Proximal Gamma-Ray Spectroscopy: An Effective Tool to Discern Rain from Irrigation

Remote Sensing

Domenico Solimando¹  Stefano Anconelli¹  Tommaso Letterio¹  Salvatore Gentile¹  Enrico Bucchi¹  Stefano Caselli²  Gabriele Penzotti²  Michele Amoretti²  Andrea Serafini³  Kassandra Giulia Cristina Raptis³  Andrea Maino³  Michele Montuschi³  Filippo Semenza³  Enrico Chiarelli³  Fabio Mantovani³  Matteo Albéri³  Virginia Strati³  Tommaso Colonna⁴  Enrico Guastaldi⁴  Luca Cicala⁵  Mario De Cesare⁵ 

[1] Consorzio Bonifica CER, 40137 Bologna, Italy;Department of Engineering and Architecture, University of Parma, 43124 Parma, Italy;Department of Physics and Earth Sciences, University of Ferrara, 44122 Ferrara, Italy;GeoExplorer Impresa Sociale S.r.l., 52100 Arezzo, Italy;Italian Aerospace Research Centre CIRA, Capua, 81043 Caserta, Italy;

关键词: irrigation scheduling;    soil water content;    real-time monitoring;    agriculture 4.0;    maize;    tomato;   

DOI  :  10.3390/rs13204103

来源: DOAJ

【 摘 要 】

Proximal gamma-ray spectroscopy is a consolidated technology for a continuous and real-time tracing of soil water content at field scale. New developments have shown that this method can also act as an unbiased tool for remotely distinguishing rainwater from irrigation without any meteorological support information. Given a single detector, the simultaneous observation in a gamma spectrum of a transient increase in the ²¹⁴Pb signal, coupled with a decrease in the ⁴⁰K signal, acts as an effective proxy for rainfall. A decrease in both ²¹⁴Pb and ⁴⁰K signals is, instead, a reliable fingerprint for irrigation. We successfully proved this rationale in two data-taking campaigns performed on an agricultural test field with different crop types (tomato and maize). The soil moisture levels were assessed via the ⁴⁰K gamma signal on the basis of a one-time setup calibration. The validation against a set of gravimetric measurements showed excellent results on both bare and vegetated soil conditions. Simultaneously, the observed rain-induced increase in the ²¹⁴Pb signal permitted to identify accurately the rain and irrigation events occurred in the 8852 h of data taking.

【 授权许可】

Unknown