Calibration of an impedance probe for estimation of surface soil water content over large regions

Large region surface soil moisture estimates are important for both hydrologic modeling and remote sensing applications. For soil moisture monitoring, gravimetric soil moisture sampling is reliable; however, it requires a significant effort to gather and process samples. Portable impedance probes serve as a valuable alternative to destructive gravimetric sampling. These probes measure the dielectric properties of the soil–water–air mixture from which we can infer the volumetric soil moisture. As part of recent large-scale experiments in the summers of 2002 and 2003, three different methods for calibrating impedance probes were investigated with the support of coincident gravimetric samples. Field specific calibration improved the accuracy of the probe from greater than ±5% volumetric soil moisture (using the generalized calibration) to less than ±4%. In addition, a significant amount of bias (∼2%) was eliminated. It was also determined that field specific calibration removes a bias due to bulk density variations. Based upon these results it was concluded that the generalized calibration is adequate for estimation of diverse conditions. For studies with more stringent accuracy requirements, field specific calibration is necessary because of reduced bias and error.