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Soil Water Flowmeters with Thermocouple Outputs

Cary, John W. (1973) Soil Water Flowmeters with Thermocouple Outputs. Soil Science Society of America Proceedings. 37(2):176-181.

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Abstract

The construction and operation of two soil water flowmeters
with microvolt outputs are described. One meter with a sensitivity
of 0.1 mm of water flow per day is recommended for
flux measurements in the surface meter of soil when the water
matrix potential is greater than —0.8 bar. Calibration factors
for three soils with different textures are presented as a family
of curves. These curves may be interpolated for using the flowmeter
in other soils, possibly without a loss of accuracy greater
than the natural water flow variation from place to place in the
field.

The second meter with a sensitivity of about 0.5 mm per
day will require some additional development and testing before
it can be recommended for routine use. It does offer the
possibility of making measurements at soil water matric potentials
Less than —1 bar and at relatively deep soil depths.

The thermocouple flow transducer developed for the meters
may be used to measure saturated soil water flow or other liquid
flows as small as 1 ml/day.

Item Type: Article
NWISRL Publication Number: 0260
Subjects: Soil > Soil water (soil moisture)
Research methodology
Mass Import - autoclassified (may be erroneous)
Depositing User: Dan Stieneke
Date Deposited: 20 Nov 2010 21:51
Last Modified: 16 Feb 2017 22:21
Item ID: 242
URI: https://eprints.nwisrl.ars.usda.gov/id/eprint/242