Three Dimensional Vadose Zone Characterization of a Wisconsin Orchard Using Electromagnetic Techniques

Abstract

Characterizing the near-surface soil water content distribution is important for precision agriculture and groundwater remediation applications. Measuring soil water content over large areas is often difficult, as conventional point measurement and remote sensing techniques are often insufficient to characterize water content heterogeneity at the field scale. Ground penetrating radar (GPR) groundwaves are an electromagnetic geophysical technique that can be used to estimate water content quickly over large areas, and recent studies have indicated that the groundwave sampling depth is a function of antenna frequency. The objective of this research is to explore the potential of multi-frequency GPR groundwave data for characterizing the three-dimensional soil water content distribution at the field scale.