Validation of the Cosmic-ray Neutron Method for Estimating Soil Moisture

Matthew Russell Author

03/03/2016 Added

217 Plays

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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.

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[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)

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Validation of the Cosmic-ray Neutron Method for Estimating Soil Moisture

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