Soil Moisture Dynamics Investigation
Published on by Water Network Research, Official research team of The Water Network in Technology
University of Bristol Project Will Investigate Soil Moisture Dynamics In UKUsing Novel Cosmic-ray Technology
Led byDr Rafael Rosolemin theDepartment of Civil Engineering, the three-year AMUSED (A MUlti-scale Soil moisture-Evapotranspiration Dynamics study) project will monitor soil moisture using cosmic-rays sensors in combination with land surface modelling, satellite remote sensing, and model diagnostics and data assimilation methods.
Soil moisture plays a major role in the environment/climate system because the transport of water within the land and at the land-atmosphere interface is strongly dependent on the state of soil water in a region. Despite its importance, lack of soil moisture measurements at various spatial scales has limited our understanding of how individual physical factors control soil moisture dynamics.
The project seeks to identify whether a unified science of land-atmosphere interactions across multiple-scales can be achieved. It aims to evaluate the uncertainties of multiple sources of soil moisture observations; identify key processes that control soil moisture dynamics in land surface models; and provide high-quality soil moisture estimates at hyper-resolution. Ultimately, the project will enhance the representation of soil moisture and surface processes in numerical weather prediction and climate models in the UK.
A key component of the project is the use of new cosmic-ray sensors that can measure soil moisture at an unprecedented sub-kilometre scale. This technology has revolutionized the field of hydrometeorology because it provides, for the first time, a unique opportunity to fill the gap between soil moisture observations from traditional point-scale sensors and large-scale estimates from satellite remote sensing products.
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