This dataset provides soil moisture measurements collected at the EC1 experimental site located near Katharinentaler Hof, Kraichgau, Germany, spanning from April to August 2013. Soil moisture was continuously monitored using cosmic-ray neutron sensing (CRNS) and a network of capacitance sensors. Additionally, four invasive soil moisture sampling campaigns were conducted to complement the dataset, allowing for calibration of the CRNS.
The EC1 site is situated within a cluster of eddy covariance stations, as extensively documented in a dat apaper by Weber et al. (2021). However, the detailed soil moisture dataset presented here is not included in their data set.
Separate text files are provided for the capacitance sensor network, the cosmic-ray data (neutron counts), and the calibration soil sampling. Each file is accompanied by a JSON file containing metadata and additional information to aid in the utilization of the dataset.
The data paper describing also details of the field site EC1:
Weber, T. K. D., Ingwersen, J., Högy, P., Poyda, A., Wizemann, H.-D., Demyan, M. S., Bohm, K., Eshonkulov, R., Gayler, S., Kremer, P., Laub, M., Nkwain, Y. F., Troost, C., Witte, I., Reichenau, T., Berger, T., Cadisch, G., Müller, T., Fangmeier, A., … Streck, T. (2022). Multi-site, multi-crop measurements in the soil–vegetation–atmosphere continuum: A comprehensive dataset from two climatically contrasting regions in southwestern Germany for the period 2009–2018. Earth System Science Data, 14(3), 1153–1181. https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-14-1153-2022
The accompanying data repository provides the additional data required to correct the neutron count time series and calibrate the CRNS soil moisture estimation, as well as data required as inputs for vadose zone modelling (BonaRes Repository, FOR 1695, Weber et al. 2021, https://doi.org/10.20387/bonares-a0qc-46jc )
The sensor network setup is described in detail in:
Imukova, K., Ingwersen, J., Hevart, M., & Streck, T. (2016). Energy balance closure on a winter wheat stand: Comparing the eddy covariance technique with the soil water balance method. Biogeosciences, 13(1), 63–75. https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-13-63-2016
The CRNS data and calibration is described in detail in:
Baroni, G., Scheiffele, L. M., Schrön, M., Ingwersen, J., & Oswald, S. E. (2018). Uncertainty, sensitivity and improvements in soil moisture estimation with cosmic-ray neutron sensing. Journal of Hydrology, 564, 873–887. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhydrol.2018.07.053
The data set is furthermore used amongst others in the following publications:
Scheiffele, L. M., Baroni, G., Franz, T. E., Jakobi, J., & Oswald, S. E. (2020). A profile shape correction to reduce the vertical sensitivity of cosmic-ray neutron sensing of soil moisture. Vadose Zone Journal, 19(1), e20083. https://doi.org/10.1002/vzj2.20083
Scheiffele, L. M., Munz, M., Francke, T., Baroni, G., Oswald, S. E. (2024) "Enhancing hectare-scale groundwater recharge estimation by integrating data from cosmic-ray neutron sensing into soil hydrological modelling" (to be submitted to Water Resources Research, doi...).
