A High-Temporal and Spatial Resolution Soil Moisture and Soil Temperature Network In Iowa Using Wireless Links

Over the past year we have created an in-situ soil moisture and soil temperature network in a 200 acre agricultural plot at Ames, Iowa. This work is part of a collaborative effort between researchers at The University of Iowa, and Iowa State University. The purpose of the network is to provide high temporal and spatial resolution soil moisture and soil temperature data to validate remotely-sensed observations of the terrestrial water cycle. This is part of a larger effort by the authors and collaborators to improve the quantitative value of remotely-sensed observations of the water cycle. In addition to the soil moisture and soil temperature measurements, detailed precipitation data, and atmospheric data such as air temperature, humidity, pressure, wind direction and velocity, and solar radiation data are collected. The current soil moisture network consists of 10 Iowa and Iowa State stations, each equipped with seven pairs of soil moisture and soil temperature sensors. In the future, the network will be expanded to 15 stations. At each of the 10 station the sensors pairs are deployed at depths of 1.5, 4.5, 15, 30, and 60 cm to provide a vertical profile of soil moisture and soil temperature. Prior to installation we calibrated the soil temperature sensors to within 0.1 degree Celsius. The time-domain reflectometry soil moisture measurements are adjusted for local soil conditions. At each of the 10 stations, data are collected every 10 minutes. The data are transmitted wirelessly with low power radio links to a central location. The system started collecting data at the beginning of July, 2007. One of the challenges we faced is how to provide reliable solar power to the wireless nodes, since the current crop, corn, grows up to 3 m tall, and casts dense shadows. The corn also significantly attenuates the radios signals, and the radios fell far short of their advertized ranges. Consequently, we had to use high-gain antennas, and robust retransmit communication modes. We are in the process of establishing a live Internet connection to allow remote monitoring of the network, real-time retrieval and injection of the data into a relational database for publication on the Web.