Revolutionizing Soil Moisture—A New Holistic Approach for Higher AccuracyMETER Group, Inc. USA
Errors in soil moisture data cost scientists hours of wasted time sifting through datasets trying to figure out what is real and what is installation error. We’ve spent the past 20 years focusing on the accuracy of the sensor itself. With the TEROS 12, we’ve not only improved our sensor, we’ve also turned our attention to broader issues that are likely to confound soil moisture data—things like sensor-to-sensor variability, volume of influence, air gaps, and preferential flow.
Learn about:
TEROS 12 data consistency and response to wetting fronts
How the new calibration procedure works to minimize sensor-to-sensor variability
How the installation tool reduces air gaps and site disturbance while improving consistency
What to expect during an installation
by Leo Rivera, METER Research Scientist
Water potential is the most fundamental and essential measurement in soil physics because it describes the force that drives water movement. Making good water potential measurements is largely a function of choosing the right instrument and using it skillfully. In an ideal world, there would be one instrument that simply and accurately measured water potential over its entire range from wet to dry. In the real world, there is an assortment of instruments, each with its unique personality. Each has its quirks, advantages, and disadvantages. Each has a well-defined usable range.
Which sensor is right for you?
In this 20-minute webinar, METER research scientist Leo Rivera discusses how to choose the right field water potential sensor for your application.
Learn:
• Why you should measure water potential
• Which part of the water potential range each sensor measures
• The technology behind each method: tensiometers, granular matric sensors, heat dissipation sensors, thermocouple psychrometers, and capacitance sensors.
• The pros and cons of each method
• Which sensors are best for certain applications
Soil Moisture: Why Water Content Can’t Tell You Everything You Need to KnowMETER Group, Inc. USA
Water content can leave you in the dark
Everybody measures soil water content because it’s easy. But if you’re only measuring water content, you may be blind to what your plants are really experiencing.
Soil moisture is more complex than estimating how much water is used by vegetation and how much needs to be replaced. If you’re thinking about it that way, you’re only seeing half the picture. You’re assuming you know what the right level of water should be—and that’s extremely difficult using only a water content sensor.
Get it right every time
Water content is only one side of a critical two-sided coin. To understand when to water or plant water stress, you need to measure both water content and water potential. In this 30-minute webinar, METER soil physicist, Dr. Colin Campbell, discusses how and why scientists combine both types of sensors for more accurate insights. Discover:
- Why the “right water level” is different for every soil type
- Why soil surveys aren’t sufficient to type your soil for full and refill points
- Why you can’t know what a water content “percentage” means to growing plants
- How assumptions made when only measuring water content can reduce crop yield and quality
- Water potential fundamentals
- How water potential sensors measure “plant comfort” like a thermometer
- Why water potential is the only accurate way to measure drought stress
- Why visual cues happen too late to prevent plant-water problems
- Case studies that show why both water content and water potential are necessary to understand the condition of soil water in your experiment or crop
Many researchers measure evapotranspiration and precipitation to understand the fate of water—how much is deposited and how much is used and leaving the system. But if you only measure withdrawals and deposits, you’re missing out on water that is (or is not) available in the soil moisture savings account. Soil moisture is a powerful tool you can use to predict how much water is available to plants, if water will move, and where it’s going to go next. Understanding soil moisture is more than just measuring the amount of water in soil. Learn the basic principles you need to know before you choose how to measure it.
Presented by: Chris Chambers, METER Environment
In this 20-minute webinar, Dr. Colin Campbell demystifies the differences between soil water content measurement methods. He explores the scientific measurement theory and the pros and cons of each method. He also explains which technology might apply to different types of field research, and why modern sensing is about more than just the sensor.
Learn:
• Measurement theory behind the gravimetric method, capacitance, time-domain reflectometry (TDR), time-domain transmission (TDT), frequency-domain reflectometry (FDR), resistance sensors, and more
• Which technology applies to different field situations
• What factors matter when choosing a sensor type
• Why some methods are not research-grade
• How modern sensing is about more than just the sensor
• How to determine a good price-to-performance ratio for your unique application
This document discusses the number of infiltration measurements needed to characterize the performance of rain gardens for stormwater control. It finds that 5-6 single ring infiltration tests, spaced evenly throughout the rain garden, are sufficient. The tests aim to account for spatial variability in soils. Comparing geometric means of test combinations to measured ponding recession rates, the standard deviation falls to within 10% of the recession rate after 5-6 tests.
Which instrument is right for you?
Soil hydraulic conductivity is the ability of a soil to transmit water in saturated, nearly saturated, or unsaturated conditions. But measuring hydraulic conductivity can be confusing. Which measurement is right for your application: saturated or unsaturated hydraulic conductivity? And which instrument should you use?
Make the right choice
In Soil Moisture 302, Leo Rivera, Research Scientist at METER, teaches which situations require saturated or unsaturated hydraulic conductivity and the pros and cons of common methods used to measure both parameters. Find out:
• When to measure saturated hydraulic conductivity
• When to measure unsaturated hydraulic conductivity
• Instruments that measure each parameter
• The technology behind each instrument
• Advantages vs. disadvantages of each method
5 Reasons You’re Getting Less Accurate Soil Moisture Release CurvesMETER Group, Inc. USA
How do I characterize expansive soils? Will water drain through the soil quickly or be retained? How can I predict deep drainage or runoff?
What if you could get an inside picture of the soil moisture relationships that cause these issues?
A soil-water characteristic curve shows the relationship between water content and soil suction. And it’s one of the most powerful diagnostic and predictive tools.
Learn about what soil-water characteristic curves are and why they’re so powerful.
Revolutionizing Soil Moisture—A New Holistic Approach for Higher AccuracyMETER Group, Inc. USA
Errors in soil moisture data cost scientists hours of wasted time sifting through datasets trying to figure out what is real and what is installation error. We’ve spent the past 20 years focusing on the accuracy of the sensor itself. With the TEROS 12, we’ve not only improved our sensor, we’ve also turned our attention to broader issues that are likely to confound soil moisture data—things like sensor-to-sensor variability, volume of influence, air gaps, and preferential flow.
Learn about:
TEROS 12 data consistency and response to wetting fronts
How the new calibration procedure works to minimize sensor-to-sensor variability
How the installation tool reduces air gaps and site disturbance while improving consistency
What to expect during an installation
by Leo Rivera, METER Research Scientist
Water potential is the most fundamental and essential measurement in soil physics because it describes the force that drives water movement. Making good water potential measurements is largely a function of choosing the right instrument and using it skillfully. In an ideal world, there would be one instrument that simply and accurately measured water potential over its entire range from wet to dry. In the real world, there is an assortment of instruments, each with its unique personality. Each has its quirks, advantages, and disadvantages. Each has a well-defined usable range.
Which sensor is right for you?
In this 20-minute webinar, METER research scientist Leo Rivera discusses how to choose the right field water potential sensor for your application.
Learn:
• Why you should measure water potential
• Which part of the water potential range each sensor measures
• The technology behind each method: tensiometers, granular matric sensors, heat dissipation sensors, thermocouple psychrometers, and capacitance sensors.
• The pros and cons of each method
• Which sensors are best for certain applications
Soil Moisture: Why Water Content Can’t Tell You Everything You Need to KnowMETER Group, Inc. USA
Water content can leave you in the dark
Everybody measures soil water content because it’s easy. But if you’re only measuring water content, you may be blind to what your plants are really experiencing.
Soil moisture is more complex than estimating how much water is used by vegetation and how much needs to be replaced. If you’re thinking about it that way, you’re only seeing half the picture. You’re assuming you know what the right level of water should be—and that’s extremely difficult using only a water content sensor.
Get it right every time
Water content is only one side of a critical two-sided coin. To understand when to water or plant water stress, you need to measure both water content and water potential. In this 30-minute webinar, METER soil physicist, Dr. Colin Campbell, discusses how and why scientists combine both types of sensors for more accurate insights. Discover:
- Why the “right water level” is different for every soil type
- Why soil surveys aren’t sufficient to type your soil for full and refill points
- Why you can’t know what a water content “percentage” means to growing plants
- How assumptions made when only measuring water content can reduce crop yield and quality
- Water potential fundamentals
- How water potential sensors measure “plant comfort” like a thermometer
- Why water potential is the only accurate way to measure drought stress
- Why visual cues happen too late to prevent plant-water problems
- Case studies that show why both water content and water potential are necessary to understand the condition of soil water in your experiment or crop
Many researchers measure evapotranspiration and precipitation to understand the fate of water—how much is deposited and how much is used and leaving the system. But if you only measure withdrawals and deposits, you’re missing out on water that is (or is not) available in the soil moisture savings account. Soil moisture is a powerful tool you can use to predict how much water is available to plants, if water will move, and where it’s going to go next. Understanding soil moisture is more than just measuring the amount of water in soil. Learn the basic principles you need to know before you choose how to measure it.
