Manufacturing Simple and Inexpensive Soil Surface Temperature and Gravimetric Water Content SensorsArmin Howell 1, Colin Tucker 1, Edmund E. Grote 1, Maik Veste 2,3, Jayne Belnap 1, Gerhard Kast 4, Bettina Weber 5,6, Sasha C. Reed 1
1Southwest Biological Science Center, U.S. Geological Survey, 2Centre for Energy Technology Brandenburg, 3Institute of Environmental Sciences, Brandenburg University of Technology Cottbus-Senftenberg, 4Umweltanalytische Produkte GmbH, 5Institute of Plant Sciences, University of Graz, 6Multiphase Chemistry Department, Max Planck Institute for Chemistry
Accurately measuring temperature and water content of the upper 5 mm of the soil surface can improve our understanding of environmental controls on biological, chemical, and physical processes. Here we describe a protocol for manufacturing, calibrating, and conducting measurements with soil surface temperature and moisture sensors.
