Skip to main content
ARS Home » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #64529
Title: CALIBRATION OF A CAPACITANCE MOISTURE METER IN THE FIELD

Author
item Jobes, Jack
item MARSH, M - U.C. RIVERSIDE
item Shouse, Peter
item TSENG, P - U.C. RIVERSIDE

Submitted to: Agronomy Abstracts
Publication Type: Abstract Only
Publication Acceptance Date: 9/19/1995
Publication Date: N/A
Citation: N/A

Interpretive Summary:

Technical Abstract: Neutron scattering has been the mainstay of soil water content measurements in soil and agronomic studies since its introduction in the 1950's. The licensing, training and safety regulations pertaining to the radioactive source in these moisture gages makes this method expensive. tedious and in some circumstances impossible (i.e., unattended monitoring). An ideal replacement to the neutron scattering method would be an instrument with the same general use characteristics and precision without the regulation. A moisture gauge possessing many of these desirable traits is the capacitance moisture meter. The purpose of this study is to calibrate the capacitance moisture meter using established field installation techniques, and to compare the calibration to that of a neutron probe. Several capacitance meters and neutron probes were used on two soil types, a fine sandy loam and a silt loam. Results indicate that tthe neutron probes were more accurate, easier to calibrate and easier to install than the capacitance meters.