Review of Techniques for Measuring Soil Moisture In situ.

Recently there has been an increased interest in the in-situ measurement of soil moisture content in the areas of hydrology, meteorology, agriculture and environmental studies. Current methods generally have limitations, depending upon the use of the data, that greatly influence acquisition and reliability of the soil moisture determination. This report discusses gravimetric, nuclear, electromagnetic, tensiometric and hygroscopic techniques and the advantages and disadvantages of using the technique. Emphasis is placed on the tensiometric and electromagnetic techniques. These two measurements when coupled together would supply information on the wetting and drying soil moisture characteristic curves and thereby provide a means of tracing moisture movement under field conditions in cold climates. Author