Monitoring dynamic water content, bulk density, and heat and water fluxes in the critical zone with thermo-time domain reflectometry sensors
Date
2025
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Wiley Periodicals LLC on behalf of Soil Science Society of America
Abstract
A thermo-time domain reflectometry (thermo-TDR) sensor combines a heat-pulse sensor with a TDR waveguide to simultaneously measure coupled processes of water, heat, and solute transfer. The sensor can provide repeated in situ measurements of several soil state properties (temperature, soil water content, and ice content), thermal properties (thermal diffusivity, thermal conductivity, heat capacity), and electromagnetic properties (dielectric constant and bulk electrical conductivity) with minimal soil disturbance. Combined with physical or empirical models, structural indicators, such as bulk density and air-filled porosity, can be derived from measured soil thermal and electrical properties. Successful applications are available to determine fine-scale heat, water, and vapor fluxes with thermo-TDR sensors. Applications of thermo-TDR sensors in complicated scenarios, such as heterogeneous root zones and saline environments, are also possible. Therefore, the multi-functional uses of thermo-TDR sensors are invaluable for in situ observations of several soil physical properties and processes in critical zone soils.
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This article is published as Lu, Yili, Yutong Liu, Wei Peng, Yongwei Fu, Tusheng Ren, Joshua Heitman, and Robert Horton. "Monitoring dynamic water content, bulk density, and heat and water fluxes in the critical zone with thermo‐time domain reflectometry sensors." Vadose Zone Journal 24, no. 1 (2025): e20390. doi:10.1002/vzj2.20390.
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© 2024 The Author(s). This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs License, which permits use and distribution in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited, the use is non-commercial and no modifications or adaptations are made.
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Funding
US National Science Foundation, Grant/Award Number: 2037504; National Key Research and Development Program of China, Grant/Award Number: 2023YFD1500304; USDA-NIFA Multi-State Projects, Grant/Award Numbers: 4188, 5188