water Resour. Res., 54,
7383–7402, https://doi.org/10.1029/2018wr022692, 2018. a, b, c
Jakobi, J., Huisman, J. A., Schrön, M., Fiedler, J., Brogi, C., Vereecken, H.,
and Bogena, H. R.: Error Estimation for Soil Moisture Measurements With
Cosmic Ray Neutron Sensing and Implications for Rover Surveys, Front.
Water, 2, 10, https://doi.org/10.3389/frwa.2020.00010, 2020. a
Jakobi, J., Huisman, J. A., Köhli, M., Rasche, D., Vereecken, H., and Bogena,
H. R.: The Footprint Characteristics of Cosmic Ray Thermal Neutrons,
Geophys. Res. Lett., 48, e2021GL094281, https://doi.org/10.1029/2021GL094281, 2021. a, b, c, d
Köhli, M., Schrön, M., Zreda, M., Schmidt, U., Dietrich, P., and Zacharias,
S.: Footprint characteristics revised for field-scale soil moisture
monitoring with cosmic-ray neutrons, Water Resour. Res., 51,
5772–5790, https://doi.org/10.1002/2015wr017169, 2015. a, b, c, d, e, f, g, h, i, j, k, l, m, n, o
Köhli, M., Schrön, M., and Schmidt, U.: Response functions for detectors in
cosmic ray neutron sensing, Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics
Research Section A: Accelerators, Spectrometers, Detectors and Associated
Equipment, 902, 184–189, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nima.2018.06.052, 2018. a
LAIV-MV – State Agency for Interior Administration Mecklenburg-Western
Pomerania: Digital elevation model: ATKIS-DEM1 (©
GeoBasis-DE/M-V 2011),
available at: https://www.laiv-mv.de/Geoinformation/Geobasisdaten/Gelaendemodelle/ (last access: 21 December 2021),
2011. a
Li, D., Schrön, M., Köhli, M., Bogena, H., Weimar, J., Bello, M. A. J., Han,
X., Gimeno, M. A. M., Zacharias, S., Vereecken, H., and Franssen, H.-J. H.:
Can Drip Irrigation be Scheduled with Cosmic-Ray Neutron Sensing?, Vadose Zone J., 18, 190053, https://doi.org/10.2136/vzj2019.05.0053, 2019. a
Lv, L., Franz, T. E., Robinson, D. A., and Jones, S. B.: Measured and Modeled
Soil Moisture Compared with Cosmic-Ray Neutron Probe Estimates in a Mixed
Forest, Vadose Zone J., 13, vzj2014.06.0077,
https://doi.org/10.2136/vzj2014.06.0077, 2014. a, b
Mares, V., Brall, T., Bütikofer, R., and Rühm, W.: Influence of environmental
parameters on secondary cosmic ray neutrons at high-altitude research
stations at Jungfraujoch, Switzerland, and Zugspitze, Germany, Radiat.
Phys. Chem., 168, 108557,
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.radphyschem.2019.108557, 2020. a, b
McJannet, D., Hawdon, A., Baker, B., Renzullo, L., and Searle, R.: Multiscale soil moisture estimates using static and roving cosmic-ray soil moisture sensors, Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 21, 6049–6067, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-21-6049-2017, 2017. a
Montzka, C., Bogena, H., Zreda, M., Monerris, A., Morrison, R., Muddu, S., and
Vereecken, H.: Validation of Spaceborne and Modelled Surface Soil Moisture
Products with Cosmic-Ray Neutron Probes, Remote Sens., 9, 103,
https://doi.org/10.3390/rs9020103, 2017. a
Pang, Z., Jia, Y., Peng, X., Ju, X., and Gao, L.: Applicability of cosmic-ray
neutron sensing for measuring soil water content to heterogeneous landscapes
under subtropical hydroclimatic conditions, J. Hydrol., 596,
126068, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhydrol.2021.126068, 2021. a
R Core Team: R: A Language and Environment for Statistical Computing, R
Foundation for Statistical Computing, Vienna, Austria, r version 3.5.1
(2018-07-02) edn., available at: https://www.R-project.org/ (last access: 21 December 2021), 2018. a
Rezanezhad, F., Price, J. S., Quinton, W. L., Lennartz, B., Milojevic, T., and
Cappellen, P. V.: Structure of peat soils and implications for water storage,
flow and solute transport: A review update for geochemists, Chem. Geol.,
