The document outlines best practices and insights for installing soil moisture sensors, sharing the author's extensive experience and common installation pitfalls. Key factors include ensuring good soil-to-sensor contact and minimal site disturbance. It also emphasizes the importance of understanding the sensor's response to soil properties, particularly in different soil types.

2. SOIL MOISTURE
SENSOR INSTALLATION
Chris Chambers

3. GOALS
Background 3
What installation trouble looks like in your data 4
Priorities in installing soil moisture sensors 5
The METER Contribution 6

4. BACKGROUND
ME
10 years of experience working
with soil moisture data from the
viewpoint of data quality.
Installed 100’s of sensors

5. BACKGROUND
A bad installation isn’t an indictment
I’ve personally made almost every mistake our customers have.
I will prove it later.

6. BACKGROUND
SOIL MOISTURE SENSORS
§ Volumetric Water content
m3/m3
§ Sensors that use the electrical properties of the soil to
measure water content
§ TDR, FDR, Capacitance

7. BACKGROUND
THE SENSORS
§ Emit an electromagnetic field into the soil
§ The main factor that effects the electrical properties of the soil is the
water content
§ For practical purposes let’s assume we are using Palouse silt loam.
§ Key to our discussion: Most of the sensitivity of the sensor
is within a few mm of the probe*

8. BACKGROUND
SENSOR EM FIELD
EM
Field
Sensor (Side View)
0 cm
1 cm
2 cm

9. BACKGROUND
VOLUME OF INFLUENCE

10. BACKGROUND
DIELECTRIC MODEL
Material Dielectric
Permittivity
Air 1
Soil Minerals 3 - 7
Organic Matter 2 - 5
Ice 5
Water 80

11. LET’S LOOK
AT SOME DATA

12. DRY DOWN
WET UP
What?!?
Daniella Carrijo, Field Crops Research. V 222

13. DATA
VERTISOLS

15. WHAT AIR GAPS LOOK LIKE
ON THE DRY SIDE
0. 00 0
0. 10 0
0. 20 0
0. 30 0
0. 40 0
0. 50 0
0. 60 0
VWC(M3/M3)
10/2015 - 5/2018
EC5's
m³/m³VWC m³/m³VWC
Quinn Campbell, USDA-ARS Newingham Lab

16. -0. 100
0. 00 0
0. 10 0
0. 20 0
0. 30 0
0. 40 0
0. 50 0
0. 60 0
0. 70 0
VWC(m3/m3)
10/2015 - 5/2018
EC5's

17. A GOOD INSTALLATION
MEET KEVIN

18. MOST IMPORTANT FACTOR
GOOD SOIL TO SENSOR CONTACT

19. MOST IMPORTANT FACTOR
NOT THIS

20. MOST IMPORTANT FACTOR
GOOD SOIL TO SENSOR CONTACT

21. THE METER CONTRIBUTION
Maximum soil to sensor contact
Minimum disturbance to the site

22. INSTALLATION
MINIMAL
DISTURBANCE

24. INSTALLATION
SOIL TYPE
Soil change as you
descend in the profile

25. INSTALLATION
NOT A SILVER BULLET
BEWARE OF ROCKY SOILS

26. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Kevin Hyde – Montana Climate Office
Quinn Campbell – USDA-ARS Newingham Lab
Leo Rivera – METER Group, Inc.
Colin Campbell – METER Group, Inc.
Daniella Carrijo – UC Davis

27. REFERENCES
Carrijo et al. Field Crops Research. Impacts of variable soil drying
in alternate wetting and drying rice systems on yields, grain arsenic
concentration and soil moisture dynamics. 2018. v 222. p 101

28. FOR MORE INFORMATION
CONTACT US
Chris Chambers
METER Environment General Manager
T 509.332.2756 or 1.800.755.2751 F 509.332.5158
E chris.chambers@metergroup.com W www.metergroup.com