Presented by: Chris Chambers, METER Environment
In this 20-minute webinar, Dr. Colin Campbell demystifies the differences between soil water content measurement methods. He explores the scientific measurement theory and the pros and cons of each method. He also explains which technology might apply to different types of field research, and why modern sensing is about more than just the sensor.
Learn:
• Measurement theory behind the gravimetric method, capacitance, time-domain reflectometry (TDR), time-domain transmission (TDT), frequency-domain reflectometry (FDR), resistance sensors, and more
• Which technology applies to different field situations
• What factors matter when choosing a sensor type
• Why some methods are not research-grade
• How modern sensing is about more than just the sensor
• How to determine a good price-to-performance ratio for your unique application
This document discusses the number of infiltration measurements needed to characterize the performance of rain gardens for stormwater control. It finds that 5-6 single ring infiltration tests, spaced evenly throughout the rain garden, are sufficient. The tests aim to account for spatial variability in soils. Comparing geometric means of test combinations to measured ponding recession rates, the standard deviation falls to within 10% of the recession rate after 5-6 tests.
Which instrument is right for you?
Soil hydraulic conductivity is the ability of a soil to transmit water in saturated, nearly saturated, or unsaturated conditions. But measuring hydraulic conductivity can be confusing. Which measurement is right for your application: saturated or unsaturated hydraulic conductivity? And which instrument should you use?
Make the right choice
In Soil Moisture 302, Leo Rivera, Research Scientist at METER, teaches which situations require saturated or unsaturated hydraulic conductivity and the pros and cons of common methods used to measure both parameters. Find out:
• When to measure saturated hydraulic conductivity
• When to measure unsaturated hydraulic conductivity
• Instruments that measure each parameter
• The technology behind each instrument
• Advantages vs. disadvantages of each method
5 Reasons You’re Getting Less Accurate Soil Moisture Release CurvesMETER Group, Inc. USA
How do I characterize expansive soils? Will water drain through the soil quickly or be retained? How can I predict deep drainage or runoff?
What if you could get an inside picture of the soil moisture relationships that cause these issues?
A soil-water characteristic curve shows the relationship between water content and soil suction. And it’s one of the most powerful diagnostic and predictive tools.
Learn about what soil-water characteristic curves are and why they’re so powerful.
This document provides an introduction to soil moisture release curves and water potential. It discusses how soil moisture release curves can be used to understand plant water availability and make irrigation decisions. Specifically, it defines water potential and its components. It explains that soil moisture release curves relate extensive water content properties to intensive water potential properties. The document also discusses field capacity and factors that can affect it, such as soil texture. It describes how soil moisture release curves provide additional information about soil properties beyond water retention.
What happens when you take satellite products and add soil water potential data?
New data sources offer tools for growers to optimize production in the field. But the task of implementing them is often difficult. Research work is underway and offers a guide on how data from soil and space can work together to make the job of irrigation scheduling easier.
In this presentation, METER’s Dr. Colin Campbell explains the formula for prescribing irrigation events that will get you the yields you want.
How to maximize yields with the least amount of water
Replacing crop water use to a full point or field capacity is a common approach to irrigation scheduling. At least, that’s true in arid climates. But what if there’s a repeat chance of rain?
Uncertainty of rainfall amount and timing can impact how we approach irrigation water management. In humid regions, bringing the soil to full field capacity often means lost yield potential.
Brian Leib, Ph.D., from the University of Tennessee presents this webinar presentation to discuss a new approach to managing irrigation. He’ll share past studies and results using different irrigation treatments in soybean and cotton crops.
Learn how to:
• Manage for rainfall in humid regions
• Avoid issues with runoff to low, poorly drained areas
• Promote reproductive growth and root development
• Adapt principles from arid climates
Design and calibration of the unilateral sensitive soil moisture sensorI3E Technologies
This document presents the design and calibration of an unilateral sensitive capacitive soil moisture sensor. Through simulations, the size of the sensor was determined to optimize sensitivity and sensing depth. A capacitance measurement circuit was designed based on resonant principle. Experimental results showed that a two-step calibration β parameter model appropriately described the relationship between sensor output and soil water content, with a minimum correlation coefficient of 0.9554 for different soil types and substrates. The measurement error of the β parameter model was less than 0.025 units except in perlite. This two-step calibration β method is suitable for calibrating the sensor.
Irrigation of Controlled Environment Crops for Increased Quality and Yield—Pa...METER Group, Inc. USA
Grow your crop steering expertise
Crop steering can optimize crop production and production costs, but to crop steer successfully, you need to do it right. You have to understand how to obtain the right soil water contents and soil electrical conductivities to either stress the crop or avoid stressing the crop in a controlled way. To do this, you’ll need to perform crop steering calculations.
Steer your way to higher quality, productivity, and profit
In part 3 of our greenhouse webinar series, Dr. Gaylon Campbell, internationally recognized soil physics and environmental measurement expert, teaches how to perform crop steering calculations that give you the information you need to stress or de-stress your crop at the right time and in the right way to achieve your goals. In this 30-minute webinar you’ll learn:
The water balance equation
- How to calculate the irrigation amount
- How to calculate the transpiration variables that affect recharge drainage, and changes in stored water
- How to determine the field capacity of the substrate
- Environmental factors that influence the water balance
- How to determine the leaching fraction
- How to manage substrate electrical conductivity
crop steering, environment, field capacity, gaylon campbell, indoor cultivation, irrigation, leaching fraction, substrate electrical conductivity, transpiration, water balance, webinar
Irrigation Management: Plant-Water Relations and Atmospheric DemandMETER Group, Inc. USA
Soil moisture data are useful, but they can’t tell us everything. Other strategies for growers, like plant and weather monitoring, can inform irrigation scheduling decisions.
In this 30-minute webinar, Dr. Gaylon Campbell will explore options for managing irrigation beyond soil moisture. Learn the why and how of scheduling irrigation using plant or atmospheric measurements. Understand canopy temperature and its role in detecting water stress of crops. Plus, discover when plant water information is necessary and which measurement(s) to use.
Here’s what we’ll cover:
• Estimating crop water use with reference evapotranspiration (ET)
• Relationships between plant water potential and water stress
• Options for scheduling deficit or controlled stress irrigation
• Water stress and canopy conductance from canopy temperature
Get the complete soil picture—Hydraulic conductivity impacts almost every soil application: crop production, irrigation, drainage, hydrology in both urban and native lands, landfill performance, stormwater system design, aquifer recharge, runoff during flooding, soil erosion, climate models, and even soil health.
In this 20-minute webinar, METER research scientist, Leo Rivera discusses how to better understand water movement through soil. Discover:
- Saturated and unsaturated hydraulic conductivity—What are they?
- Why you need to measure hydraulic conductivity
- Measurement methods for the lab and the field
- What hydraulic conductivity can tell you about the fate of water in your system.
By: Dr. Gaylon S. Campbell
Every irrigator wishes for tools that answer the fundamental questions: when do I turn the water on and when do I turn the water off? The challenge is figuring out the right ones and implementing them effectively. New sensor technology and cloud computing offer new opportunities to growers, but it is often unclear how to put these into practice.
In this 30-minute webinar, Dr. Gaylon Campbell will cover the different methods for irrigation water management and the pros and cons of each. Best practices for soil moisture monitoring and costs of improper irrigation scheduling will also be discussed.
Learn:
• Why we schedule irrigation
• Different methods used by growers to decide when to irrigate
• Steps for scheduling irrigation using soil moisture
• Results from good management and the consequences of mistakes
Irrigation of Controlled Environment Crops for Increased Quality and YieldMETER Group, Inc. USA
Part 1: Substrates and Water
Stop guessing. Start measuring.
When you irrigate in a greenhouse or growth chamber, you need to get the most out of your substrate so you can maximize the yield and quality of your product. But if you’re lifting a pot to gauge how much water is in the substrate, it’s going to be difficult—if not impossible—to achieve your goals. To complicate matters, soil substrates and potting mixes are some of the most challenging media in which to get the water exactly right.
Without accurate measurements or the right measurements, you’ll be blind to what your plants are really experiencing. And that’s a problem, because irrigating incorrectly will reduce yield, derail the quality of your product, deprive the roots of oxygen, and increase risk of disease.
