Vertical Soil Profiling Using a Galvanic Contact Resistivity Scanning Approach

Sensors

Luan Pan³  Viacheslav I. Adamchuk³  Shiv Prasher³  Robin Gebbers²  Richard S. Taylor¹ 

[1] DUALEM, 540 Churchill Avenue, Milton, ON L9T 3A2, Canada; E-Mail:;Leibniz-Institute for Agricultural Engineering (ATB), 100 Max-Eyth-Allee, Potsdam 14469, Germany; E-Mail:;McGill University, 21111 Lakeshore Road, Ste-Anne-de-Bellevue, QC H9X 3V9, Canada; E-Mails:

关键词: galvanic contact resistivity;    apparent soil electrical conductivity;    on-the-go soil sensing;   

DOI  :  10.3390/s140713243

来源: mdpi

【 摘 要 】

Proximal sensing of soil electromagnetic properties is widely used to map spatial land heterogeneity. The mapping instruments use galvanic contact, capacitive coupling or electromagnetic induction. Regardless of the type of instrument, the geometrical configuration between signal transmitting and receiving elements typically defines the shape of the depth response function. To assess vertical soil profiles, many modern instruments use multiple transmitter-receiver pairs. Alternatively, vertical electrical sounding can be used to measure changes in apparent soil electrical conductivity with depth at a specific location. This paper examines the possibility for the assessment of soil profiles using a dynamic surface galvanic contact resistivity scanning approach, with transmitting and receiving electrodes configured in an equatorial dipole-dipole array. An automated scanner system was developed and tested in agricultural fields with different soil profiles. While operating in the field, the distance between current injecting and measuring pairs of rolling electrodes was varied continuously from 40 to 190 cm. The preliminary evaluation included a comparison of scan results from 20 locations to shallow (less than 1.2 m deep) soil profiles and to a two-layer soil profile model defined using an electromagnetic induction instrument.

【 授权许可】

CC BY   
© 2014 by the authors; licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.