Daily Soil Moisture Estimates from Cosmic Ray Sensors in Goias, Brazil, 2023

Environmental Information Data Centre provides daily soil moisture estimates from prototype cosmic ray neutron sensors. Measurements were taken hourly between August and December 2023 at a rain-fed site in Goias, Brazil, and aggregated into daily averages.

Use Cases

• Analyze daily soil moisture estimates to model water retention patterns in rain-fed agricultural systems.
• Study the correlation between cosmic ray sensor readings and volumetric water containment for irrigation optimization.
• Validate prototype cosmic ray neutron sensor data against seasonal environmental effects in a tropical field site.

Strengths

• Data covers a continuous 5-month period from August to December 2023.
• Measurements were taken hourly and processed into daily averages for temporal consistency.
• Dataset is associated with a specific research grant (NERC NE/W004364/1) and has a DOI for citation.

Limitations

• Dataset is limited to a single field site in Goias, Brazil, reducing geographic generalizability.
• Data is from prototype sensors, which may introduce measurement noise or require specific calibration understanding.
• The temporal coverage is limited to one season in 2023, not capturing multi-year climatic variability.

Provenance

Source

Environmental Information Data Centre

Collection Method

Hourly volumetric water containment measurements from prototype cosmic ray neutron sensors, aggregated into daily averages after environmental correction.

Time Range

August to December 2023

Freshness

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Geography

Rain-fed field site in Goias state, Brazil