Supercharge yield, quality—and profit
At METER, we know how to irrigate substrates. We’ve been measuring soil moisture for over 40 years. Join Dr. Gaylon Campbell, founder, soil physicist, and one of the world’s foremost authorities on soil, plant, and atmospheric measurements, for a series of irrigation webinars designed to help you correctly control your crop environment to achieve maximum results. In this 30-minute webinar, learn:
Why substrates hold water differently than normal soil
How the properties of different substrates and potting mixes compare
Why it’s difficult if not impossible to irrigate correctly without accurately measuring the amount of water in the substrate
The fundamentals of measuring soil moisture: specifically water content and electrical conductivity
How measuring soil moisture helps you get the most out of the substrate you choose, so you can improve your product
Easy tools you can use to measure soil water in a greenhouse or growth chamber to maximize yields and minimize inputs
How to Use Plant-Water Relations and Atmospheric Demand for Simplified Water ...METER Group, Inc. USA
Going by soil moisture data alone?
Soil moisture data are useful, but they can’t tell you everything. Other strategies for growers and researchers, like plant and weather monitoring, can inform water management decisions.
In this webinar, world-renowned soil physicist, Dr. Gaylon Campbell shares his newest insights and explores options for water management beyond soil moisture. Learn the why and how of scheduling irrigation using plant or atmospheric measurements. Understand canopy temperature and its role in detecting water stress in crops. Plus, discover when plant water information is necessary and which measurement(s) to use. Find out:
- Why the Penman-Monteith equation, with the FAO 56 procedures, gives a solid, physics-based method for determining potential evapotranspiration of a crop
- How the ATMOS 41 microenvironment monitor combined with the ZL6 logger and ZENTRA Cloud give easy access to crop ET data
- How v can be controlled by manipulating plant water potential using appropriate irrigation strategies
- Why combining monitoring soil water potential with deficit irrigation based on ET estimates provide an efficient and precise method for controlled water stress management
- And more…
Evapotranspiration: Pitfalls to Avoid and Why It’s Easier Than You ThinkMETER Group, Inc. USA
Mistakes that kill your estimates
Measuring evapotranspiration (ET) to understand water loss from a native or a managed ecosystem is easier than it looks, but you have to know what you’re doing. If you can’t spend the time or money on a full eddy-covariance system, you’ll have to be satisfied with making some assumptions using equations such as Penman-Monteith.
Like any model, the accuracy of the output depends on the quality of the inputs, but do you know what measurements are critical for success? Plus, as your instrumentation gets more inaccurate, the errors get larger. If you’re not careful, you can end up with no idea what’s happening to the water in your system.
Get the right number every time
You don’t have to be a meteorologist or need incredibly expensive equipment to measure ET effectively. In this 30-minute webinar, Campbell Scientific application scientist Dr. Dirk Baker and METER research scientist Dr. Colin Campbell team up to explain:
- The fundamentals of energy balance modeling to get ET
- Assumptions that can simplify sensor requirements
- What you must measure to get adequate ET estimates
- Assumptions and common pitfalls
- How accurate your equipment should be for good estimates
- Causes and implications of uncertainty
This document discusses using transparency tubes to estimate water quality parameters like turbidity, suspended solids, and total phosphorus in rivers and reservoirs. It finds that transparency tube measurements strongly correlate with turbidity but correlate less strongly with suspended solids and total phosphorus due to site-specific factors. It also describes training volunteers to use transparency tubes and establishing a volunteer monitoring program along the Kalamazoo River watershed.
Analytical modelling of groundwater wells and well systems: how to get it r...Anton Nikulenkov
Aquifer tests are probably the most widely used methods to obtain hydrogeological properties that are vital for any mine dewatering or environmental impact assessments. Numerous softwares and methods currently exist that provide quick and easy tests interpretation by fitting theoretical and measured drawdown curves. However, misinterpreting a-priory groundwater concepts and not accounting correctly for such factors as skin-effect, well storage or partial penetration may result in hydraulic conductivity errors by several hundred precents. As illustrated by case studies from WA, both numerical and analytical models generally suffer from non-uniqueness that can be overcome by understanding a-priory groundwater concepts and implementing them appropriately into the interpretation algorithms.
The presentation also discusses an analytical approach for well systems design. The methodology is presently incorporated in ANSDIMAT software package that is developed by the Russian Academy of Sciences. The method uses standard and research analytical solutions and it is based on the principle of superposition. Unlike numerical models, the method allows calculating drawdowns inside a pumping well and regional drawdowns, for example, on an open pit contour. A particle tracking component, incorporated into the methodology, provides a practical alternative to numerical models for simplified environmental impact assessments.
Irrigation of Controlled Environment Crops - Nutrients & StressMETER Group, Inc. USA
Welcome to Part 2 of our webinar series: Irrigation of Controlled Environment Crops for Increased Quality and Yield. Today we’ll hear from Dr. Gaylon Campbell, who will discuss how to measure electrical conductivity and osmotic stress to optimize crop steering for maximum yield.
Improve Your Plant Study: 3 Types of Environmental Data You May Be MissingMETER Group, Inc. USA
What data are you missing?
As a plant researcher, you need to effectively assess crop performance, whether it’s yield or disease resistance. But if you’re only measuring weather data, you might be missing key performance indicators in your variety trials. Understanding the full picture of the environment will make it easier to select the right varieties to advance—and avoid wasting resources on advancing bad selections.
To accurately assess plant stress tolerance, you must first characterize all environmental stressors. For example, drought studies are notoriously difficult to replicate because of high weather variability. Precipitation data is not enough to assess drought. You need a tool to quantify drought at the soil level.
Get better, more accurate conclusions
It’s important for your environmental data to accurately represent the environment of your site. That means not only capturing the right parameters but choosing the right tools to capture them. In this 30-minute webinar, application expert Holly Lane discusses how to improve your current data and what data you may not be collecting that will optimize and improve the quality of your plant study. Find out:
- How to know if you’re asking the right questions
- Are you using the right atmospheric measurements? And are you measuring weather in the right location?
- Which type of soil moisture data is right for the goals of your research or variety trial
- How to improve your drought study, why precipitation data is not enough, and why you don’t need to be a soil scientist to leverage soil data
- How to use soil water potential
- How accurate your equipment should be for good estimates
- Key concepts to keep in mind when designing a plant study in the field
- What ancillary data you should be collecting to achieve your goals
Presenter
Holly Lane has a BS in agricultural biotechnology from Washington State University and an MS in plant breeding from Texas A&M, where she focused on phenomics work in maize. She has a broad range of experience with both fundamental and applied research in agriculture and worked in both the public and private sectors on sustainability and science advocacy projects. Through the tri-societies, she advocated for agricultural research funding in DC. Currently, Holly is an application expert and inside sales consultant with METER Environment.
1) The document discusses requirements for construction sites categorized as Risk Level 3 under the statewide general permit, including numeric effluent limitations, extensive inspection and monitoring, and the potential need for advanced treatment systems.
2) Modeling was used to assess the performance of best management practices on different soil types (sand, silt, clay) and slopes over 1 and 2 year construction projects.
3) The modeling results showed that sediment control measures like silt fences and sediment basins are not effective alone on silt and silty loam sites and advanced treatment will likely be required to meet permit requirements, especially on clay sites.
Scale Formation problems in Oil & Gas Industry : Its reduction procedures by ...Sachin Nambiar
This paper is a literature review on methods to control scale formation using various chemicals; and its economic feasibility in the petroleum industry.
DSD-INT 2018 An Engineering Approach to construction of a Storm Surge Model f...Deltares
Presentation by Edwin Elias, Deltares USA, Inc., USA, at the Delft3D - User Days (Day 2: Hydrodynamics), during Delft Software Days - Edition 2018. Tuesday, 13 November 2018, Delft.
2017 Oregon Wine Symposium | Dr. Larry Williams- Coping Strategies for a Warm...Oregon Wine Board
Warming temperatures are a challenge and concern for many Oregon grape growers. Taking a proactive approach and staying current on irrigation and canopy management strategies will help vineyard managers assimilate to change. Taking a closer look at the warming climate and the long term consequences on phenology will help grape growers understand how to manipulate phenology and minimize water stress. Specific strategies on irrigation management will be shared, including how to assess soil moisture, determining soil water availability, vine water status and how canopy types affect vine water use.
Water Potential 101: What It Is. Why You Need It. How To Use It.METER Group, Inc. USA
Soil is no longer a black box. Advances in sensor technology and software now make it easy to understand what’s happening in your soil, but don’t get stuck thinking only measuring soil water content will tell you what you need to know. Water content is only one side of a critical two-sided coin. To understand when to water, plant-water stress, or how to characterize drought, you also need to measure water potential.
Better data. Better answers.
Soil water potential is a crucial measurement for optimizing yield and stewarding the environment because it’s a direct indicator of availability of water for biological processes. If you’re not measuring it, you’re likely getting the wrong answer to your soil moisture questions. Water potential can also help you predict if soil water will move, and where it’s going to go. Join METER soil physicist, Dr. Doug Cobos, as he teaches the basics of this critical measurement. Learn:
- What is water potential?
