Water Resources Research Act Program

Details for Project ID 2010HI292B

Measuring Soil Water Content and Electrical Conductivity Under High Salinity Conditions Using a Novel TDR Method

Institute: Hawaii
Year Established: 2010 Start Date: 2010-03-01 End Date: 2011-02-28
Total Federal Funds: $14,000 Total Non-Federal Funds: $20,997

Principal Investigators: Xiufu Shuai

Project Summary: The accurate measurement of soil water content and electric conductivity (EC) in highly saline soils can improve the practical operation of irrigation systems and guide the installation of drainage systems in these soils, and provide fundamental information for establishing and validating algorithm of microwave remote sensing of soil moisture in these soils. The objective of this research is to apply the novel inverse analysis method to measure soil water content and EC under highly saline conditions. This project will examine the accuracy and upper limit of measurability by the inverse analysis method using a commercial 3-rod probe. In addition, new 3-rod probes will be developed in this research to improve the performance of this type of probe. This will be achieved by (1) sensitivity analysis of mathematical models in the inverse analysis method, and (2) laboratory and field experiments to determine the accuracy and upper limit of measurability by the inverse analysis method. The novelty of the proposed work lies largely in the application of electromagnetics, and thus, high accuracy and upper limit of measurability by the inverse analysis method will be expected under highly saline conditions.