Validation of the Cosmic-ray Neutron Method for Estimating Soil Moisture
Matthew Russell
Author
03/03/2016
Added
219
Plays
Description
Third Place in the Undergraduate category of the 2016 School of Natural Resources Elevator Speech Contest. Matthew is a junior majoring in Water Science and Environmental Restoration Science.
Searchable Transcript
Toggle between list and paragraph view.
- [00:00:01.863]The Cosmic Ray Neutron Method.
- [00:00:04.403]Sounds pretty cool, doesn't it?
- [00:00:06.677]Not bad.
- [00:00:08.141]Now, this is a revolutionary technology
- [00:00:10.173]in mapping soil moisture.
- [00:00:12.143]The golden standard in the approximate
- [00:00:15.007]five decades prior to the Cosmic Ray Neutron Method
- [00:00:18.461]was a single point measurement.
- [00:00:20.555]We have that single point measurement
- [00:00:21.977]and we are looking at soil moisture
- [00:00:23.521]based on an entire field.
- [00:00:26.406]With the cosmic ray neutron probe,
- [00:00:28.010]we can look at the soil moisture across a 1000 foot radius,
- [00:00:31.384]and about 30 centimeters into the soil,
- [00:00:34.308]and accurately equate that to the soil moisture
- [00:00:37.275]in an entire field rather than just one point.
- [00:00:39.998]Now the problem that we face is a simple one.
- [00:00:44.324]As we increase in our population,
- [00:00:46.276]we have an increase in need for food production.
- [00:00:49.019]Now when we have that increase for food production,
- [00:00:52.021]we have to find a way, how do we increase our yields?
- [00:00:53.951]How do we continue to be able to feed
- [00:00:56.065]the people that we need to feed?
- [00:00:57.264]And we believe that water, water is the answer to that.
- [00:01:00.132]So if we can accurately quantify
- [00:01:01.655]how much water is in the soil where we have our crops,
- [00:01:06.056]then we can optimize how we use that water.
- [00:01:10.106]Now we have a couple of different tools
- [00:01:12.383]that we use when we are using our cosmic ray neutron probe,
- [00:01:16.852]and one of them is this nifty little backpack down here.
- [00:01:19.880]It's the bane of my existence.
- [00:01:22.318]The backpack is about 60 pounds
- [00:01:25.020]and walking around in the corn in about 115 degree
- [00:01:28.412]microclimate, not the most comfortable thing to do,
- [00:01:32.029]but it gives us some pretty good data.
- [00:01:33.491]It gives us data on a field-scale basis
- [00:01:35.849]like you see down here.
- [00:01:37.434]And we can equate that to,
- [00:01:41.092]again how much water is in the soil in that field.
- [00:01:45.690]And the way we apply that to a real world application
- [00:01:50.741]is we can use a technology called Variable Rate Irrigation,
- [00:01:55.554]and we can apply our water maps that we are creating
- [00:01:57.546]to that technology that farmers are using.
- [00:02:01.549]And without our water maps, you don't know
- [00:02:04.515]when or where you need to water.
- [00:02:06.791]But if you apply our water maps,
- [00:02:08.761]then we can increase yields by
- [00:02:12.153]knowing when, where, how much, how little
- [00:02:14.693]to water in that specific field.
- [00:02:16.807]Now we don't believe that the cosmic ray neutron probe
- [00:02:20.179]is the answer to all of our water issues, our food issues,
- [00:02:24.426]but we absolutely believe that it is
- [00:02:26.214]a step in the right direction.
- [00:02:27.758]Thank you.
- [00:02:28.855](applause)
The screen size you are trying to search captions on is too small!
You can always jump over to MediaHub and check it out there.
Log in to post comments
Embed
Copy the following code into your page
HTML
<div style="padding-top: 56.25%; overflow: hidden; position:relative; -webkit-box-flex: 1; flex-grow: 1;"> <iframe style="bottom: 0; left: 0; position: absolute; right: 0; top: 0; border: 0; height: 100%; width: 100%;" src="https://mediahub.unl.edu/media/5238?format=iframe&autoplay=0" title="Video Player: Validation of the Cosmic-ray Neutron Method for Estimating Soil Moisture" allowfullscreen ></iframe> </div>
Comments
0 Comments