- Why water potential isn’t as confusing as it’s made out to be
- Common misconceptions about soil water content and water potential
- Why water potential is important to you
The Digital SDI Soil Moisture Sensor represents
a revolutionary advance in the irrigation industry
and is now available as a research tool. The digital
sensor is a very effective tool to log moisture data
for a variety of applications.
This document provides an introduction to soil moisture release curves and water potential. It discusses how soil moisture release curves can be used to understand plant water availability and make irrigation decisions. Specifically, it defines water potential and its components. It explains that soil moisture release curves relate extensive water content properties to intensive water potential properties. The document also discusses field capacity and factors that can affect it, such as soil texture. It describes how soil moisture release curves provide additional information about soil properties beyond water retention.
What happens when you take satellite products and add soil water potential data?
New data sources offer tools for growers to optimize production in the field. But the task of implementing them is often difficult. Research work is underway and offers a guide on how data from soil and space can work together to make the job of irrigation scheduling easier.
In this presentation, METER’s Dr. Colin Campbell explains the formula for prescribing irrigation events that will get you the yields you want.
How to maximize yields with the least amount of water
Replacing crop water use to a full point or field capacity is a common approach to irrigation scheduling. At least, that’s true in arid climates. But what if there’s a repeat chance of rain?
Uncertainty of rainfall amount and timing can impact how we approach irrigation water management. In humid regions, bringing the soil to full field capacity often means lost yield potential.
Brian Leib, Ph.D., from the University of Tennessee presents this webinar presentation to discuss a new approach to managing irrigation. He’ll share past studies and results using different irrigation treatments in soybean and cotton crops.
Learn how to:
• Manage for rainfall in humid regions
• Avoid issues with runoff to low, poorly drained areas
• Promote reproductive growth and root development
• Adapt principles from arid climates
Design and calibration of the unilateral sensitive soil moisture sensorI3E Technologies
This document presents the design and calibration of an unilateral sensitive capacitive soil moisture sensor. Through simulations, the size of the sensor was determined to optimize sensitivity and sensing depth. A capacitance measurement circuit was designed based on resonant principle. Experimental results showed that a two-step calibration β parameter model appropriately described the relationship between sensor output and soil water content, with a minimum correlation coefficient of 0.9554 for different soil types and substrates. The measurement error of the β parameter model was less than 0.025 units except in perlite. This two-step calibration β method is suitable for calibrating the sensor.
Irrigation of Controlled Environment Crops for Increased Quality and Yield—Pa...METER Group, Inc. USA
Grow your crop steering expertise
Crop steering can optimize crop production and production costs, but to crop steer successfully, you need to do it right. You have to understand how to obtain the right soil water contents and soil electrical conductivities to either stress the crop or avoid stressing the crop in a controlled way. To do this, you’ll need to perform crop steering calculations.
Steer your way to higher quality, productivity, and profit
In part 3 of our greenhouse webinar series, Dr. Gaylon Campbell, internationally recognized soil physics and environmental measurement expert, teaches how to perform crop steering calculations that give you the information you need to stress or de-stress your crop at the right time and in the right way to achieve your goals. In this 30-minute webinar you’ll learn:
The water balance equation
- How to calculate the irrigation amount
- How to calculate the transpiration variables that affect recharge drainage, and changes in stored water
- How to determine the field capacity of the substrate
- Environmental factors that influence the water balance
- How to determine the leaching fraction
- How to manage substrate electrical conductivity
crop steering, environment, field capacity, gaylon campbell, indoor cultivation, irrigation, leaching fraction, substrate electrical conductivity, transpiration, water balance, webinar
Irrigation Management: Plant-Water Relations and Atmospheric DemandMETER Group, Inc. USA
Soil moisture data are useful, but they can’t tell us everything. Other strategies for growers, like plant and weather monitoring, can inform irrigation scheduling decisions.
In this 30-minute webinar, Dr. Gaylon Campbell will explore options for managing irrigation beyond soil moisture. Learn the why and how of scheduling irrigation using plant or atmospheric measurements. Understand canopy temperature and its role in detecting water stress of crops. Plus, discover when plant water information is necessary and which measurement(s) to use.
Here’s what we’ll cover:
• Estimating crop water use with reference evapotranspiration (ET)
• Relationships between plant water potential and water stress
• Options for scheduling deficit or controlled stress irrigation
• Water stress and canopy conductance from canopy temperature
Get the complete soil picture—Hydraulic conductivity impacts almost every soil application: crop production, irrigation, drainage, hydrology in both urban and native lands, landfill performance, stormwater system design, aquifer recharge, runoff during flooding, soil erosion, climate models, and even soil health.
In this 20-minute webinar, METER research scientist, Leo Rivera discusses how to better understand water movement through soil. Discover:
- Saturated and unsaturated hydraulic conductivity—What are they?
- Why you need to measure hydraulic conductivity
- Measurement methods for the lab and the field
- What hydraulic conductivity can tell you about the fate of water in your system.
By: Dr. Gaylon S. Campbell
Every irrigator wishes for tools that answer the fundamental questions: when do I turn the water on and when do I turn the water off? The challenge is figuring out the right ones and implementing them effectively. New sensor technology and cloud computing offer new opportunities to growers, but it is often unclear how to put these into practice.
In this 30-minute webinar, Dr. Gaylon Campbell will cover the different methods for irrigation water management and the pros and cons of each. Best practices for soil moisture monitoring and costs of improper irrigation scheduling will also be discussed.
Learn:
• Why we schedule irrigation
• Different methods used by growers to decide when to irrigate
• Steps for scheduling irrigation using soil moisture
• Results from good management and the consequences of mistakes
Irrigation of Controlled Environment Crops for Increased Quality and YieldMETER Group, Inc. USA
Part 1: Substrates and Water
Stop guessing. Start measuring.
When you irrigate in a greenhouse or growth chamber, you need to get the most out of your substrate so you can maximize the yield and quality of your product. But if you’re lifting a pot to gauge how much water is in the substrate, it’s going to be difficult—if not impossible—to achieve your goals. To complicate matters, soil substrates and potting mixes are some of the most challenging media in which to get the water exactly right.
Without accurate measurements or the right measurements, you’ll be blind to what your plants are really experiencing. And that’s a problem, because irrigating incorrectly will reduce yield, derail the quality of your product, deprive the roots of oxygen, and increase risk of disease.
Supercharge yield, quality—and profit
At METER, we know how to irrigate substrates. We’ve been measuring soil moisture for over 40 years. Join Dr. Gaylon Campbell, founder, soil physicist, and one of the world’s foremost authorities on soil, plant, and atmospheric measurements, for a series of irrigation webinars designed to help you correctly control your crop environment to achieve maximum results. In this 30-minute webinar, learn:
Why substrates hold water differently than normal soil
How the properties of different substrates and potting mixes compare
Why it’s difficult if not impossible to irrigate correctly without accurately measuring the amount of water in the substrate
The fundamentals of measuring soil moisture: specifically water content and electrical conductivity
How measuring soil moisture helps you get the most out of the substrate you choose, so you can improve your product
Easy tools you can use to measure soil water in a greenhouse or growth chamber to maximize yields and minimize inputs
How to Use Plant-Water Relations and Atmospheric Demand for Simplified Water ...METER Group, Inc. USA
Going by soil moisture data alone?
Soil moisture data are useful, but they can’t tell you everything. Other strategies for growers and researchers, like plant and weather monitoring, can inform water management decisions.
In this webinar, world-renowned soil physicist, Dr. Gaylon Campbell shares his newest insights and explores options for water management beyond soil moisture. Learn the why and how of scheduling irrigation using plant or atmospheric measurements. Understand canopy temperature and its role in detecting water stress in crops. Plus, discover when plant water information is necessary and which measurement(s) to use. Find out:
- Why the Penman-Monteith equation, with the FAO 56 procedures, gives a solid, physics-based method for determining potential evapotranspiration of a crop
- How the ATMOS 41 microenvironment monitor combined with the ZL6 logger and ZENTRA Cloud give easy access to crop ET data
- How v can be controlled by manipulating plant water potential using appropriate irrigation strategies
- Why combining monitoring soil water potential with deficit irrigation based on ET estimates provide an efficient and precise method for controlled water stress management
- And more…
Evapotranspiration: Pitfalls to Avoid and Why It’s Easier Than You ThinkMETER Group, Inc. USA
Mistakes that kill your estimates
Measuring evapotranspiration (ET) to understand water loss from a native or a managed ecosystem is easier than it looks, but you have to know what you’re doing. If you can’t spend the time or money on a full eddy-covariance system, you’ll have to be satisfied with making some assumptions using equations such as Penman-Monteith.
Like any model, the accuracy of the output depends on the quality of the inputs, but do you know what measurements are critical for success? Plus, as your instrumentation gets more inaccurate, the errors get larger. If you’re not careful, you can end up with no idea what’s happening to the water in your system.
