TRACERSOILGUY

TRACER - Soil Moisture (Guy, TX)

1 June 2021 - 20 October 2022

Lead Scientist: Michael Young

Observatory: OSC

We propose to measure and collate soil moisture data collected using instruments from UT Austin and installed at the Guy, TX site, SW of Houston, TX. The specific site is being chosen in October and November 2020. We will assimilate these data into regional gridded products that will be useful to the DOE TRACER research team. The campaign will involve installing soil moisture sensors (Campbell Scientific, model CS-655) at 5-, 10-, 20-, and 50 cm depths. We have discussed these instruments and depths of installation with Jimmy Flynn at University of Houston, and with Mike Jensen at DOE BNL (TRACER PI) and Doug Boyer at TCEQ (TRACER collaborator). The sensors will measure dielectric constant of the solid/liquid/air mixture surrounding the 12-cm long probes, yielding soil water content and relative saturation, and they also measure solution electrical conductivity and temperature, the latter with an embedded thermistor. The proposal would fund a standalone system that will include additional sensors that measure wind speed and direction, short- and long-wave incoming and outgoing radiation, relative humidity, air temperature and precipitation. The logger systems will include autonomous power and telemetry, thereby avoiding the complications and dependency of tying our system into other TRACER data collection systems. Data collection rates can be tailored to need, but typically they are collected at least hourly, though 5-15 minute intervals are common and easy to handle. Final locations will be based primarily on benefits to the research program, land accessibility and on representative soil type and geomorphic setting, including soil thickness, and terrain. Data will be made available to TRACER as an interim product in near real-time for immediate use in models, and then as a QA/QC’d bulk data product. We are well versed in data analysis and archiving protocols and in real-time distribution with collaborators in government institutions (e.g., NASA, USDA ARS).