429, 75–84, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chemgeo.2016.03.010, 2016. a, b
Rivera Villarreyes, C. A., Baroni, G., and Oswald, S. E.: Integral quantification of seasonal soil moisture changes in farmland by cosmic-ray neutrons, Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 15, 3843–3859, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-15-3843-2011, 2011. a
Rosolem, R., Shuttleworth, W. J., Zreda, M., Franz, T. E., Zeng, X., and Kurc,
S. A.: The Effect of Atmospheric Water Vapor on Neutron Count in the
Cosmic-Ray Soil Moisture Observing System, J. Hydrometeorol., 14,
1659–1671, https://doi.org/10.1175/jhm-d-12-0120.1, 2013. a
Sato, T. and Niita, K.: Analytical Functions to Predict Cosmic-Ray Neutron
Spectra in the Atmosphere, Radiat. Res., 166, 544–555, 2006. a
Schattan, P., Köhli, M., Schrön, M., Baroni, G., and Oswald, S. E.: Sensing
Area-Average Snow Water Equivalent with Cosmic-Ray Neutrons: The Influence of
Fractional Snow Cover, Water Resour. Res., 55, 10796–10812,
https://doi.org/10.1029/2019wr025647, 2019. a, b, c, d
Scheiffele, L. M., Baroni, G., Franz, T. E., Jakobi, J., and Oswald, S. E.: A
profile shape correction to reduce the vertical sensitivity of cosmic-ray
neutron sensing of soil moisture, Vadose Zone J., 19, e20083,
https://doi.org/10.1002/vzj2.20083, 2020. a
Schrön, M., Köhli, M., Scheiffele, L., Iwema, J., Bogena, H. R., Lv, L., Martini, E., Baroni, G., Rosolem, R., Weimar, J., Mai, J., Cuntz, M., Rebmann, C., Oswald, S. E., Dietrich, P., Schmidt, U., and Zacharias, S.: Improving calibration and validation of cosmic-ray neutron sensors in the light of spatial sensitivity, Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 21, 5009–5030, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-21-5009-2017, 2017. a, b, c, d, e, f, g, h, i, j
Schrön, M., Rosolem, R., Köhli, M., Piussi, L., Schröter, I., Iwema, J.,
Kögler, S., Oswald, S. E., Wollschläger, U., Samaniego, L., Dietrich, P.,
and Zacharias, S.: Cosmic-ray Neutron Rover Surveys of Field Soil Moisture
and the Influence of Roads, Water Resour. Res., 54, 6441–6459,
https://doi.org/10.1029/2017wr021719, 2018a. a, b
Schrön, M., Zacharias, S., Womack, G., Köhli, M., Desilets, D., Oswald, S. E., Bumberger, J., Mollenhauer, H., Kögler, S., Remmler, P., Kasner, M., Denk, A., and Dietrich, P.: Intercomparison of cosmic-ray neutron sensors and water balance monitoring in an urban environment, Geosci. Instrum. Method. Data Syst., 7, 83–99, https://doi.org/10.5194/gi-7-83-2018, 2018b. a, b, c
Seneviratne, S. I., Corti, T., Davin, E. L., Hirschi, M., Jaeger, E. B.,
Lehner, I., Orlowsky, B., and Teuling, A. J.: Investigating soil
moisture–climate interactions in a changing climate: A review,
Earth-Sci. Rev., 99, 125–161, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.earscirev.2010.02.004,
2010. a, b
Sigouin, M. J., Dyck, M., Si, B. C., and Hu, W.: Monitoring soil water content
at a heterogeneous oil sand reclamation site using a cosmic-ray soil moisture
probe, J. Hydrol., 543, 510–522,
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhydrol.2016.10.026, 2016. a
Stevanato, L., Baroni, G., Cohen, Y., Lino, F. C., Gatto, S., Lunardon, M.,
Marinello, F., Moretto, S., and Morselli, L.: A Novel Cosmic-Ray Neutron
Sensor for Soil Moisture Estimation over Large Areas, Agriculture, 9, 202,
https://doi.org/10.3390/agriculture9090202, 2019. a
Tan, X., Zhang, L., He, C., Zhu, Y., Han, Z., and Li, X.: Applicability of
cosmic-ray neutron sensor for measuring soil moisture at the
agricultural-pastoral ecotone in northwest China, Science China Earth
Sci., 63, 1730–1744, https://doi.org/10.1007/s11430-020-9650-2, 2020.