Get the right number every time
You don’t have to be a meteorologist or need incredibly expensive equipment to measure ET effectively. In this 30-minute webinar, Campbell Scientific application scientist Dr. Dirk Baker and METER research scientist Dr. Colin Campbell team up to explain:
- The fundamentals of energy balance modeling to get ET
- Assumptions that can simplify sensor requirements
- What you must measure to get adequate ET estimates
- Assumptions and common pitfalls
- How accurate your equipment should be for good estimates
- Causes and implications of uncertainty
This document discusses using transparency tubes to estimate water quality parameters like turbidity, suspended solids, and total phosphorus in rivers and reservoirs. It finds that transparency tube measurements strongly correlate with turbidity but correlate less strongly with suspended solids and total phosphorus due to site-specific factors. It also describes training volunteers to use transparency tubes and establishing a volunteer monitoring program along the Kalamazoo River watershed.
Analytical modelling of groundwater wells and well systems: how to get it r...Anton Nikulenkov
Aquifer tests are probably the most widely used methods to obtain hydrogeological properties that are vital for any mine dewatering or environmental impact assessments. Numerous softwares and methods currently exist that provide quick and easy tests interpretation by fitting theoretical and measured drawdown curves. However, misinterpreting a-priory groundwater concepts and not accounting correctly for such factors as skin-effect, well storage or partial penetration may result in hydraulic conductivity errors by several hundred precents. As illustrated by case studies from WA, both numerical and analytical models generally suffer from non-uniqueness that can be overcome by understanding a-priory groundwater concepts and implementing them appropriately into the interpretation algorithms.
The presentation also discusses an analytical approach for well systems design. The methodology is presently incorporated in ANSDIMAT software package that is developed by the Russian Academy of Sciences. The method uses standard and research analytical solutions and it is based on the principle of superposition. Unlike numerical models, the method allows calculating drawdowns inside a pumping well and regional drawdowns, for example, on an open pit contour. A particle tracking component, incorporated into the methodology, provides a practical alternative to numerical models for simplified environmental impact assessments.
Irrigation of Controlled Environment Crops - Nutrients & StressMETER Group, Inc. USA
Welcome to Part 2 of our webinar series: Irrigation of Controlled Environment Crops for Increased Quality and Yield. Today we’ll hear from Dr. Gaylon Campbell, who will discuss how to measure electrical conductivity and osmotic stress to optimize crop steering for maximum yield.
Improve Your Plant Study: 3 Types of Environmental Data You May Be MissingMETER Group, Inc. USA
What data are you missing?
As a plant researcher, you need to effectively assess crop performance, whether it’s yield or disease resistance. But if you’re only measuring weather data, you might be missing key performance indicators in your variety trials. Understanding the full picture of the environment will make it easier to select the right varieties to advance—and avoid wasting resources on advancing bad selections.
To accurately assess plant stress tolerance, you must first characterize all environmental stressors. For example, drought studies are notoriously difficult to replicate because of high weather variability. Precipitation data is not enough to assess drought. You need a tool to quantify drought at the soil level.
Get better, more accurate conclusions
It’s important for your environmental data to accurately represent the environment of your site. That means not only capturing the right parameters but choosing the right tools to capture them. In this 30-minute webinar, application expert Holly Lane discusses how to improve your current data and what data you may not be collecting that will optimize and improve the quality of your plant study. Find out:
- How to know if you’re asking the right questions
- Are you using the right atmospheric measurements? And are you measuring weather in the right location?
- Which type of soil moisture data is right for the goals of your research or variety trial
- How to improve your drought study, why precipitation data is not enough, and why you don’t need to be a soil scientist to leverage soil data
- How to use soil water potential
- How accurate your equipment should be for good estimates
- Key concepts to keep in mind when designing a plant study in the field
- What ancillary data you should be collecting to achieve your goals
Presenter
Holly Lane has a BS in agricultural biotechnology from Washington State University and an MS in plant breeding from Texas A&M, where she focused on phenomics work in maize. She has a broad range of experience with both fundamental and applied research in agriculture and worked in both the public and private sectors on sustainability and science advocacy projects. Through the tri-societies, she advocated for agricultural research funding in DC. Currently, Holly is an application expert and inside sales consultant with METER Environment.
1) The document discusses requirements for construction sites categorized as Risk Level 3 under the statewide general permit, including numeric effluent limitations, extensive inspection and monitoring, and the potential need for advanced treatment systems.
2) Modeling was used to assess the performance of best management practices on different soil types (sand, silt, clay) and slopes over 1 and 2 year construction projects.
3) The modeling results showed that sediment control measures like silt fences and sediment basins are not effective alone on silt and silty loam sites and advanced treatment will likely be required to meet permit requirements, especially on clay sites.
Scale Formation problems in Oil & Gas Industry : Its reduction procedures by ...Sachin Nambiar
This paper is a literature review on methods to control scale formation using various chemicals; and its economic feasibility in the petroleum industry.
DSD-INT 2018 An Engineering Approach to construction of a Storm Surge Model f...Deltares
Presentation by Edwin Elias, Deltares USA, Inc., USA, at the Delft3D - User Days (Day 2: Hydrodynamics), during Delft Software Days - Edition 2018. Tuesday, 13 November 2018, Delft.
2017 Oregon Wine Symposium | Dr. Larry Williams- Coping Strategies for a Warm...Oregon Wine Board
Warming temperatures are a challenge and concern for many Oregon grape growers. Taking a proactive approach and staying current on irrigation and canopy management strategies will help vineyard managers assimilate to change. Taking a closer look at the warming climate and the long term consequences on phenology will help grape growers understand how to manipulate phenology and minimize water stress. Specific strategies on irrigation management will be shared, including how to assess soil moisture, determining soil water availability, vine water status and how canopy types affect vine water use.
Water Potential 101: What It Is. Why You Need It. How To Use It.METER Group, Inc. USA
Soil is no longer a black box. Advances in sensor technology and software now make it easy to understand what’s happening in your soil, but don’t get stuck thinking only measuring soil water content will tell you what you need to know. Water content is only one side of a critical two-sided coin. To understand when to water, plant-water stress, or how to characterize drought, you also need to measure water potential.
Better data. Better answers.
Soil water potential is a crucial measurement for optimizing yield and stewarding the environment because it’s a direct indicator of availability of water for biological processes. If you’re not measuring it, you’re likely getting the wrong answer to your soil moisture questions. Water potential can also help you predict if soil water will move, and where it’s going to go. Join METER soil physicist, Dr. Doug Cobos, as he teaches the basics of this critical measurement. Learn:
- What is water potential?
- Why water potential isn’t as confusing as it’s made out to be
- Common misconceptions about soil water content and water potential
- Why water potential is important to you
The Digital SDI Soil Moisture Sensor represents
a revolutionary advance in the irrigation industry
and is now available as a research tool. The digital
sensor is a very effective tool to log moisture data
for a variety of applications.
The Digital SDI Soil Moisture Sensor represents
a revolutionary advance in the irrigation industry
and is now available as a research tool. The digital
sensor is a very effective tool to log moisture data
for a variety of applications
Subsurface Investigation and Geotechnical Evaluationmecocca5
The document discusses subsurface investigation and geotechnical evaluation methods. It describes designing investigation programs, common investigation methods like conventional soil borings, cone penetration testing, and test pits. It also covers reviewing investigation logs, classifying soil, determining engineering properties, and completing geotechnical evaluations. The presentation provides guidance on using different techniques to understand soil and site conditions for engineering design.
Accurate moisture measurement of concrete slabs, wood subfloors, and wood floors is critical to prevent flooring failures. The document discusses the importance of testing moisture levels at various stages, from the concrete slab to the wood subfloor to the flooring materials themselves. It emphasizes using in situ probes to test concrete slab moisture according to ASTM F2170 standards. Proper moisture testing of all materials prior to installation can help reduce the risks of moisture-related problems and costly repairs.
This document discusses a coiled ground heat exchanger system called GERES. Key points include:
- The GERES system uses a coiled ground probe made of composite pipe that can be installed without filling, optimizes energy absorption from the geology, and is impermeable to gases.
- The development of the GERES system focused on safety, optimal energy absorption from the ground, and streamlining the workflow.
- Details are provided on the properties of the ground probe such as its diameter, length, weight, and flow rates it can support.
- The coiled design is compared to duplex systems, noting advantages like lower thermal resistance, adaptability to geology, and fewer joints
This document discusses sensing and monitoring systems for offshore structures. It outlines various types of structures and environmental forces. It then describes several sensing technologies used for monitoring strain, vibration, temperature, pressure, flow, and detecting leaks and corrosion. These include sensors for vibration, strain, shock, acoustic detection, temperature, pressure, erosion, corrosion, sand, and downhole wireless systems. Non-destructive testing methods and a modern trident sensing and inspection system are also discussed. The document concludes with recommendations for continuous and periodic monitoring systems and their strengths and weaknesses.
