Hydrogeophysical characterization of near surface soil moisture in the shallow vadose zone

有关浅层土壤水分状况的信息对于深入了解近地表水文过程（如养分运移和地下水补给）至关重要。土壤湿度也影响微生物活动，这对一系列生物化学过程很重要。详细了解这些过程对于评估和管理气候对水资源、土地利用和农业做法的影响是必要的。 地表水文地球物理方法由于其以非侵入性方式提供大面积和深度的高分辨率数据的独特能力，正迅速成为实地土壤水分信息的重要来源。这项研究计划将显着推进这些方法的应用，通过开发创新技术，从水文地球物理测量获得定量土壤水分信息。随后，该项目将研究如何改进水文气象学衍生的土壤水分信息增加我们的理解和表征浅包气带过程，如蒸散和冻融循环，超越了通过使用传统技术获得的知识。 随着土壤湿度监测的水文地球物理方法不断成熟并变得更加强大，它们将越来越减少我们对传统水文取样方法的依赖，从而降低成本，最大限度地减少数据采集对环境的影响，并增加数据收集的规模。此外，水文地球物理方法在实地提供高分辨率土壤湿度数据的能力将大大改善遥感测量的校准。最后，浅层土壤湿度的水文地球物理监测将成为评估水资源管理、流域生态水文特征和实施精确农业技术的一个组成部分。

Information about shallow soil moisture conditions is critical for a thorough understanding of near-surface hydrological processes, such as nutrient transport and groundwater recharge. Soil moisture also impacts microbial activity which is important for a range of biochemical processes. A detailed understanding of these processes is necessary for the evaluation and management of climate effects on water resources, land use and agricultural practices. Surface hydrogeophysical methods are rapidly emerging as an important source of soil moisture information at the field scale due to their unique ability to provide high resolution data over large areas and depths in a non-invasive manner. This research program will significantly advance the application of these methods by developing innovative techniques for obtaining quantitative soil moisture information from hydrogeophysical measurements. Subsequently, this project will examine how this improved hydrogeophysical-derived soil moisture information increases our understanding and characterization of shallow vadose zone processes, such as evapotranspiration and freeze-thaw cycles, beyond the knowledge obtained through the use of conventional techniques. As hydrogeophysical methods for soil moisture monitoring continue to mature and become more robust, they will increasingly decrease our reliance on conventional hydrological sampling methods, thereby reducing cost, minimizing the environmental impact of data acquisition and increasing the scale on which data can be gathered. Moreover, the ability of hydrogeophysical methods to provide high resolution soil moisture data at the field scale will significantly improve the calibration of remote sensing measurements. Ultimately, hydrogeophysical monitoring of shallow soil moisture will be an integral component in the assessment of water resources management, ecohydrological characterization of watersheds and implementation of precision agriculture techniques.