Recipient Organization
UTAH STATE UNIVERSITY
(N/A)
LOGAN,UT 84322
Performing Department
Plants, Soils & Climate
Non Technical Summary
The W2188 Soil Physics Technical Committee will hold their 2012 meeting January 5-7 in Honolulu Hawaii jointly with the Second International Soil Moisture Sensing Technology Conference to be held January 9-11. The first international conference was also held at the University of Hawaii in 2007 and included approximately 100 attendees. The recent W2188 meeting held in Las Vegas, NV, included 35 attendees. The W2188 group's objectives include "development and evaluation of new instruments and analytical methods to connect our understanding of mass and energy transport in the vadose zone at different scales and environmental transformations". The Soil Moisture Sensing Technology Conference will focus on current and future research directions in soil moisture in-situ sensing technology with special emphasis on sensor reliability and measurement scale dependency. We therefore see the joint meetings as an excellent forum in which to explore ideas and make progress toward our mutual goals of advancing agricultural and environmental sensing technology. In order to make this opportunity as productive and effective as possible, we are soliciting funding to bring in outside speakers as well as local speakers that can address topics relevant to the purposes of our joint meeting.
Animal Health Component
33%
Research Effort Categories
Basic
34%
Applied
33%
Developmental
33%
Goals / Objectives
Objectives of the 2012 W2188 Soil Physics Technical Committee Annual Meeting are: 1. To improve our fundamental understanding of vadose zone physical properties and processes, and how they interact with other environmental and biogeochemical processes across various spatial and temporal scales. 2. To develop and evaluate new instruments and analytical methods to connect our understanding of mass and energy transport in the vadose zone at different scales and environmental transformations. 3. To apply our knowledge of scale-appropriate methodologies to enhance the management of vadose zone resources that benefit agricultural systems, natural resources and environmental sustainability. Objectives of the Second International Soil Moisture Sensing Technology Conference are: 1. Discuss techniques for new generation soil moisture and thermal probes to ensure reliable data with adequate measurement volume: a. Provide background theory as needed on complex permittivity, thermal properties, and sensor / soil interaction. b. Describe effects of electrical conductivity, bulk density, clay type and amount, organic matter, water repellency, and soil structure. c. Describe measurement volume as related to sensor size, configuration and method of operation. d. Discuss techniques for on-site calibration of sensors. 2. Discuss field applications: a. What are the field-scale questions that soil sensor measurements may help answer b. What are the requirements to obtain data across a field (power, telemetry, hardware, measure depth(s) and volume) c. How should sensors be distributed across the field to address data requirements d. How useful are different sensors for questions of spatial variability - is support volume requirement satisfied Three invited speakers will be brought to the joint meetings to addresss state-of-the-art measurement approaches for soil moisture and environmental sensing. Attendees will also present their related work. We anticipate 120 attendees will be taught through the back-to-back conferences.
Project Methods
Targeted speakers for invitation: Dennis D Baldocchi a Professor in Environmental Science, Policy & Management at the University of California, Berkeley working in areas of global change and carbon cycling research. Dr. Baldocchi's research focus is on the physical, biological, and chemical processes that control trace gas and energy exchange between soil, vegetation and the atmosphere. Gasses of interest include Carbon dioxide, water vapor, ozone, sulfur dioxide, isoprene, monoterpenes, methane, NOx and nitrous oxide. We selected Dennis because of his knowledge of ecological processes (e.g. soil C/N cycling) and we are seeking to strengthen our knowledge of the link between soil ecological processes and physical vadose zone processes. Dr. Marek Zreda is an Associate Professor in Hydrology and Water Resources at the University of Arizona. He is a recent recipient of the 4th International Water Creativity Prize for 2008-2010 for the development of the cosmic-ray method for measuring soil moisture. Dr. Zreda has research interests in several areas of hydrology and environmental earth sciences. He uses environmental isotopes as tracers of hydrologic and surficial geologic processes and as dating tools. He has made contributions to the development of the surface exposure dating method based on cosmogenic 36Cl accumulation in materials exposed to cosmic radiation at the Earth's surface. We are especially interested in having him lecture regarding his work with the cosmic ray approach to determine soil moisture.