This document discusses the air intake system requirements for gas turbines. It notes that gas turbines consume enormous amounts of air and are sensitive to air quality. Proper air filtration is necessary for performance, reliability and maintenance of gas turbines. Contaminants like dust, salt and other particles can cause erosion, corrosion and fouling of turbine components. Larger particles above 10 microns can cause erosion of blades while smaller particles below 5 microns can cause deposits on blades affecting efficiency. The document provides examples of filtration systems required for different environments like rural, urban, coastal and offshore locations to address their specific contaminant levels and types.
REDUCE WATER LOSS & PREVENT HYGIENIC RISKS IN THE DRINKING WATER NETWORKiQHub
This document describes a non-invasive ultrasonic flow meter for measuring water flow. It uses two ultrasonic transducers mounted on the pipe to measure the transit time difference of sound signals sent in and against the flow. This transit time difference corresponds to flow velocity, which can be used along with pipe parameters to calculate volume flow. The flow meter compensates for temperature effects on sound speed and provides accurate measurements (±1%) even in challenging conditions or near disturbances in the pipe, requiring only 2 diameters of straight pipe versus the standard 10 diameters. Its robust design makes it suitable for outdoor use in harsh environments.
You need to understand how water is moving (or not moving) through your soil. Gathering precise, accurate, and timely data is the first hurdle, which can be conquered with the proper instrumentation. But how do you ensure you get the most thorough and meaningful insights from every data set?
In this 30-minute webinar, METER research scientist Leo Rivera explores examples of hydraulic conductivity data you might encounter during your research and breaks down what to look for, what to avoid, and how to reach the most insightful conclusions your data has to offer.
In this webinar:
-Learn how to interpret hydraulic conductivity data
- Take a deep dive into SATURO data and how to make the most of it
- Explore data collected in the lab vs. field
- Examine impacts of land use and soil health
The right pressure transmitter can enhance production. The key to maximizing the return on oil and gas development projects rests with the maintenance and safety of your—sometimes—aging equipment.
This document reports on dimensional and tensile testing of various forged parts. It provides the minimum tensile loads to be applied for each item, describes the testing process, and lists the dimensions and results for items 3030DF, 4040DF, 4050DF, and 5050DF. All 100 pieces tested for each item passed the tensile testing without breaking under the maximum applied loads.
This presentation covers differences between self-contained and instrument or transformer rated sites; transformer rated meter forms; test switches and CTs; Blondel’s Theorem; meter accuracy testing; checking the health of your CTs and PTs; and site verification (and not just meter testing). This presentation was given at the PREA Meter School in March 2022.
Application note: Problems with continuous fly ash level measurementAMETEK STC
This application note sums up why some power plants and industrial facilities may have issues in exact measurement of fly ash levels. TDR radar sensors from Drexelbrook solves the issues in continuous level measurement. When capacitance and even ultrasonic measurement may fail the DR7100 Radar level transmitter still provides exact measurement.
The document provides an overview of the different stages of transmission line construction including planning, approvals, feasibility studies, bidding, and execution. During the execution stage, key activities are discussed such as route alignment, surveying, soil investigation, tower foundation construction, tower erection, stringing of conductors, and commissioning. Specifically, it outlines the process for soil investigation including boring, sampling, testing, and classification of soils. It also describes different types of tower foundations that may be used based on soil conditions such as pyramid, pad and step, undercut, block, pile, and rock anchor foundations.
1. The document discusses various techniques for evaluating cement behind casing, including radioactive tracer surveys, hydraulic testing, temperature surveys, acoustic logging, and ultrasonic tools.
2. Acoustic logging techniques like cement bond logs (CBL) and variable density logs (VDL) provide qualitative information on cement-casing and cement-formation bonding but have limitations.
3. Ultrasonic imager tools (USI) provide higher resolution images that allow easier interpretation compared to acoustic logs, with the ability to detect narrow channels and distinguish between solid, liquid, and gas materials behind the casing.
- Geotech is a world leader in environmental technology and products based in Denver, CO with additional offices in the US and Europe. It has over 10,000 clients globally.
- The company offers remediation equipment for vapor, dissolved, and free phase contaminants including soil vapor extraction systems, air sparge systems, and carbon vessels.
- Soil vapor extraction uses vacuum wells to extract volatile contaminants from subsurface soil in vapor form, while air sparging injects air into saturated zones to flush contaminants into unsaturated zones for extraction. Proper sizing of blowers and conducting pilot tests is important for effectiveness.
Borehole magnetic resonance (BMR) logging is an emerging technology that can characterize aquifers by measuring properties like porosity, pore size distribution, bound versus mobile water, and hydraulic conductivity. Case studies in Texas showed BMR provided more detailed information than traditional logs, identifying low-TDS zones for well screens. In Arizona, BMR estimated hydraulic conductivity was higher than slug tests and aligned better with aquifer tests. BMR can improve aquifer characterization for water resource applications like well design and modeling.
The first step to understanding if you are collecting quality soil moisture data is to first know where they’re wrong. But what makes good data go bad?
Proactive prevention of data’s main confounders.
Would you recognize bad data if you had it? Knowing what to look for and the key steps to take to prevent later problems is the difference between accuracy and estimation. In this 30-minute webinar, METER’s soil moisture sensor product manager and ecology and plant physiology specialist, Chris Chambers, will break down the largest contributors to degradation in data.
Discussed in this webinar:
The impacts of an inaccurate or unreliable sensor
How incorrect installation can invalidate all data
How to preempt installation issues before they occur
How to minimize the possibility of preferential flow
What METER is doing to help you get the most accurate data possible
And more
Leaf Area Index (LAI) has vast implications across land use management, ecology, and any project impacted by gross primary productivity (GPP). But what is LAI? What could an understanding of LAI do for your research? Multiple measurement methods make the process of choosing the best method for your application confusing. How do you balance accuracy and labor efforts?
In this 30-minute webinar, METER’s Product Manager for plant, canopy, and atmospheric monitoring, Jeff Ritter, will discuss:
What is LAI?
Why measure LAI?
Direct sampling methods, including litter traps.
Indirect ground-based methods, including hemispherical photography.
The difference between transmittance and reflectance methods.
Satellite-based approaches.
How to choose the right method for your project that balances precision and labor intensity.
If you know what to look for, you can harness powerful insights from a soil moisture release curve. But if you're using the wrong instrumentation, don't have the correct tools to evaluate the curve, or choose the wrong model to fit the curve, your insights can be drastically wrong. And those errors are only amplified when put into a hydrology model.
In this 30-minute webinar, research scientist and Director of Scientific Outreach, Leo Rivera, illustrates what insights you can glean from your soil moisture release curve data and hot to get everything you can from this soil fingerprint. He'll discuss:
- What a soil moisture release curve is
- What information a soil moisture release curve can provide about your soil
- The predictions you can make using a soil moisture release curve
- What tools you need to achieve the specific results you desire
- How to choose the right model to fit your curve
- How to interpret data from soilless media
If you're not measuring water potential, or not measuring it correctly, your data could be telling you the wrong thing. Water content measurements can only tell you so much, and inferring water potential from water content is inaccurate at best, and completely misleading in worst-case scenarios.
In this 30-minute webinar, METER research scientist Leo Rivera discusses the good, the bad, and the ugly sides of measuring soil water potential. He'll walk you through the considerations and choices you need to take into account to select the perfect water potential sensor for your needs. Discover the challenges, limitations, and advantages of new sensor tech, and learn how to collect the most accurate measurements for your particular application.
Learn about:
- The large variety of technology available on the market
- The most recent trends and technologies
- Installation considerations and the tools available to make install better
- The limitations of using water content to infer water potential
- Our most recent research projects and findings
How do you explain deviations from expected soil moisture data patterns? To get the most out of your soil moisture sensor network, you need to know how to decipher anomalies within each dataset. Accurate attribution of each change within your data is crucial to ensuring your results are thorough and accurate. In this 40-minute webinar, METER research scientist Dr. Colin Campbell discusses how to understand what your data is trying to tell you.
What if you could predict the amount of biomass you will produce? Understanding how to measure the amount of water a crop will need unlocks the ability to maximize output. In part two of our resource capture webinar series, Dr. Gaylon Campbell, world-renowned environmental biophysicist, discusses the measurements and calculations needed to know how much biomass the water in a given environment can produce.