a
Tian, Z., Li, Z., Liu, G., Li, B., and Ren, T.: Soil water content
determination with cosmic-ray neutron sensor: Correcting aboveground hydrogen
effects with thermal/fast neutron ratio, J. Hydrol., 540, 923–933,
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhydrol.2016.07.004, 2016. a
Vather, T., Everson, C., and Franz, T. E.: Calibration and Validation of the
Cosmic Ray Neutron Rover for Soil Water Mapping within Two South African Land
Classes, Hydrology, 6, 65, https://doi.org/10.3390/hydrology6030065, 2019. a
Vather, T., Everson, C. S., and Franz, T. E.: The Applicability of the Cosmic
Ray Neutron Sensor to Simultaneously Monitor Soil Water Content and Biomass
in an Acacia mearnsii Forest, Hydrology, 7, 48,
https://doi.org/10.3390/hydrology7030048, 2020. a, b, c
Vereecken, H., Huisman, J. A., Bogena, H., Vanderborght, J., Vrugt, J. A., and
Hopmans, J. W.: On the value of soil moisture measurements in vadose zone
hydrology: A review, Water Resour. Res., 44, W00D06,
https://doi.org/10.1029/2008wr006829, 2008. a, b
Vereecken, H., Huisman, J., Pachepsky, Y., Montzka, C., van der Kruk, J.,
Bogena, H., Weihermüller, L., Herbst, M., Martinez, G., and Vanderborght,
J.: On the spatio-temporal dynamics of soil moisture at the field scale,
J. Hydrol., 516, 76–96, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhydrol.2013.11.061, 2014. a, b
Wang, C., Fu, B., Zhang, L., and Xu, Z.: Soil moisture–plant
interactions: an ecohydrological review, J. Soil. Sediment., 19,
1–9, https://doi.org/10.1007/s11368-018-2167-0, 2018. a
Zacharias, S., Bogena, H., Samaniego, L., Mauder, M., Fuß, R., Pütz, T.,
Frenzel, M., Schwank, M., Baessler, C., Butterbach-Bahl, K., Bens, O., Borg,
E., Brauer, A., Dietrich, P., Hajnsek, I., Helle, G., Kiese, R., Kunstmann,
H., Klotz, S., Munch, J. C., Papen, H., Priesack, E., Schmid, H. P.,
Steinbrecher, R., Rosenbaum, U., Teutsch, G., and Vereecken, H.: A Network of
Terrestrial Environmental Observatories in Germany, Vadose Zone J., 10,
955–973, https://doi.org/10.2136/vzj2010.0139, 2011. a
Zambrano-Bigiarini, M.: hydroGOF: Goodness-of-fit functions for comparison of
simulated and observed hydrological time series,
r package version 0.3-10, Zenodo, https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.840087, 2017. a
Zreda, M., Desilets, D., Ferré, T. P. A., and Scott, R. L.: Measuring
soil moisture content non-invasively at intermediate spatial scale using
cosmic-ray neutrons, Geophys. Res. Lett., 35,
https://doi.org/10.1029/2008gl035655, 2008. a, b, c
Zreda, M., Shuttleworth, W. J., Zeng, X., Zweck, C., Desilets, D., Franz, T., and Rosolem, R.: COSMOS: the COsmic-ray Soil Moisture Observing System, Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 16, 4079–4099, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-16-4079-2012, 2012. a, b
Short summary
Cosmic-ray neutron sensing provides areal average soil moisture measurements. We investigated how distinct differences in spatial soil moisture patterns influence the soil moisture estimates and present two approaches to improve the estimate of soil moisture close to the instrument by reducing the influence of soil moisture further afield. Additionally, we show that the heterogeneity of soil moisture can be assessed based on the relationship of different neutron energies.
Cosmic-ray neutron sensing provides areal average soil moisture measurements. We investigated...