Radiation Resource Capture - Are You Leaving Yield On The Table?METER Group, Inc. USA
The only way to know if you’re growing as much biomass as possible within the environment in which you operate is to measure the resources available for capture. In this 30-minute webinar, Dr. Gaylon Campbell, world-renowned environmental biophysicist, explores the impact of radiation resource capture on your crops and how knowing this critical measurement could be the difference between mediocre biomass production and a doubled yield.
Soil particle analysis is more complicated than it looks
Accurate soil texture information is critical for understanding experimental results or modeling—and if you’re just guessing—you’ll be in trouble when it comes time for publication. Soil particle analysis is hard. You need to know what to watch out for, or your accuracy can be off by orders of magnitude. And that’s a problem—get it wrong, and your models and assumptions will be incorrect and ultimately you’ll reach bad conclusions.
What you need to know
Measuring soil texture can be tedious, complex, and prone to human error. In this 30-minute webinar, researcher and application expert Leo Rivera teaches best practices for higher accuracy and how to choose the right method for your unique application. Learn:
- How soil texture measurement has evolved over time
- Fundamentals behind the measurement
- Comparison of different measurement methods (including - Stokes law-based and optics-based)
- Pros and cons of each method
- Best practices: making an accurate measurement regardless of the methodology
Watch the webinar here:
go.meter.group/alt-sweet
Demand for healthier snacks and treats continues to grow. Innovative new sweeteners abound. But in the scramble to develop the next great clean-label snack, food companies are finding that each sugar substitute comes with a special set of challenges.
Since substitutes don’t perfectly mimic sugar’s characteristics, formulators are left with a complicated job: Finding new ways to achieve the sugary taste, texture, shelf life, and appearance that will satisfy consumers.
Join Mary Galloway, head of the METER Food R&D Lab, and Dr. Zachary Cartwright, lead food scientist, as they present original research that addresses the challenges that come with using sugar alternatives. They’ll cover:
— The pros, cons, and frequent challenges associated with 5 top alternative sweeteners
— The scientific concepts that explain sugar’s unique characteristics
— How formulators can use water activity measurements to minimize the challenges that come with sugar substitutes
— How blending different sugar alternatives can yield better results
About the presenters
Mary Galloway is head of the METER Food Research & Development Lab. She specializes in using and testing instruments that measure water activity and its influence on physical properties. She has worked with dozens of the world’s largest and most successful food brands to solve moisture-related product issues.
Dr. Zachary Cartwright is lead food scientist at METER Group. He holds a PhD in food science from Washington State University and a bachelor’s degree in biochemistry from New Mexico State University. He is an expert in isotherm analysis and the use of the Vapor Sorption Analyzer (VSA).
Don’t unwittingly compromise your weather data by underestimating all the factors that influence accuracy. Dr. Colin Campbell discusses what these factors are and how to plan for them.
You need data you can trust
Think weather data accuracy is about sensor specifications? Think again. There are a host of other factors that influence accuracy, and if you don’t understand what they are, your data can steer you in the wrong direction and put your projects at risk.
What you need to know
In this 30-minute webinar, Dr. Colin Campbell explains how you can unwittingly compromise your data by underestimating these important factors. Learn:
- How microclimates influence accuracy
- How many measurement sites you need to deal with variability
- How installation affects accuracy and important best practices to keep in mind
- Why you need to measure more than just weather parameters to understand what’s happening at your site (critical ancillary measurements)
- Why the scientific theory behind how a station makes its measurements matters
Why models using internet data are not good enough
- How a station that requires significant maintenance can derail accuracy
- How using affordable research-grade stations to fill in data gaps between premium-quality setups can be a cost effective way to increase your accuracy
- Why your data visualization and management system matters in terms of accuracy
- Case studies that show why you need to think about the big picture
Soil Infiltration 101: What It Is. Why You Need It. How To Measure It.METER Group, Inc. USA
World-renowned soil physicist, Dr. Gaylon S. Campbell, teaches the basics of soil infiltration, how to measure it correctly, and compares common measurement methods.
Make the right decisions
Soil infiltration impacts almost everything soils are used for. Infiltration rates impact irrigation, drainage, and how well water flows to crop roots. Infiltration measurements are used to predict erosion and determine soil health. And, in urban settings, stormwater systems and landfills need soil infiltration measurements to maximize or minimize water movement in soil. If you’re working in these situations, it’s critical to understand how to measure infiltration correctly, or you’ll risk inaccurate calculations that could lead to wrong decisions.
Master the basics
In this 30-minute webinar, world-renowned soil physicist, Dr. Gaylon S. Campbell, teaches the basics of soil infiltration and how to measure it correctly. Learn:
- What is soil hydraulic conductivity?
- How does soil infiltration vary from one porous medium to another?
- What determines hydraulic conductivity?
- Why you should care about the infiltration rate of water into soil
- How to measure soil infiltration in the lab and the field
- How different measurement methods compare
Why overwatering is causing you problems.
Just like a thermostat can be set optimally for comfort without wasting heat, the latest advances in sensor technology can do the same for plants: keep them comfortable, without wasting water. This means you can have higher quality and yield while reducing problems caused by overwatering such as disease or the need to reapply expensive nutrients that have been flushed away.
Better management--better plant performance.
Join Dr. Colin Campbell as he explores the latest water management research and real world examples to answer the questions: Does water management work? What are challenges and best practices? And what should we do next?
Discover:
- The role water plays in managed ecosystems.
- How using measurement technology like soil water potential, soil water content, electrical conductivity, and temperature can show impacts of management.
- How to deploy these sensors effectively in high-dollar ecosystems.
- What the interplay is between environmental variables like evapotranspiration and soil water.
- How combining these variables can inform water management.
- How overwatering impacts disease and critical nutrients in the root zone.
Irrigation of Controlled Environment Crops—Part 4: Balancing Light, Water, an...METER Group, Inc. USA
Are you unwittingly compromising your plants?
In a controlled environment many variables affect production. But if any one of those variables gets out of balance, it can undermine your whole operation. For example, if you apply enough nutrients for high production but only enough light for low production, you’ll increase costs and limit yield. To get the most out of your crop, you’ll need to measure and balance environmental inputs correctly to get the most efficient use out of them. If you’re not measuring the right variables, fixing problems that keep you from your goals will be a shot in the dark, because you won’t know what the real problem is.
Amplify your production and efficiency
In part 4 of our popular controlled-environment webinar series, world-renowned soil physicist, Dr. Gaylon Campbell, teaches what is required to ensure all environmental variables remain balanced for the highest possible efficiency and production. Discover:
- How to model biomass production from light, water, and nutrient resources
- Relationships between biomass production, light, and CO2
- Relationships between biomass production and water use
- Relationships between biomass production and nutrient uptake
- Limiting factors in the balance equations
- Examples and monitoring applications
There are ovens, vacuum ovens, halogen moisture balances, Karl Fischer titrators, NIR devices – and that’s only the beginning. How do you choose the right one?
Once you’ve chosen, how do you ensure consistently precise and reliable results? Measuring moisture content can be a minefield, but getting it right pays dividends.
In this webinar, Dr. Zachary Cartwright and moisture content researcher Conner Jeffries:
— Explore why moisture content measurements can be so fickle
— Discuss direct vs indirect methods and how ovens, moisture balances and titrators compare
— Present original research that highlights key issues with moisture content in dried fruit, tablets and supplements, and cannabis
— Outline methods to reduce variation and improve the accuracy of your moisture content analysis
— Discuss new methods to measure moisture content quickly and precisely
Rapid, in situ Thermal Conductivity Measurements, Even in Moist Insulating Ma...METER Group, Inc. USA
Steady-state methods for measuring thermal conductivity in insulation are painstakingly slow. The temperature gradient inherent to the method also induces moisture movement within moist samples, making it unsuitable for such measurements. This seminar describes a new algorithm, used with a line heat source, to measure the thermal conductivity of insulating materials in one minute, even in the presence of moisture.
In this 30-minute webinar, Dr. Gaylon Campbell, world-renowned environmental measurement expert, describes:
- The science behind the transient method, how to apply it, and how it performs on insulating materials
- How moisture affects the thermal conductivity of insulation
- Why only transient methods correctly measure the thermal conductivity of insulation when moisture is present
- How to determine the volumetric specific heat of insulation, to use as input to the measurement
Weather Data: Virtual, In-Field, or Regional Network—Does It Matter?METER Group, Inc. USA
Which data source is better?
In the world of specialty crops, there is disagreement on how well weather-driven insect, disease, and frost prediction models actually perform. Dr. Dave Brown, former director of Washington State University’s AgWeatherNet spent years comparing different weather data sources and how those data affect the accuracy of common environmental models used by orchard growers. In this 20-minute webinar, he shares the surprising things he learned.
Decrease chances of crop damage with one simple practice
Find out how you can increase the accuracy of your predictive models and decrease frost, insect, and disease incidents by doing just one thing differently—improving the quality of your weather data. Discover:
- Microclimates: what are the conditions like inside a crop canopy versus outside?
- Virtual data vs. weather station data: Which is better?
- How do site-specific weather data vs. regional network data compare?
- How much does a small decrease in data quality affect the accuracy of your models?
- What’s the value of in-orchard measurements?
- What are some best practices for higher data quality?
Presenter
For 20 years as a faculty member at Montana State University and Washington State University (WSU) Dr. Dave Brown pursued research on soil sensors, spatial data science and digital agriculture. At both universities, he served in many leadership roles for major research projects, academic programs and most recently as Director of the WSU AgWeatherNet program. In this capacity, Dr. Brown hired and supervised a team of meteorologists who pursued research and extension activities focused on evaluating and improving the quality of weather data used for agricultural decisions.
Understanding Isotherms: What vapor sorption can and can’t tell youMETER Group, Inc. USA
Moisture content and water activity. Each has its assigned roles and responsibilities. They’re often used separately, and for very different purposes. But can they work together?
In this live webinar, our METER experts will break down how and why mapping moisture content and water activity together – and how they change over time – can open a new world of valuable information.
You’ll learn:
— Why MC and aW combined can tell you more than they would separately
— All the ways to create isotherms, plus the strengths and weaknesses of each method
— How to interpret and use your moisture sorption isotherms
— Why isotherms can predict texture changes so precisely
— Why shelf life and packaging decisions can be made faster using isotherms
— How to extract business value from your isotherms – both in and out of the R&D department
Irrigation of Controlled Environment Crops for Increased Quality and Yield—Pa...METER Group, Inc. USA
Rev up your productivity
If you’re crop steering to optimize quality and productivity, understanding nutrient concentration is critical to stressing your plants correctly. If nutrient concentrations get too low, you won’t get the production you’re paying for with the rest of your infrastructure. If the concentrations are too high—you’ll risk killing your plants.
Measure. Don’t guess.
You can’t quantify nutrient concentration just by looking at your plants or tasting the fruit. The only way to know the nutrient concentration is to measure it. Crop steering can only be done if you know the electrical conductivity (EC) of the nutrient solution in the growth substrate. In this 30-minute webinar, world-renowned soil physics expert, Dr. Gaylon Campbell discusses how to measure EC and osmotic stress to optimize crop steering for maximum yield. He’ll cover:
- Environmental control of growth and development in plants
- Electrical conductivity as a measure of nutrient concentration in the growth medium
- Techniques for measuring pore water electrical conductivity in unsaturated media
- How to relate pore water electrical conductivity to the bulk conductivity being measured
- Crop steering using osmotic stress and how to monitor that stress
Today we’ll hear from Dr. Sara Vero, who will discuss how to maximize the efficiency and effectiveness of your field visits. Sara is a researcher and lecturer in agricultural science, whose work focuses on soil physics, chemistry, and water quality. Her new book, ‘Fieldwork Ready’, is a guide to field research in agricultural and environmental science. 'Fieldwork Ready' introduces readers to the fundamental elements of planning, preparedness, and best practice that help field researchers to run successful experiments and investigations.
How to nail your estimates and act at the right time
When you use inaccurate data, the further you are into the growing season, the greater the estimate will differ from reality. For longer season crops, the difference could be quite significant, which is a problem because plant maturity, flowering, and pest/disease GDD targets often have tight windows.
In this 20-minute webinar, Dr. Colin Campbell discusses what you need to know for more accurate models, so you can be confident in your management decisions.
Kinetic studies on malachite green dye adsorption from aqueous solutions by A...Open Access Research Paper
Water polluted by dyestuffs compounds is a global threat to health and the environment; accordingly, we prepared a green novel sorbent chemical and Physical system from an algae, chitosan and chitosan nanoparticle and impregnated with algae with chitosan nanocomposite for the sorption of Malachite green dye from water. The algae with chitosan nanocomposite by a simple method and used as a recyclable and effective adsorbent for the removal of malachite green dye from aqueous solutions. Algae, chitosan, chitosan nanoparticle and algae with chitosan nanocomposite were characterized using different physicochemical methods. The functional groups and chemical compounds found in algae, chitosan, chitosan algae, chitosan nanoparticle, and chitosan nanoparticle with algae were identified using FTIR, SEM, and TGADTA/DTG techniques. The optimal adsorption conditions, different dosages, pH and Temperature the amount of algae with chitosan nanocomposite were determined. At optimized conditions and the batch equilibrium studies more than 99% of the dye was removed. The adsorption process data matched well kinetics showed that the reaction order for dye varied with pseudo-first order and pseudo-second order. Furthermore, the maximum adsorption capacity of the algae with chitosan nanocomposite toward malachite green dye reached as high as 15.5mg/g, respectively. Finally, multiple times reusing of algae with chitosan nanocomposite and removing dye from a real wastewater has made it a promising and attractive option for further practical applications.
Improving the viability of probiotics by encapsulation methods for developmen...Open Access Research Paper
The popularity of functional foods among scientists and common people has been increasing day by day. Awareness and modernization make the consumer think better regarding food and nutrition. Now a day’s individual knows very well about the relation between food consumption and disease prevalence. Humans have a diversity of microbes in the gut that together form the gut microflora. Probiotics are the health-promoting live microbial cells improve host health through gut and brain connection and fighting against harmful bacteria. Bifidobacterium and Lactobacillus are the two bacterial genera which are considered to be probiotic. These good bacteria are facing challenges of viability. There are so many factors such as sensitivity to heat, pH, acidity, osmotic effect, mechanical shear, chemical components, freezing and storage time as well which affects the viability of probiotics in the dairy food matrix as well as in the gut. Multiple efforts have been done in the past and ongoing in present for these beneficial microbial population stability until their destination in the gut. One of a useful technique known as microencapsulation makes the probiotic effective in the diversified conditions and maintain these microbe’s community to the optimum level for achieving targeted benefits. Dairy products are found to be an ideal vehicle for probiotic incorporation. It has been seen that the encapsulated microbial cells show higher viability than the free cells in different processing and storage conditions as well as against bile salts in the gut. They make the food functional when incorporated, without affecting the product sensory characteristics.
Evolving Lifecycles with High Resolution Site Characterization (HRSC) and 3-D...Joshua Orris
The incorporation of a 3DCSM and completion of HRSC provided a tool for enhanced, data-driven, decisions to support a change in remediation closure strategies. Currently, an approved pilot study has been obtained to shut-down the remediation systems (ISCO, P&T) and conduct a hydraulic study under non-pumping conditions. A separate micro-biological bench scale treatability study was competed that yielded positive results for an emerging innovative technology. As a result, a field pilot study has commenced with results expected in nine-twelve months. With the results of the hydraulic study, field pilot studies and an updated risk assessment leading site monitoring optimization cost lifecycle savings upwards of $15MM towards an alternatively evolved best available technology remediation closure strategy.
Optimizing Post Remediation Groundwater Performance with Enhanced Microbiolog...Joshua Orris
Results of geophysics and pneumatic injection pilot tests during 2003 – 2007 yielded significant positive results for injection delivery design and contaminant mass treatment, resulting in permanent shut-down of an existing groundwater Pump & Treat system.
Accessible source areas were subsequently removed (2011) by soil excavation and treated with the placement of Emulsified Vegetable Oil EVO and zero-valent iron ZVI to accelerate treatment of impacted groundwater in overburden and weathered fractured bedrock. Post pilot test and post remediation groundwater monitoring has included analyses of CVOCs, organic fatty acids, dissolved gases and QuantArray® -Chlor to quantify key microorganisms (e.g., Dehalococcoides, Dehalobacter, etc.) and functional genes (e.g., vinyl chloride reductase, methane monooxygenase, etc.) to assess potential for reductive dechlorination and aerobic cometabolism of CVOCs.
In 2022, the first commercial application of MetaArray™ was performed at the site. MetaArray™ utilizes statistical analysis, such as principal component analysis and multivariate analysis to provide evidence that reductive dechlorination is active or even that it is slowing. This creates actionable data allowing users to save money by making important site management decisions earlier.
The results of the MetaArray™ analysis’ support vector machine (SVM) identified groundwater monitoring wells with a 80% confidence that were characterized as either Limited for Reductive Decholorination or had a High Reductive Reduction Dechlorination potential. The results of MetaArray™ will be used to further optimize the site’s post remediation monitoring program for monitored natural attenuation.
RoHS stands for Restriction of Hazardous Substances, which is also known as t...vijaykumar292010
RoHS stands for Restriction of Hazardous Substances, which is also known as the Directive 2002/95/EC. It includes the restrictions for the use of certain hazardous substances in electrical and electronic equipment. RoHS is a WEEE (Waste of Electrical and Electronic Equipment).
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*
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